Obama’s plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan
Were “party crashers” distraction strategy?
Were the MSNBC-dubbed “most infamous party crashers in the world” a Thanksgiving weekend distraction for Obama Afghanistan strategy?
With media giants, including FoxNews chasing down how Tareq and Michaele Salahi made it into President Obama’s first official state dinner on Friday, preparations for Obama’s Afghanistan decision were being worked out for Tuesday’s televised speech.
Obama’s plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, some to be in place before Christmas, is not good news for Democrats and the anti-war crowd.
Michaele Salahi’s mega-watt smile which has flashed on the Internet from social gatherings ever since the couple’s YouTubed 2003 wedding was missing this morning as both Salahis declared their respect for both the Secret Service and the President.
“This has been the most devastating thing that’s ever happened to us,” Tareq Salahi, along with his wife Michaele, told Matt Lauer in the couple’s first television interview. “We’re greatly saddened by all the circumstances that have been involved in portraying my wife and I as party crashers. I can tell you we did not party crash the White House.” (TODAY, MSNBC, Dec. 1, 2009).
The Salahis are said to be “cooperating extensively” with the U.S. Secret Service on their internal review and investigation and are expected to be asked by committee members detailed questions about how they managed to access the White House grounds via the South East gate, enter through the East Wing and be photographed both with President Obama and the prime minister of India.
It now seems it was all a misunderstanding about what the Salahis took to be a proffered invitation in an exchange of emails: On Monday, the Washington Post reported ties between the Salahis and a senior Pentagon official who campaigned for Obama and spoke at the Democratic National Convention last year.
“Paul W. Gardner, was listed as a Facebook friend of Michele S. Jones, special assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Jones, a career military officer who serves as the Pentagon’s White House liaison, exchanged e-mails with the Salahis about the state dinner but denies she promised then admittance.
“I did not state at any time, or imply that I had tickets for ANY portion of the evening’s events,” Jones said in a statement released by the White House late Monday. “I specifically stated that they did not have tickets and in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance or access to any part of the evening’s activities. Even though I informed them of this, they still decided to come.”
There are no reports of Jones’ reaction if she spotted the Salahis at the dinner party Friday night.
Late Monday, a Washington, D.C., television network reported that the Salahis also crashed a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards dinner on Sept. 26 at which Obama spoke. The station’s Web site quoted a foundation representative, Lance Jones, as saying the Salahis were escorted out by security guards after they were caught sitting at a table paid for by other donors.
Other than Thanksgiving the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards dinner is the second time the Salahis have been in attendance at the same event attended by Obama.
The Salahis appear in a June 9, 2005 Rock the Vote Awards photograph on the Polo Contacts Worldwide Web site.
Even though most media have identified Obama in the Rock the Vote Awards photograph as president-elect, Obama was a U.S. senator when the picture was published.
Meanwhile, Obama will brief Congress this afternoon before his 8 p.m. televised speech on Afghanistan from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
| | Judi McLeod
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Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience in the print media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared on Rush Limbaugh, Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and Glenn Beck.
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