Friday, September 07, 2007

Bush Will Push This War Until He's Out Of Office



Reductions in violence form the centerpiece of the Bush administration's claim that its war strategy is working.

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus has indicated a willingness to consider a drawdown of one brigade of between 3,500 and 4,500 U.S. troops from Iraq early next year, with more to follow over the next months based on conditions on the ground, according to a senior U.S. official.

A senior military officer in Iraq said there will be no written presentation to the president on security and stability in Iraq. “There is no report. It is an assessment provided by them by testimony,” the officer said.

The only hard copy will be Gen. Petraeus’ opening statement to Congress, scheduled for Monday, along with any charts he will use in explaining the results of the troop surge in Baghdad over the past several months.

The GAO report found that "average number of daily attacks against civilians have remained unchanged from February to July 2007," a conclusion that the military said was skewed because it did not include dramatic, up-to-date information from August. In other words, it did not say what the Bush Administration wanted to hear.

Gen. Jones: ‘Yes,’ we can begin to withdraw from Iraq. In a House Armed Services Committee hearing this afternoon, Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) asked Gen. James Jones to comment on his report’s recommendation that the U.S. should reduce its footprint in Iraq. The Jones report suggests “significant reductions” in the “size of our national footprint in Iraq.” Skelton asked Jones if this is a call to reduce troop levels, and Jones answered yes.

The pullouts would be contingent on the ability of U.S. and Iraqi forces to sustain what the administration heralds as recent gains in security and to make further gains in stabilizing Iraq.

What it comes down to for this Administration is a fact, that Bush will keep the troops in Iraq until he has left office. Leaving or passing the Iraq mess on to the next President and Mr. Bush will be a former President out of office making millions on speeches.

Meanwhile America, with the right President, House and Senate, will try to undo the damage the former President, and the former Republican House and Senate made. This will probably last for the next ten (10), or 15 years before this country is out of the red. It seems everything this President has ever done, has ended in failure.

16 comments:

Larry said...

Since we have no Democratic Congress with a spine, the U.S will be in Iraq and whereever Bush starts a war in the Mideast for years to come.

Fran said...

My loathing for this man knows no end. Yet I must admit that on a spiritual level, I struggle with that.

I know others see it otherwise, but on a deep level I don't want to carry hate. It burdens me, not the person I hate.

But I do carry hate. For Bush.

Anonymous said...

General Jim Jones. How frigging APPROPRIATE.

Suzie-Q (S-Q) said...

It seems everything this President has ever done, has ended in failure.
-------------------
Correction:

It seems everything he has ever done in his life has ended in failure!

;)

PoliShifter said...

Infuriating, isn't?

What I fail to grasp is why the right wing pushes so hard to nation build in Iraq. They are getting just what they hate; an Islamic Republic. Most right wingers want to kill "towel heads" not help them build a nation. It makes no sense.

Many I think buy into this notion that "America MUST win!" though it's not clear what we're winning.

I'm sure a few are savvy enough to know what we're trying to win is the oil in addition to more cost+ no bid contracts for Corporations friendly to BushCo.

There may even be some right wingers who own shares in Halliburton etc who are profiting off the occupation of Iraq thus I can understand why they carry water for Bush for their own personal ill gotten gain.

But the rest of the truck driving working class Republicans who want us in Iraq...why? What's their stake in it? I can only guess that the propaganda of the Bush Machine has tapped into something primal in their brains about the supposed glory of America.

Bush has successfully made it out in these peoples' minds that if you want out of Iraq then you don't support the troops.

It just makes no fucking sense to me.

Mary Ellen said...

I think the neo con crowd has learned the key to controlling those lower middle class and poor Americans with religion and their sense to be better than anyone else or more worthy of being a "true American". Look at the fundamentalist religions, they are convinced that THEY are saved and that if everyone doesn't follow their brand of religion they cannot be saved and cannot "WIN" the Kingdom of God. So, Bush has them wrapped up with the religion thing and with the winning thing. We have to "win" the war on terror and if we don't support Bush, according to them, then we are losers.

Pathetic crowd, those neo-cons!

Anonymous said...

This video pretty much sums up the situation right now.

The administration's goal is to pass this quagmire on to the Democrats.

I agree with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson and what he says should be repeated over and over again:

"I'm disconcerted and very concerned about the fact that the democrats seem to be so cowed by the Republican tactic of saying 'Aha, you're weak on national security!' Anytime they speak sensibly about the situation in Iraq or for that matter Afghanistan too, or for that matter the entire national security situation for this country, they don't seem able to articulate a clear vision that would be contrary to the lack of vision that is coming out of the White House and it's appalling that we can't find any leadership within the Democratic Party to do that".

I am profoundly disappointed with the Democratic leadership (or lack thereof, I should say) to stand up to this administration.

Will they ever find their backbone?

Everyone should go here and insist that their congress men and women find their damned backbone.

In_Flight said...

He will to. He'll be an old senile man screaming about the "good old days" in about 10 years.

Candace said...

Maryellen hit it On. The. Head. It's religious brainwashing of people who prefer not to do their own thinking. They're conditioned to hearing "The Truth" from the pulpit, and now from the Republican Party. Oh, and Faux News, of course. Pathetic. And breathtakingly dangerous.

proudprogressive said...

people, go out ASAP and change your voter registration to Green or Independent. Consider not voting..Stop feeding the ONE party system. Just stop it..free yourselves to fight the battle of building something new. Its a one party system. Totalitarian. De colonize your minds and the soul will heal. People are in shock..many at least because they are seeing the Dems as they ALWAYS have been. Me i went Green a while back..its been a process. But i am in a better space now.
Imagine the headlines IF only 25% of eligible voters voted. Imagine. If we quit feeding this broken system. The energy for building new we could have. We have to start somewhere. Please think about this.

Look at the evidence, look into your own outrage and step outside of this paradigm. We have to de colonize our own minds first and believe me - It is a struggle , it has been for me. a Kennedy kid...etc.

But look at the facts. Look at the Dems..really look at em. Look at the history, Do something with your disgust. They are not listening to us. Funding should have been stopped before the surge. Do we really need to know any more than that ?

Tom Harper said...

In 2004, some people voted for Bush with the reasoning that we shouldn't change horses in the middle of a stream; the person who got us into this war should be the one to see us through it. So much for that theory.

Who Hijacked Our Country

Anonymous said...

ProudProgressive,

What you say makes sense if enough people did what you propose. If only a small minority do this, then it hands the election over to the Republicans. I shudder at the thought of another Republican in office.

Lizzy said...

It seems everything this President has ever done, has ended in failure.

And yet he will still be allowed to finish his term because the Congress refuses to do what's right for our country.

Larry said...

Crooks and Liars:

Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121. We need to let our representatives know that Bush cannot attack Iran. GW will not go away quietly as his disastrous term comes to an end. I think most of us believe Iran is the next target on Bush and Cheney’s to-do list. Kristol, the equally insane Ledeen (read this madness) and all his Neocon, warmongering pals are pushing the White House at every moment to make the attack happen.

Flood the Switchboards Before It's Too Late.

proudprogressive said...

I called them all Larry, all of my reps and the two senators. NOT another cent for this war. But you know what people, the horses have left the barn. The governments agenda is not doing the "people's busines" - that is a big lie. I do not see any real difference between dems or thugs. only diff rhetoric.


Its time we see this country for what it really and truly is. Then we can free ourselves one by one, and create room for the great changes that need to come. The future for AmeriKKKa is not bright. We have to things differently.

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