Bush playing for time in Iraq

Bush and Cheney are drunk on power, have made a huge mess, this congress will let them get away with it and not hold them accountable for anything. The next president will have to mop up this mess while Dick goes quail hunting and Bush clears brush on his ranch for the rest of his life. This congress is nothing but enablers.

I didn't know Dick Durbin hunted quail, but I guess lochness must be right. Isn't it also odd how the Democrats are humping for troop withdrawal when just a short time back they were saying, to quote Nancy Pelosi, "We need more boots on the ground." What will be their position tomorrow, in 2008, in 2010?

What can one say about the mumbling of an irrational man?

Note the words about Americans opposing this war contributing to the slowing of the return of troops?

After five years of horror and failure, this man of limited intellect and even more limited emotional capacity is, in effect, still saying "you're either with us or against us."

He's killed a million people, destroyed the livlihoods of a generation of Iraqis, and destroyed a priceless heritage,achieving nothing.

Nothing, that is, but having created more enemies for the United States and provided them with a training ground that never existed before. The handiwork of an idiot.

The cowardice I referred to earlier this week (9/11) is rearing its ugly head.

Bush has not the courage to admit his mistakes. He has not the courage to finish the job because to do so will require his negotiating with Syria and Iran and he is not confident enough in his administration to do so.

Bush is using a cleaver in foreign policy. The mess he leaves he leaves.

The damage will be repaired by a future administration. But hopefully historians do not confuse Bush's dealings with the deft and brilliance of that administration.

Remember: No one credits Johnson will staying the course in Vietnam.

Now its all about freedom? When Bush initially lied to begin his war it was because Iraq was was hiding Osama. Now his was is to free the citizens of Iraq. No mention of Osama lately by anyone at the White House. This embarassment of a president has ZERO buisness attempting to be a leader. He is setting the stage to leave the mess he created to the next leader of the US. But should this surprise anyone? Every business venture he has been involved with has failed. And yes, Iraq is a business venture - for oil.

Bush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/09/06/bush_wmd/?source=whitelist

More time, more blood, more lives, more wounded, more crippled, more refugees, more lies, more hatred, more billions of dollars for what? We will be back to pre-surge troop levels next summer just to save Bush's ego. Are we crazy?

The Democrats have not handled this war well up to this point; many of them, some running for Prez, voted for it and they have been less than courageous in their on and off
and feeble efforts to stop it.

But they have one advantage--the Republicans are not only primarily responsible for starting
and clumsily pursuing this war, they have apparently decided that it is more important to pursue this
multi-trillion-dollar assault on our treasury and
to tolerate at least 5000 cumulative American deaths over the next pre-election year than to win the White House. Because if they pursue this unpopular war, they will lose it.

Bush used the phrase "national Interest" again, as he did in Dec. 2005, by which he means oil, or lucrative no-bid contracts, but can't say that publicly.

He also keeps trying to say this is a war about freedom, about fighting terrorism, and about fighting Al-Qaida, NONE of which are true. You start wondering how single-minded and/or uninformed he is that he could be so dogmatic in his beliefs.

And who says leaving = surrendering? More propagandistic b------- to distract from the fact that we don't have a plan, and never did.

When Bush initially lied to begin his war it was because Iraq was was hiding Osama.
Posted by: RJin Chicago | September 14, 2007 9:02 AM

Rjin: Please refer to us readers, the speech
or articles quoting Mr. Bushs reference to
Bin-Laden being hidden away in Iraq. This
wouldn't be more Looney Left revisionist history now would it ?

The lies, misrepresentations, and deception continue. Bush, Cheney, and the administration have been doing this since 2003. This president will go down in history as the very worst the United States has ever seen.

Hampton, if we are still there in 2008 or 2010, God help us. If still there, please remember the man, his lies to put us there, and lack of courage to follow the real terriost that caused the 9-11 tragedy. bush opened this Iraq can of worms and once there, with his his "bring em on", complete mismanagement of the situation should be remembered forever as a fool and a dangerous fool when given even a ounce of power.

If you can see any good in any of his efforts and particularly the Iraq mess, you need to get into a dark room and think more seriously about it. Just to help you start, Durbin, Pelosi and the Democrats are not the liars that put us there, they didn't hid behind their desk and challenge the enemy with a "bring em on", and they certainly are not trying to prolong this with a shotgun approach in hopes of hitting something, anything.

Oh Walter, since you love dispelling the BS Blumenthal article, I'll post the truth about Bob Woodward reporting that Tenet told Bush it was a "slam dunk" that Iraq had WMDs:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/18/woodward.book/

"Michael Tackett Analysis" is just another way of saying "DNC editorial".

Consider the above article. Tackett casts things in terms of a "debate", but a debate takes two sides. And Tackett makes sure only one side is presented. The above "Swamp" article quotes Pres. Bush a total of 21 words. It quotes his Democrat opponents a total of 117 words. 5+ to 1 for the Dems.

The president's case is clear and persuasive. American troops will be withdrawn on the advice of military commanders, not on the say-so of Beltway Democrat politicians or the hate-the-military fringe groups. Put another way, this war will be run the same way the U.S. has run every war that it's won.

That's a pretty compelling case. No wonder the president's media opponents want to give their side a 5+ to 1 advantage in the forthcoming debate.

Hampton:

Not Dick Durbin, Dick Cheney...I guess I should be more specific.

John D
You continue defending Bush's invasion of Iraq by Tenet's "slam dunk" statement. And how does Bush hold Tenet accountable.
He gives him the Medal of Freedom. This Administration has always been about SPIN not facts. You are one who is too biased to even attempt to draw any rational conclusions.

I wonder how much the administration and their cronies are profiting from this debacle? The longer it drags on, the more money in their pockets!
If they really had any intention on defeating the forces of terrorism, they would bring the massive forces of our military to bear in a swift and decisive strike that would take out the entire enemy. Every last one of them. We know who they are. Why screw around and take a beating and say we need more time! For what?
What about fighting terrorism here? With a wide-open, unguarded border and the fear of political correctness, the fight is a sham.
As for the Iraqis, sorry, I just don’t care about them. If the government and military can’t take control and stop the criminals, then so be it, let them die. Its time they assumed the responsibility for their own fate. We just can’t baby sit the whole world at the expense of our soldier’s lives and precious, dwindling tax dollars. We are going broke, both spiritually and economically.
Nero fiddles while Rome burns!

Despite all of the rhetoric.

There is currently NO, NOT ONE, reason for the US to remain in Iraq to protect OUR security.

All we hear about now, is stabilizing Iraq to get a stable Middle East.

It's impossible to get a stable Middle East when the United States refuses to talk to the other countries in the Middle East. This only demonstrates his TOTAL lack of foreign skills.

So for those supporting the President. A question.

Why does the US have to lead the war in Iraq? Why can't we go to the UN, say that we need help resolving this and keeping Iraq and the Middle East stable?

Given the HUGE oil revenues that the entire world depends on, I'll bet there would be a lot of takers.

Of course then GWB and his buddies would be able to control the oil revenue. AND GWB would have to admit that he has no clue what he's doing.

Bruce:

Nice post - did your hs journalism teacher tell you to do this?? Or was it your idea to count the words.

Once again, attack the messenger, not the message.

The fact is, they ignored any intelligence that didn't fit their agenda.

One example, they relied on a source in Germany called "curveball" without verifying his claims and despite the fact that the Germans thought he was bogus.

Curveball claimed to be a chemical engineer but was actually a cab driver from Iraq.

How about the "nuke you ler" fuel from Africa claim that the White House had to retract or the bogus claims about links to al qaeda?

The deception involved in this is unbelievable. The costs of this war are unimaginable. Think of things we could have bought for $2 trillion in this country. And about this "surge", that's just counting the military personnel in the area. Everyone has forgotten about the mercenary forces we are paying to operate as the our dark forces. There was no surge. Think of it, free health care for all, thousands of new schools, free education for millions, a completely new air traffic control system. We are Rome.

Isn't it interesting how the words victory in Iraq seem to have dissapeared from Bush's speil. Now it's return on success. Success at what, running out the clock? Deception? More innocent American lives "invested"?

Of course Bush is playing for time...time enough to scramble out of office in another year without having to declare what's already a fact, that the war he started is lost(without nuking the whole region, and don't think he hasn't pondered trying that out). Just like every other mess this pampered rich kid has made, someone else will bail him out. Don't worry that another year of war in Iraq will bring death notices to so many GI's families. W is secure in the knowledge that he will retire to his millions, pick up a few more millions on the speaking tour, and sleep just fine at night, never realizing what a disaster he's been to our country.

The Israel lobby gets what the Israel lobby wants, especially when a fanatical neoconservative like Bush is in power.
And what the Israel lobby wants now is a proxy war with Iran, fought by you-know-who.
The lobby, along with all it's stooges in Washington, will not be content until the US is at war with all of Israel's enemies. And it's time that we all own up to this and stop saying silly things like "this is a war for oil".

John D -
Your holding up Tenet's "slam dunk" quote is way off base, as noted by Tenet himself - who belives he was made the intellignece scapegoat of the Iraq WMD debacle. As has been clear from reporting over the past year, it was President (oops, I mean Vice President) Dick "Shotgun" Cheney and his minions who actually built the "case" for going into Iraq because of the supposed WMDs there.

From 4/26/07 edition of USA Today:

Tenet says he believed Iraq had WMDs but never considered the intelligence to be a "slam dunk." Tenet says he used that description to show how easy it would be to build a public case for war, given that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons and had performed nuclear-weapons research in the past.

"And the hardest part of all this has been just listening to this for almost three years, listening to the vice president go on Meet the Press on the fifth year (anniversary) of 9/11 and say, 'Well, George Tenet said slam dunk,' " Tenet says. "As if he needed me to say 'slam dunk' to go to war with Iraq."

Leaking the "slam dunk" quote, Tenet says, was the "most despicable thing that ever happened to me."

It's too bad that those who blindly follow their leader, President Cheney, (and his minion, Chimpy McFlightsuit) continue to trot out this old saw - especially since it has been refuted by the supposed originator of the statement.

Invading Iraq was never in our public interest, not because it was poorly planned but because it was a stupid, immoral, preposterous idea, for way too many reasons to mention. Not enough people understood this, and those that might have understood--including such selfserving politicians as John Edwards, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton--did virtually nothing to stop it.

But now that we've destroyed one country, disrupted all of its neighbors, and weakened ourselves beyond measure, do we actually believe that we can "end" this murky, multi-front conflict that we don't even begin to understand? Watch the reports and analysis of CNN's Michael Ware to get a glimpse of what we got ourselves into while very few of us were paying attention.

Then vow to never ever let it happen again.

Since the surge:
765 American solders dead
80 Billion spent
3 of 18 benchmarks met
Mission accomplished

We should start another surge ASAP.

At last the truth emerges. Iraq as a permanent colony of the U.S. Why else would we be building the largest embassy in the world there? Our broken government here is trying to build a government there? Charity begins at home. If we do not impeach Bush then we show the world that we support him. This is the eclipsing of America.

Nobody said war is pretty. You can’t win a war worrying about civilian casualties either. Nobody told the people of the World trade towers to watch out, nor the hundreds of road side bombs killing innocent civilians, the bombings of army barracks, or the bombing of hotels and trains. They were raise with the mentality suicide and killing will make a place with God. It has already been stated that if you do not believe in Islam you are an infidel and should be killed. So we, meaning the world, for years have been looking the other way and it seems to boil down to this either fight them here or over there. These people are fanatics and don’t care. They know American politics will succumb to mounting casualties and public pressure. Yes I too feel saddened by the mounting losses however, like in Vietnam we have never learned from our mistakes. Guerrilla tactics keep changing and we can not keep like the old French army’s of pounding a drum and marching in single file. It was disastrous then as it is now. We should worry less about civilian casualties (is the enemy worried about it) and go in with such off guard insanity and destruction that we scare of the Taliban knowing we mean business instead of pussy footing around. No wonder the world laughs at the US we cant even fight our way out of a paper bag. Maybe we should hire the gangs from US cities maybe then the job would get done.

The thing I don't understand is why US don't use a millitary satellite to spy the Al Qaeda troop's movements in the mountains and sweep them with accuracy.

The same with the opium traffic in Afghanistan.

John D
You continue defending Bush's invasion of Iraq by Tenet's "slam dunk" statement.
Posted by: John A | September 14, 2007 10:05 AM

John A: More revisionist history from the Looney Left, I see you conveniently left out it was also the belief of our strong ally France , Britain , Germany , Israel , Italy , Spain , and of course the renowned institution , the U.N. You give one the impression that Mr. Bush should of said your all liars and i don't believe you one bit , and if they did have them, you liberal morons' would all of said ...Yes ! Mr. President that was the right call, sure thing John A.
It's just driving you defeatocrats crazy that the worm has turned, and you all are heavily invested in our defeat. From now on good news from Iraq, will spell bad news for the Democrats in '08.

Didn't Metallica have a cd titled "Kill em All"?

It's a confidence game http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_game