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Subscribe to RSSPresident Barack Obama arrived in Kabul to sign a 10-year security agreement with Afghanistan. NBC's Chuck Todd and Jim Miklaszewski report.
When President Barack Obama arrived Tuesday in Afghanistan on the first anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, it was supposed to be a secret, like his earlier visits to the dangerous region. But news of the trip leaked out hours earlier, raising new alarm bells about the president's security.
The Afghan news station TOLONews reported early Tuesday that Obama had arrived in Kabul, hours before the White House's embargo on reporting the news was lifted. Other news organizations, including The New York Post and the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, cited that report, which was attributed to unnamed Afghan officials.
The U.S. National Security Council and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul both denied the report, and Obama's official schedule indicated that he was still in Washington, meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the Oval Office:
President Barack Obama's official schedule for Tuesday indicated that the president was remaining in Washington all day.
In fact, he had left Joint Base Andrews, Md., aboard Air Force One shortly after midnight Tuesday morning.
 M. Alex Johnson is a reporter for msnbc.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. |
In the face of the official denials, the Post removed its report, as did Buzzfeed, which deleted a tweet noting the news after an NSC official called it to argue that its report endangered Obama's life, it said.
Obama's previous visits to Afghanistan, in March and December 2010, were unannounced for security reasons, and news of them didn't leak out. And strict security measures were in place Tuesday as well, including a White House embargo that prevented journalists traveling with the president from reporting the trip until Obama arrived at the Afghan Presidential Palace about 11:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. ET), hours after the TOLONews report was published.
But this time the news did get out, and at an uncomfortable time for U.S. security officials.
The apparent breach comes in the wake of an incident last month in which members of the president's advance security team were reported to have picked up prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, before Obama's visit to the Summit of the Americas. Eight Secret Service agents have been forced to leave the agency as a result of the scandal.
The Defense Department said it couldn't discuss the incident, and the White House didn't immediately return calls for comment. Editors at TOLONews did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Ronald Kessler, a longtime political reporter who interviewed more than 100 active and former Secret Service agents for "In the President's Secret Service," a book on presidential security arrangements, told msnbc.com that an early report on a surprise visit "clearly endangers the president when he's going into a war zone."
The biggest concern, he said, "is the possibility of attacks on the ground when (Obama) lands and thereafter."
NBC News and other news organizations learned about the trip Tuesday but withheld reporting it until Obama arrived at the palace. But "the fact so many U.S. reporters knew about it made it easier for it to disseminate," Kessler said.
Kessler suggested that the Obama administration follow the example of the administration of former President George W. Bush, "which did not let reporters know beforehand at all" when Bush traveled to Afghanistan.
"They told the press pool that they were going to go on a trip, (but) they weren't told where," Kessler said. "It was not until they got on the airplane that they were told they were going to Afghanistan."
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Someone needs to go to prison for this one...
Actually they should get a medal for loving their country.
I think you GOPer's are beginning to realize how badly you are going to be whipped in Nov , this section is full of sour grapes. GOOD
You read it right Kath. A bunch of LOSERS that call themselves republiCONs. Did you see today that a witness to Bobby Kennedy's assassination is saying the CIA was involved in assassinating him? That the FBI covered up the fact that there were 13 shots, not 8. Sort of like the "magic bullet" that the chumps ate up. Just like JFK. Who was in charge of the CIA back then? George "the scum bag" Bush.
Traitors is more like it.
The same traitors that murdered the Kennedy's are still among us.
I don't think it's the same people, maybe the SS is pissed at Obama, I'm sure like every other dem in the high office he's had his share of interns on their knees, and the SS knows it, but they can't have a little fun?
royce.......that is the most ridiculas statement I have ever read about the President......what is the matter with you GOPer's anyway?
Kathyn, Please do not think that Royce is representative of the thought process of the GOP....perhaps the uneducated Tea Party contingent, though.
Royce is just pissed he's not getting much "face time". I'm sure plenty of GOP presidents have had their share of interns "on their knees", thing is, Repubs seem to have a penchant for boys.
The irony: Those who will determine the election's outcome (the relatively few who are neither "99%ers" or "1%ers", who are neither rabid Rs nor rabid Ds) are repulsed by the smarmy transparency of this endless "victory lap" for the mere OK to kill OBL. It trumpets desperation and insecurity but also reflects the impossibility of running on his record.
The imperial president, constantly campaigning for re-election despite a $16T debt, $1T deficits, numerous unkept campaign promises and failures in housing, education, healthcare, infrastructure, finds time and money (AF1 runs $185,000/hour) to make a "secret" visit to Afghanistan to sign one document and, natch, "address Americans on the anniversary of OBL's death", when Skype, a fax and a WH address would have sufficed and eliminated the silliness surrounding "leaks", "risks" and "security"
OBL is dead. alQaeda Inc. persists and grows as we attack other nations, fail to respect their sovereignty, drone ourselves into "victory" and blindly support a rogue nation practicing apartheid. These are the causes of "terrorism".
I know because I'm one of them.
Love that endless victory lap. It shows who the real losers are. The so-called "patriots", the treasonist republiCON pussies. It proves that draft dodgers dont make good leaders.
Bull@!$%#~!~ The entire Bush re-election campaign was grounded in 9/11 and its aftermath. You can call the recognition of the one year anniversary of bin Laden's death a "victory lap" if you choose. But after the righteous indignation subsides it is still a victory. Had this occurred on Bush's watch there would be a movement by Republicans to create a national holiday in commemoration. Maybe if Obama had staged a carrier landing and crowed of the success under a banner boasting "Mission Accomplished," he would score more highly with GOPers.
To clarify: I'm one of those who will determine the election's outcome and am repulsed by Mr. Obama's smarmy actions.
You will waste your vote on another draft dodger in the patteren of the coke head and cheney. You will vote for the pussy, romney.
It is clear to me that Karl Rove still has allies in the White House..........and the Secret Service. Sedition comes in all shapes and sizes. If anything happens to this President there will be hell to pay in the streets.
All this fanfare surrounding the US-Afghan agreement cannot hide the fact that America's relations with Afghanistan will continue to be frustrating and messy for years to come.A major problem will be how the Taliban -Hamid Karzai relationship will evolve as the American presence fades from that country.
Another big waste of taxpayer dollars. Wearing out Air Force one just to listen to his blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
At least he speaks plain english, unlike the coke head that you were a chump enough to vote for twice.
Dumb is a dumb does.
Well now, Howie ~ I can only imagine how mortally pissed you were when Bush sneaked out of town to fly to Iraq, just to have a turkey dinner with the troops. He accomplished nothing on that trip except to get a free meal and pose in a photo-op ~ ~ ~ ~ with a plastic turkey. Your desperation is incredible.
It's just what not so bright people hear when someone intelligent speaks..blah, blah, blah...kind of like what a dog hears when you speak to them...blah, blah, Fido, blah, blah....
need to do this one way or the other---either keep it secret like supposed to, or just tell everybody and hope for the best. i think we really need to pack up all our gear, guys, and money and leave afghanistan and pakistan, let them finish each other off. we really do not need to waste any more money trying to 'help' these fools
January 2013.
That's when the Obama dog and pony show finally ends.
Why oh why are we still in Afghanistan?? Obama keeps this stupid war going and going. Why?? Why have all these troops die and lose arms and legs??
This is what happens when you elect a "community organizer, affirmative action reject" to such a high office.
Obama the dog-eater shelved in 2012.
President Obama will be re-elected by a landslide in 2012. That will be the end of the loser republiCON party and chumps like you.
Stupid is as stupid does.
I'm sure this is just an echo of the disdain held for Bush when he needlessly started that little skirmish in Iraq which cost us over 4,500 deaths and over 28,000 wounded. And for what? Iraq was not involved in 9/11, Saddam was not in alliance with al-Qaeda, and he posed no substantive threat to anyone outside his own country. Obama didn't start the Afghanistan war but seems intent on ending it with some benefits accruing to the United States. We sure as hell didn't get any out of Iraq.
What has happened to your thought process?. Is it highly disfigured
The one singular item that raises a red flag for me is that, of all the media outlets in the world, ONLY Xinhua, the propaganda organ of the Chinese Communist Party, and Rupert Murdoch (the NY Post), a longtime satellite-lift customer of the Chinese, were named as having contributed to the danger to the President that the leak created.
This further underlines the danger to the free world that the Murdoch media empire presents.
It would be prudent if the NSC and its affiliate agencies would turn the heat up on Murdoch and all his media tentacles in the U.S., starting with ClusterFOX and the Post.
Obviously, the White House wanted this trip to be "leaked" in advance. If the White House and the Secret Service cannot keep a trip a secret, then they are truly incompetent.
All I can say right now is that a lot of these posts don't sound like they're written by americans. So much hatred, arrogance and ignorance. No matter what your thoughts or opinions of this man, he is the current President, and his assassination would be a dreadful and tragic event in our lives, not to mention the lives of his wife and children. People's brains sound so poisoned to me.
Thank you Faux and fiends for further damaging the already damaged brains of their audience. Yes, Virginia, "conned"servitism is a mental disorder.
When will thay learn that you cannot trust those sand flees with any info, Time to rework all security measures and test all parties trusted with information reguarding the presadential location at any given time regularly. House cleaning should begin imediately.
Regardless of who you voted for or not.We have the government doing its' job POORLY.It is an OUTRAGE.This is our president,I want NO harm to befall ANY president you GD ASS*****
People need to realize that this is the Obama Administration. Hope and Change is Despair and Corruption. Incompetence is the common denominator of all Obama appointees. Obama is digging his own grave and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
As compared to the Bush administration. to wit:
1) Condie Rice ~ non-descript college administrator charged with national security who was asleep at the wheel through 9/11.
2) Donald Rumsfeld ~ retread SECDEF who couldn't lead a two car funeral procession without a wreck
3) FEMA's Brownie ~ who did "a heckuva job" with Katrina
4) Alberto Gonzales ~ who barely escaped indictment for malfeasance of and abuse of office
5) Scooter Libby ~ who didn't escape indictment, or conviction
6) Karl Rove ~ aka "Turd-blossom" whose underhanded antics are legend
and the list goes on and on and on. Yep. Cheney really knew how to pick 'em for Lil George.
pProbably leaked by the over zealous for recognition and credit for the work of others OBAMA..
Does anyone really consider this anything less than an election year HEY LOOK HOW I SUPPORT THE TROOPS CAMPAIGN STOP???
whats up with the soldier who said he didn't like or support OBAMA hear hje might be court-marshalled for HIS FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT not to like the president or HAS OBAMA MADE THAT ILLEGAL ALSO like not having the healthcare he said he would not use for his family and outlawing people from texting WTF but allowing SPIKE LEE to tweet what he thought was Zimmerman's address but what turned out to be an elderly couple who had to flee their home because of vandalism and death threats, BUT of course no charges were placed against ner for reckless endangerment and countless other charges, good thing Lee isn't white HIS BROS would had raised hell... by the way why didn't NSNBC even report that during the Zimmerman over-reaction and coverage that a white guy and his girlfriend were kidnapped by a group of black guys andbrutally beaten and raped over several days and then killed??? I GUESS THATS NOT CONSIDERED RACIST OR NEWSWORTHY to the N PRESS... Didn't see the one about the Alabama man that was beaten by a MOB of blacks with shovels, clubs brooms and other items to the point of being hospitalized in critical condition BUT WTF he white so it doesn't matter UNTIL whitey gets fed up with it and kills a bunch of racist blacks that the GOV says are IMPOSSIBLE to be racists because they are black and blacks can't be racist, ITS TIME FOR A REAL CHANGE AND TIME WHITES DO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE because the GOV has handed them over to be raped killed and beaten robbed by America's shame of a mascot of freedom. King would turn in his grave to see what has been created in the name of freedom!
I wonder if this was how HITLER got his start ohh well they didn't have tex
??????????????????????????????
bicfj : You may be correct in your assumption, and lately several suspects have arisen, from some very disgruntled Secret Service Agents who have recently become unemployed, and perhaps unemployable, to any number of our own home grown bigots and terrorists. I can only hope and pray that this is simply a run of the mill SNAFU .
you flipping morons that have to "politicise everything" get a f****** life!! this is about presidential security WHOEVER is in the white house Republican or Democrat!!!! jesus F****** C*****! whomever leaked this information should at the very least be fired and defineately find out why they violated the press blackout.It's carelessness like this that gets people killed and I think Obama's administration needs to be more vigilant in these efforts and take the presidents security more seriously
Obama moved his meeting from Chicago to Camp David, But but DEM are his people? Obama is now Dr.Frankenstien He and the Democrats have created a Monster, You own it Libs......Bye bye Obama.
So I take it you're going to be mighty dissapointed in November, slick?
SO did Murdoch hack the phones of the Secret Service too?
I don't think that the leak came from this side of the world. I think someone in the know in Kabul leaked it. The first indication of the trip was tweeted by an Afghan tv station. The Huffington Post picked up on it. Since Obama was going to Kabul to sign the agreement with Karzai, folks outside of POTUS's security detail would know about the trip, but not the exact timing for arrival. It's a lot easier to fly into a US base just to visit the military - no outsiders.
Sorry I didn't want to RACIAL-PROFILE so I told the OLD lady at the airport AND the islamic jihadist wearing a gunbelt and carrying an AK-47 ohh yeah and there was a Colombian hooker that I also told about the trip but I swear I didn't tell the journalist, I would never tell any of those people any secret that I wanted to keep secret!
It is too dangerous for our President to go to that country. We have too many enemies over there. How many Afghans in soldier uniforms have killed our troops? Many and none can be trusted. Its not too smart for Obama to go over there. What's he trying to prove, that we have made that country safer, haha. Yeah right.
I thought merely voting this man into office was suppose to make the World love us, "and the lions will lie down with the sheep", and all that kinda stuff..................?
So much hatred in the air, I wonder if these people dont hate themselves too . Since Obama won the election people start to tear out their hair, continue doing it you only hurting yourselves. When Bush was in the WH , he did some really silly things and his cohorts would praise him even for his folly . Every step this administration takes and is successful is turned into a whipping episode. Gird yourselves as you all will have to further whip your self into a frenzy at the November result as Obama will be elected a second time. You can all give me hell for this but it is going to happen
Thanks, Joyce...the image of Republican flagellants that gave me almost made my drink come out of my nose! Awsome!
Obama/Biden 2012!
I think we will see a blowout of epic proportion. I really do!