Obama has probably already made up his mind about Afghanistan

that plan has probably already been in action for a while.

to come out and announce before hand how many troops are going or leaving and where (like so many people seem want) would mean transmitting that info to the enemy, putting our troops at greater risk (even if the plan IS a steady draw down).

he is dragging this out to keep the enemy forces in the Af-Pak area guessing while our military makes their moves.

why on earth would give advantage to the people attacking our troops?

for those who think this idea is stupid don't know military history and are forgetting how long he kept Iran's secret nuke site under wraps.

My sense is that the leaks from the Pentagon mean that they are really scared that they wont get what they want and have to play hardball to get it i.e. that leak was risky for a lot of people, -why would they take that risk unless they are desperate?

just my thoughts.

more troops are coming. I really don't think anyone is full by the delay. As for the risk from the leak, I think it was done with the Administrations approval. If it weren't, the WH would have been all over the leaker.

It give the WH cover when they were losing support for more troops.

n/t

Maybe more to do with reconciling differences with allies. Obama cannot announce to America what the final decision is until everything in NATO is worked out