Some Really Unsurprising News
This editorial in today's NY Times has managed to state the obvious. Troop levels will remain high in Iraq until President Bush leaves office.
Speaking at the National Defense University, he said he would withdraw only 8,000 more troops from Iraq by the time he leaves office. That would leave 138,000 troops behind — more than were deployed in Iraq before his January 2007 “surge.”
All of this seems to be driven more by what is happening in American battleground states than any battleground in Iraq.
While Mr. Bush and his party’s nominee, John McCain, both want to stay the course until some undefined “victory” is achieved, American voters have run out of patience. Mr. Bush and his advisers are clearly hoping that this token withdrawal will be enough to keep Iraq out of the news and out of the election debate. (Ironically, Mr. McCain who doesn’t want to withdraw any troops at all, had no choice but to declare his support for the president’s plan.)
Of course President Bush won't be withdrawing troops anytime soon. To do so would imply that his glorious adventure wasn't a success, although that it wasn't a success became clear years ago. It would also mean that an open discussion of this illegal and misbegotten war could be had, one which examines not only the way the American public was lied into the war, but also its miserably incompetent execution by an administration who apparently couldn't see the actual military landscape for the oil located beneath that landscape. Obviously Mr. Bush doesn't want to go there, it wouldn't (in the words of his father) be prudent, especially during an election season in which the GOP prefers to dangle a moose-dressing hockey mom in front of the public rather than face up to the disaster that the Iraq War has been for the US, including its devastating effect on the economy as billions were siphoned off to prosecute it.
No, Mr. Bush will leave it to his successor to clean up the mess he has made in Iraq, which is just one of many messes he has made in the last nearly eight years. And if that successor is John McCain, it is doubtful any of those messes will be cleaned up.
132 days.
Speaking at the National Defense University, he said he would withdraw only 8,000 more troops from Iraq by the time he leaves office. That would leave 138,000 troops behind — more than were deployed in Iraq before his January 2007 “surge.”
All of this seems to be driven more by what is happening in American battleground states than any battleground in Iraq.
While Mr. Bush and his party’s nominee, John McCain, both want to stay the course until some undefined “victory” is achieved, American voters have run out of patience. Mr. Bush and his advisers are clearly hoping that this token withdrawal will be enough to keep Iraq out of the news and out of the election debate. (Ironically, Mr. McCain who doesn’t want to withdraw any troops at all, had no choice but to declare his support for the president’s plan.)
Of course President Bush won't be withdrawing troops anytime soon. To do so would imply that his glorious adventure wasn't a success, although that it wasn't a success became clear years ago. It would also mean that an open discussion of this illegal and misbegotten war could be had, one which examines not only the way the American public was lied into the war, but also its miserably incompetent execution by an administration who apparently couldn't see the actual military landscape for the oil located beneath that landscape. Obviously Mr. Bush doesn't want to go there, it wouldn't (in the words of his father) be prudent, especially during an election season in which the GOP prefers to dangle a moose-dressing hockey mom in front of the public rather than face up to the disaster that the Iraq War has been for the US, including its devastating effect on the economy as billions were siphoned off to prosecute it.
No, Mr. Bush will leave it to his successor to clean up the mess he has made in Iraq, which is just one of many messes he has made in the last nearly eight years. And if that successor is John McCain, it is doubtful any of those messes will be cleaned up.
132 days.
Labels: Bush Legacy, Well Duh
posted by Diane at 3:30 AM
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