More Iraq Mumbo Jumbo
04 December 2006 6:00 am by Taylor Marsh
More Iraq Mumbo Jumbo
If the \”reporting\” on the Iraq Study Group gets any worse we might
as well call in a medium.
Administration officials say Mr. Bush is likely to embrace that part of the
report, which will call for vastly increasing the number of American trainers
embedded in Iraqi units, along with other provisions that he can argue are
already being implemented.And while the White House will call for time to examine the rest of the report,
officials say that Mr. Baker, who was secretary of state under Mr. Bush’s
father and is close to the current president, has kept Mr. Hadley and others
apprised of the broad directions of the report.“There’s been more than a little common shaping of concepts here,
and I suspect you’ll hear that in some of the language used by all sides,”
said one commission official working on the report.
Hints that he will.
Clues that he won\’t?
Wow, I can\’t tell you how impressive this bit of baloney is, especially considering
what we\’re facing.
Senator Levin just about jumped out of his seat yesterday on \”Meet the
Press,\” with his desperation to force a change palpable. Hey, but talk
is cheap and we\’re getting a lot of it.
But the following article from The Wall Street Journal finally explains something very important that isn\’t being covered very much, which is Batiste\’s back peddling. I\’ve mentioned it several times lately. He was on \”Hardball\”
a week or so ago talking all \”the jihadists are coming!\” and sounding
anything but the way he sounded before the election.
BATISTE: I think it is a political move. You know, Chris, I think we are fighting a protracted war against the jihadists. And these people mean business. They have, as a stated, objective, the destruction of our way of life. We got off to a terrible start in Iraq, a strategy that was just fundamentally flawed, that opened up Pandora‘s box, that unleashed hell. Now we have got to get this thing under control quickly.
MATTHEWS: Well, are we fighting jihadists in Iraq?
BATISTE: Exactly.
MATTHEWS: Are we?
BATISTE: This is important, Chris. This group, this movement is after us big time. …
Read the rest, but beware, your head may explode. Batiste is taking Pace\’s points, I believe, and giving us an early hint of what\’s going to come out of the Pentagon, which will likely be to Bush\’s liking, while having the added benefit of showing Bush siding with military planners long after it\’s way too late, but at long last, nevertheless.
How the hell Mr. Bush intends to pull it off I have no idea.
It does, however, confirm my theory that
the military is desperately pushing for a way out to give the troops something
to hang their wounded, maimed and dead on, which is understandable given the
crap they\’ve take from Bush and the rubber stamping Republican Congress (that was just wiped out) in the last years. Iraq is not the military\’s fault,
but once they come home and the carnage escalates they\’ll no doubt feel like
it is anyway.
Outside the military, most of the debate is focused on a U.S. troop withdrawal.
But inside the Pentagon, the recent dismissal of Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld has given some new life to arguments by military officers who say
the U.S. must pour more troops and money into the country to expand the Iraqi
army — the one institution in Iraq that has shown some promise — and stabilize
the capital.Right now there are about 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Though there are no
firm plans for an increase, some military officials said that as many as 30,000
more troops could be needed. Most of the U.S. troops would be focused on patrolling
Baghdad and training the Iraqi Army.(snip)
Senior military officials seeking to make one last push to stabilize Baghdad might find a receptive ear with President Bush. …
After all, there\’s a reason Gen. Peter Pace is running another study group on Iraq.
The only difference between what the military is going through on Iraq and
what they went through after Vietnam is that the American people are 111% behind
our military today, no dissent. That won\’t salve the wound left from this war, however. So with
Rumsfeld gone, the Pentagon and the military are going to do everything they
can to save face. God bless \’em, because they certainly don\’t deserve what they\’re
about to eat.
Meanwhile, what I talked about last week is happening. \”Screw the Sunnis\” is evidently going to be the course, only on steroids (h/t).
The LA Times runs a confirming story of the Saudi freak out talked about last week.
Bedlam, anyone?
