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President Barack Obama is greeted by NATO Commander in Afghanistan Gen. David Petraeus, left, and US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry, center, after stepping off Air Force One during an unannounced visit to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Dec. 3. The President’s planned visit to Kabul to see President Hamid Karzai was canceled due to bad weather, a U.S. official said.
The main purpose of the President’s trip is to thank the troops – he will award five Purple Hearts. He is expected to be on the ground for three hours, though the schedule is changing.
“We started planning this over a month ago,” Ben Rhodes, a national security aide, told reporters. “And the reason was to go during the holiday season. The president wanted to find a time in between Thanksgiving and Christmas when he could go out to spend some times with the troops, in particular, and our civilians in Afghanistan. Basically to wish them a happy holidays. It’s a particularly tough time of year.”
The entrance to the West Wing of the White House in Washington is without a Marine standing sentry, Dec. 3, after it was announced that President Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan. A Marine honor guard will stand sentry at the entrance if President Obama is in the West Wing of the White House.
The Obama Diary 
wait wut? potus in afghanistan? woah. i wish i could watch it.
I was surprised too, that came out of the blue! Don’t worry if you miss him speaking to the troops, will post it later.
Oh lovely, the firebagger left is wondering how he could leave the adults in the White House to handle the tax extensions issue. Because we all know they can’t do their job without someone holding their hands and massaging their feet telling them everything will be all right.
I had to turn off Thom Hartman on the radio this morning because he said the same thing. Oh and he accused the president of being Republican. So Obama has gone from being a socialist (right wing) to a Republican (left wing) in TWO years. Fascinating.
Hello? The trip was planned a month ago and the troops are Americans too. Sigh.
I wish our president well and a safe, uneventful visit home. Because he’ll be returning to a country that is damn near NUTS.
Thom Hartmann is an uneducated fool who pumps out books as regularly as Glen Beck, and has spent the last several months on a permanent rant against President Obama. I can no longer stand more than 7 seconds of him. Unfortunately, a lot of people see him as a man with credibility, but I’ve listened to him debate tea baggers and Republicans and he’s often woefully uninformed – they seem to get the better of him most times, and he’s left screeching into his microphone to try and drown them out.
I am so sick of the professional left. Why is it that President Obama has to hold the hands of the democrats in congress? They have been there long enough to know how things are done. Vote on the tax cuts already, if they needed direction, they got it before the election when President Obama advised them to hold the vote.
A very heartfelt and important message. I am so glad I had the opportunity to hear him speak. I hope the troops can take to heart what he expressed.
This man is amazing. The speech was so heartfelt and cut through all the noise back home, especially the noise from members of Congress who think these brave kids can’t manage the end of DADT.
YEAH!
This was so nice and kind of him. This man is in CONTROL!