Don't know much about history--Obama on Afghan troop request

Fox News:

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday lashed out at President Obama for claiming the Bush administration rebuffed commanders' repeated requests for more troops in Afghanistan.

In a rare break in his public silence since leaving the Pentagon, Rumsfeld rejected the claim as a "bald misstatement" and "disservice" that cannot go unanswered.

"Such a bald misstatement, at least as it pertains to the period I served as secretary of defense, deserves a response," Rumsfeld said in a written statement. "I am not aware of a single request of that nature between 2001 and 2006."

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The former Pentagon chief said in his statement the White House should make public any such requests if they exist to back up the allegation.

"The president's assertion does a disservice to the truth and, in particular, to the thousands of men and women in uniform who have fought, served and sacrificed in Afghanistan," Rumsfeld said.

He urged Congress to review the claim in the upcoming debate to "determine exactly what requests were made, who made them, and where and why in the chain of command they were denied."

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I think Rumsfeld is correct. For most of the time period in question the commanders of Centcom believed in the small footprint strategy and even testified before Congress that they did not want additional troops. In 2008, after Rumsfeld was no longer Secretary of defense, the Bush administration began a policy review which ultimately suggested increasing troops in Afghanistan. This review was handed off to Obama and was the basis of his initial increase in troops last spring.