Letters to the Editor
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Does anyone think Bush...
...will actually consider ANYTHING other than he's already "decided"? Nothing these "experts" recommend would likely penetrate Bush's mind.
We continue our plunge down to disaster.
And, hasn't it always been a joke when the Republicans would whine about the "Democrats coming up with an Iraq plan"?
As if Bush would have ever considered it?
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Will Bush listen to reason?
No.
Now please stop writing fucktarded headlines, Salon.
Please?
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what'll he do?
While I can understand those who think Bush will resist doing much of anything about Iraq for the rest of his term..--personally, I suspect he'd like to just keep things exactly the way they are, and slog along until the 2008 election, where the GOP would be hammered by the dems, and then they could blame a Dem president and congress for "defeat" in Iraq--I suspect Bush is not going to have much choice here.
I would guess he's going to be having some very difficult private conversations with the people who put him in office in the first place, and those people are not going to be cutting him much slack. I think boy-george is basically going to be told what to do, and he's not going to be given the option of making his own decision about it.
So, I expect he's going to do something. It'll be interesting to see what he does, though, and even better, to hear and see how the White House spins all this.
What a bunch of losers.
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BUSH LAUGHS
Bush looks at "the Iraq report" and laughs.
WHY are we paying millions for "a study", when
all know that Bush is addicted to
DENIAL, DESTRUCTION, DEBT and DEATH
for all Americans.
IMPEACH BUSH, now.
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bush's main personality traits are nastiness and resentment of his intellectual superiors(almost everyone)
he may NOT be controllable by the GOP establishment, though of course they will certainly try.
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IMPEACH BUSH, he's begging for it.
Forget that zillion-dollar Iraq report
saying "no-no" to President Baby Bush.
President Geo.W Bush is seriously addicted to
DENIAL, DESTRUCTION, DEBT and DEATH.
Bush is dangerous to America and Americans.
IMPEACH BUSH, now.
Bush's begging for it.
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He'll Twist and Turn
I don't believe that Junior will listen to reason, why would he start now? I'm not being ironic, I don't believe he is temperamentally capable of changing his actions based on the advice of others. He has said that he would keep on even if only Laura and Barney were with him. He doesn't know how to let go of this tiger without appearing to be what he would consider weak and he'll only grab its tail all the more tightly. I honestly believe we have a man who is so deep into an inferiority complex (thanks, Mom!) that he only way he can look at himself in the mirror is to construct a self-myth of the strong, far-seeing leader who is beset by a cowardly public. He'll show us!
What I think he will most likely do is have the White House staff work at contorting the 79 recommendations until they find an interpretation that meets his plans, or more accurately whims - as we all know that there's nothing about post-war Iraq that's been planned. Then he'll go right on ahead and do what he damn well pleases, claiming that it's what the ISG recommended.
Sonny is not a person to bend. He will truly cut of our noses to spite his face (you don't think he'd cut off his own, do you?). To do otherwise would be to admit that he made a mistake, which is far worse than mere defeat.
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Out of reach?
Depends on how you define victory. Prior to intervention, Islamic extremists were killing Jews and Americans. Now they're killing each other.
You do the math.
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Only Fear Ignorance
My Grandfather used to tell Me--You do not need to fear intelligent people--But never turn your back to an idiot! We as a nation--with the help of the Supreme Court--Bush v Gore--have turned our backs to an idiot!! I have a feeling our worst fears haven't been realized YET!!!
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The worst government is the most moral
Greetings
H.L. Mencken had our decider nailed.
With his evangelical belief burning bright Bush must stay the course in Iraq until the end of his term. Not the voters, Daddy 41, Baker or anything less than a host of angels will dissuade Dubya from the fervor that led us on this whacky Iraqi crusade of his.
The Rightist cynics and consultants know/admit the truth, it's a lost cause on so many levels, but especially for them at the ballot box: If American boots are still on the ground in Iraq in 08, there won't be a Republican in national office in 09....
Dubya tone deaf, does NOT seem to know or care
Enjoy the journey
WarLord
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Dear God
Here we go again. I can only hope that we and the soldiers/contractors (well maybe not the CEO's and stockholders of the contractors) get home in at least 3/4 of a piece. At least the thinking,reasoning portion of the country has something to be vindicated about, not righteous about for Christ's sake, quite the contrary. For every legislator who voted for the war in Iraq, for every citizen who re-elected President George W. Bush in 2004 and for President George W. Bush himself and his heat packing little demons and talking heads, this is the last time the "snooze alarm" is going to go off (aka, may you all rot in Hell for what you have wrought). The shame is now all of ours of course but it really should be all of your's alone to savor. Animals (without the nature part)..
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"conduct of the war" ?
Could the writer possibly be referring to the unprovoked, manipulated, unjustified attack on a nation, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, fueled by nothing more than the displaced vengeance of this country’s wounded pride? That “war”?
The ISG does provide us with a model, of sorts. If one were to encounter a violent gang rape in progress, certainly a subset of the rapists might be formed into a blue ribbon assemblage in order to formulate and recommend an exit strategy to their associates.
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Exit Strategy?
For a long as I can remember, it has been accepted wisdom that the stability of the Persian Gulf region was a fundamental strategic necessity for the United States and all of the industrialized western economies that depended upon reliable access to the relatively cheap petroleum and related chemicals produced there. Furthermore, it has been an axiom of Middle Eastern geo-politics that the tensions associated with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict posed a significant threat to that stability.
The failure of the Baker Commission Report to frame its recommendations in terms of these over-arching strategic necessities speaks to the short-term domestic political agenda that it was intended to promote from its inception. Essentially, any plan that states as its priority, a concern for the political stability within the borders of Iraq, ignores a basic element of our national security. While the will of the American electorate could not have been expressed more clearly regarding the war in Iraq, our political leaders including the Baker Commission, have not honestly discussed the probability of Sunni-Shia sectarian warfare (with "covert" Iranian backing) spreading into Kuwait and the eastern provinces (that's where the oil is) of Saudi Arabia. Meaningful discussion of the impact our failure in Iraq is likely to have on the surrounding nations, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey, has not occurred.
Let's be clear, the Baker Commission, with its superficial treatment of the rapidly deteriorating stability in the Persian Gulf, has confirmed that's its only real purpose was to delay any progress in the public debate regarding Iraq until after the Republican Party could secure the best possible outcome in November's election. Its failure to achieve that domestic political objective is now obvious as well. Nine months have elapsed since the Commission's establishment and it is recommendations now come much too late to significantly alter the course of events in Iraq.
With the transparent and superficial domestic political agenda revealed with the Baker Commission Report, the combatants in Iraq have a green light to continue the violence in pursuit of their sectarian, tribal and criminal objectives. While we verbally reject partition, we have clearly signaled that we will not stand in the way of the sectarian division taking place in Iraq. We have stated with both our votes and our rhetoric that we recognize the futility of fighting an indigenous insurgency. There is obviously no meaningful national identity remaining in Iraq. The ethnic cleansing process has reached unstoppable velocity. The outcome is inevitable.
The influx of Sunni refugees has already destabilized the demographics of Jordan and Syria. The Turks are facing a dilemma with the consolidation of a Kurdish entity on their southern border. Their choices are to invade and occupy Kurdistan or to initiate their own ethnic cleansing and drive their indigenous Kurds across the border. A broader war is probable there, either way.
With our invasion and the consequent sectarian civil war in Iraq, the United States has started a regional war in the Middle East. If we manage to remove some troops from Iraq in the next year, it is likely to be only a temporary redeployment. We will be forced to return to the Gulf region, probably in even larger numbers for the purpose of attempting to influence the progression of the regional conflict and to secure Kuwaiti and Saudi oil production. It is doubtful that we will be able to accomplish that with military force, but global economic and political necessity will compel us to try.
It is no wonder that George Bush, the elder is so easily driven to tears.