I did a double-take today when I read Bush’s attack on the Democratic plan to begin withdrawing from Iraq by 1 October:
It makes no sense to tell the enemy when you plan to start withdrawing. If we were to do so, the enemy would simply mark their calendars and begin plotting how to take over the country when we leave.
The implications of the statement are that either (a) we can never “plan to start withdrawing” (i.e., we cannot win and will be there forever), or (b) that the only way for us to withdraw is to do so secretly, so that “the enemy” doesn’t notice, which is ludicrous.
W, it appears, is being overwhelmed by this issue. Assuming, for the sake of discussion, that he once was able to formulate a credible plan for victory in Iraq, this comment suggests he has lost that ability. Bad news for Republican hopes in 2008.
NPR’s Day to Day featured Nancy Youssef today, who reminds us that we have been supposedly training Iraqi security forces so that we can start coming home. Yet we are now amidst a “surge” of American troops. Them two factoids just don’t square. How’s that training going, Geo?
I’m glad Harry Reid is coming out swinging. Somebody’s got to do the heavy lifting. It is obviously beyond Bush. And he (and Cheney) are not only incapable of acknowledging reality, but are pigheaded about pushing their insanity on the rest of us. There has got to be some push back, and I think Reid is committed to it now. Keep it going, keep it going.
If Congress passes an out-by-October-1 bill, the president must foil “the enemy” (whoever that is) by sneaking out of Iraq on September 30.
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That’ll show them!
don’t tell anyone.
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or (c) that some violent iraqi factions are current embroiled in internal power struggles about the degree to which they should “lie low” during the surge or “fight now.”
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our military leaders want them to maximize their “fight now”….to draw them out into combat where our forces are at their best.
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so the idea is not to “secretly withdraw”, but to avoid giving any increased leverage to our opponents who want “lie low.”
…why put more Americans into the theater? That is about as dumb as the Germans’ Battle of the Bulge. Actually, because of the nature of the game, it’s dumber.
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Quite frankly, I don’t have the slightest idea what the American managers’ intended end game is (das heisst “win”) but I don’t believe that they have the slightest idea what their intended end game is, either.