FishPoolDC: Our Insider's Notes from Today's Press Briefing

Yep. What She Said: In an abbreviated briefing today (running against the seventh of the big Sit Room Af-Pak strategy meetings), Press Secretary Robert Gibbs backed Secy Hillary Clinton’s sharp comments yesterday that she finds it “hard to believe” that Pakistan couldn’t find al Qaeda if they really wanted to, calling Clinton’s remarks “completely appropriate.” Of today’s strategy meeting, RG said he certainly has not been told it’s the last; it is indicative the assessment is “nearing its conclusion”; there is no next meeting scheduled (but there could be one next week); and the decision “certainly could come earlier” than the Nov.