It was fall 2009, and just a few months into his presidency, Barack Obama asked the military

and his cabinet for a review of the war in Afghanistan.

Seven years into the war, Obama wanted to step back and get a slate of options for what

to do next.

What was our objective?

What was achievable?

What resources were needed?

Military?

Diplomatic?

Assistance?

No matter where the discussion went, the military came back with basically one option.

More troops.

Sources tell CBS News that General Stanley McCrystal's strong recommendation to the president

is for 40,000 additional troops for Afghanistan on top of the 65,000 already there.

In fact, McCrystal said, the only choice was between putting in all of those troops or

almost certain failure.

He advisors quickly agreed.

Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

When Obama tried to take a second to assess whether troop surge of that size really made

sense, he got hammered by Republicans in the media as indecisive, dithering.

I remember sitting through nine tense situation room meetings, two to three hours each, as the

hawks at the table made the same arguments for an open-ended surge, over and over.

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