Yep, he said it yesterday at a White House news conference. His very words were:“You know, I would like to see us in a different configuration at some point in time in Iraq.”
Wow, that is exciting, if hardly understandable. But then it got even better when he added:“The recommendations of Baker-Hamilton appealed to me.”
“Baker-Hamilton” is, of course the Iraq Study Group, whose report Bush has studiously ignored since it came out nearly six months ago. Not only has he ignored it, but members of his administration have referred to it as a recipe for defeat.
Essentially, when he was through talking, what the president revealed yesterday was, that once we can secure the city of Baghdad as a stable and safe environment, he would favor changing the focus of the troops to training Iraqis, guarding the borders and pursuing Al Qaeda.
But that’s not exactly what Baker-Hamilton recommended.
The report of the Iraq Study Group called for a reduction in the number of U.S. troops to 20,000, enough to train the Iraqis….period….end of recommendation. Nothing was said about the borders, and certainly the report did not mention chasing down Al Qaeda.
But, hey…for an administration that obviously believes that any end at all, justifies their means, his statements got some favorable press.
His remarks were described as a significant shift in some quarters, but, the truth is, it was probably more like the shift that a running back might make in avoiding a tackle on his way to the end zone.
If anyone believes that this really signals a change then I have high hopes for the unloading of that proverbial swampland in Florida.
Make no mistake about it. Bush is still heading for his concept of the goal line.
Then, why the shift? Well, just possibly the tackle he is avoiding relates to the two intelligence reports that came out in January of 2003, before we invaded Iraq.
Their very existence has just become known in the past 10 days, and the stir they have caused is gathering momentum.
Both reports basically stated that if we were to invade Iraq and take down Saddam Hussein, we would destabilize the country and energize Al Qaeda. Bush obviously chose to ignore the reports, and further, he kept them under wraps as he proceeded to defy their recommendations.
As a result, we have the collective sadness, this Memorial Day weekend of remembering the nearly 3,500 American lives that have been ended before their time. In addition, according to ABC News, the war has caused many more American wounded then the 25,000 that the Pentagon admits to, and Iraqi casualties are in the hundreds of thousands.
And the only two clear-cut winners have been Al Qaeda and Iran.
No, in this latest effort by Bush to buy more time, he may also be avoiding a tackle by a long overdue impeachment attempt.
Unfortunately, however, he probably has little to worry about with this seemingly impotent Congress.
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Comments: 30
I have now also finally accepted this to my "Everything" group, sorry for any delays...
Everyone learns by experience, Wise men learn from the experience of others, Bushites learn by taking the consequences of their bull headed stupidity.
Ty, the end of 2008 must seem particularly far off for the troops, and - by the way - I hope all is going well for you out there in Guam...
...and thanks, Felicia...
I would maintain that he is a very willing TOOL of the interests that are using him and others to achieve their interests world wide which are not in the best interest of you and I in neither the near or long term future.
We all would LIKE to believe the best of our ELECTED officials ... and some few 20% or so still claim to do so ... but the real truth is that we are all being HAD by our own people far more than any were in danger of by any terrorists.
That IS a FACT folks.
You must realize that W was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Little has changed since then, except he no room for the silver spoon as his foot now takes that space. Because of this, he has no understanding of the way the average American lives. Therefore, he has no ability to understand the manner in which we struggle with todays issues. Has he ever had to worry about health care?
He has always lived the life of privledge and will continue to do so in an even grander scale after he leaves office. Let us just hope, that we can somehow overcome this terrible time in our nations history.
We bandy around the word insane, we call those who disagree with use crazy. We have a stereotyped image of a crazy person cowering in a fetal position gibbering incoherently. But mental illness and insanity are real, and at the highest levels of government are more than just debilitating they are threatening for the peaceful existence of the planet it's self.
What sets mental illness apart is from physical illness is the ability of the person to hide the symptoms of the disease. For example, if you have the flu sooner or later someone will catch on that your ill, either you're sick or you're well. If you have cancer, you have cancer it is rated by what stage the cancer is in but with a mental illness everyday is different. Today all the symptoms are completely under control and the individual appears normal. A bad day at work or an unexpected bill and the symptoms emerge from the peaceful persona like an enraged Bengal tiger.
One of my favorite expressions in life is, "The whole worlds crazy except for you and me but sometimes I don't know about you." It's funny because it's very true, we see ourselves as the picture of sanity and judge the rest of world accordingly. Our personality traits, our foibles our actions and prejudices are the benchmarks by which we judge our own sanity. We laud that in our humanity it is our differences that make the world go round but the benchmarks themselves are open to interpretation. We would not accept from anyone that a body temperature of 103 is just being different or a free spirit.
I was once involved in a court case where the defendant was ordered to have a psychological evaluation, the doctor then testified in court that the patient scored outside the norms in several areas. The patient was somewhat paranoid and borderline manic-depressive and though not delusional had a narrow view on the motivations of others. As I listened I thought to my self this looks bad but I was confounded when the doctor then concluded that the patient was completely acceptable as a parent and should be allowed to roam the streets unhindered.
That the patient was ill was agreed by all but to run even a finer comb through it, ill but not ill enough to be dangerous. That doctor was a brave man in my eyes, to attach his name to the paperwork acknowledging that the patient was mentally ill but testifying for their release on the grounds that the bomb probably wouldn't explode any time soon. For the patient knew that they that were being evaluated and the purpose of the questioning given under clinical conditions and I thought to myself, if left alone will they get better or worse unsupervised?
Of course a lot has to do with class and money if the person had been without funds to hire their own doctor rather than the states maybe the diagnosis would have been different? Howard Hughes was an eccentric while the homeless man down town is crazy. Pretty is as pretty does and crazy is as crazy does, growing up in the seventies I have seen people with drug problems. Years later as a manager I was compelled to deal with employees with both mental and drug problems. Some had drug problems exacerbated by mental problems while some had mental problems and were self-medicating themselves with drugs merely discontinuing the drugs didn't solve the problems.
But in the circles of the affluent or the powerful or celebrity there is what I call the Elvis syndrome. The people around Elvis were all loyal to the king and the king was loyal to them, when Elvis told a joke everyone laughed even if it wasn't funny. No one dared tell the king he didn't need second helpings or maybe he should kick the sleeping pills. The king was their ticket to the good life and there was no sense upsetting the apple cart by telling the king he was fat or a drug addict. That's what your friends do, not employees pretending to be your friends their jobs is to laugh at your jokes and say, "Good idea Elvis."
This crew of enablers is common among the rich and successful, the corporate yes men and the hangers on. Upon reaching the pinnacle of power it's hard to determine, is the rocking horse rocking the child or is the child rocking the rocking horse? Much has been written about the Presidents childhood development, his torturing of small animals his burning of plebs in his fraternity. These issues are facts and they are serious indicators of the most dangerous kind of mental illness the sociopath. Listed below are the accepted tendencies of a sociopath and one need not get a perfect score to qualify.
1. Glibness/superficial charm.
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth.
3. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
4. Pathological lying
5. Conning/manipulative
6. Lack of remorse or guilt
7. Shallow affect
8. Callous/lack of empathy
9. Parasitic lifestyle
10. Poor behavioral controls
11. Promiscuous sexual behavior
12. Early behavior problems
13. Lack of realistic, long-term plans
14. Impulsivity
15. Irresponsibility
16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
17. Many short-term marital relationships
18. Juvenile delinquency
19. Narcissism
20. Criminal versatility
http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/psychopath.html
What makes the sociopath so dangerous is the contempt for which they hold for the rest of the world. They can appear to be completely normal to all the world because they understand what it takes to appear to be normal. The see themselves as super intelligent and by conning you it reinforces that belief, like serial killers that leave behind clues just to taunt the police. They are insane but like a savant they have a cunning clarity for self-preservation they hide like a submarine and act in stealth.
Is the President a sociopath? In my mind there is no doubt of it. Is the President a serial killer? In my mind there is no doubt of it. Should the President be impeached? There is no need too, the President is mentally disabled and unfit to hold office and should be removed on those grounds. Is the President competent to stand trial? I don't know but I do know that those who abet him are. What better alias could the President assume then the dullard being control by sharpies rather than the other way around?
We see only the public persona of the President with only fleeting glimpses behind the scenes. It was generally assumed early in the administration that the President was no more than Charlie McCarthy or Mortimer Snerd and that Cheney and Rumsfeld were the Edgar Bergen's. But after the November elections, after Rumsfeld was fired, it was perceived as a token that the administration was willing to negotiate with Congress. But lost in the media hoopla were Rumsfelds claims that he had tried to change the Presidents mind and that he had disagreed with the President.
Like wise Cheney with Plamegate has been cast adrift, Scooter Libby is caught in limbo and must maintain his silence for any hope of a pardon. But we have attorney gate with Alberto Gonzales is their any other administration in American history where this guy would still be employed? To go before Congress and give testimony more befitting Jimmy Hoffa at Robert Kennedy's hearings into organized crime. The President must protect him he is one of the enablers in the inner circle that never disagree, "Good idea, Mr. President!"
"They misunderestimated me." I don't think the President has ever said any truer words. We have misunderestimed him; the Presidents new war czar is a perfect example of this. The Pentagon more than any other branch of the government has stood up to the President, they warned him before the invasion of Iraq during the invasion and after the invasion. And who was the first to go? Colin Powell to be followed by a host of other Generals. The President wants a war czar to shield him from reality brought in by those pesky generals in the field. He claims it is to coordinate the actions of the services but isn't that what the joint chief of staff are for?
Last week the President gave a news conference in the rose garden warning the public to expect more US casualties in Iraq. Curiously disconnected, like an actor who didn't quite understand his motivation for the scene, the President presented this like it was news to the American public at least it seemed to be news to him. "There has been a spike in enemy activity" he explained. Forgetting that his surge policy was intended to pacify the very area he was discussing. He seemed befuddled unable to connect cause and effect of his own polices.
We bandy around the word insane, we call those who disagree with use crazy. But we have before us an executive crisis of worldwide proportions, bigger than politics or party and even of institution. Can we as a nation sit back and say, "Well yes, he's insane but what can you do? To literally hand over the keys to the gates of hell to a madman so as not to look bad politically. These politicians who are playing chicken with a sociopath and think they know more about how the game is played than he does are fools. For as the President said himself, "If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign."
TWO reports out of how many? Written by whom? I notice you examine your "news" items quite cursorily, if it fits your preconceived notions. The idea of ascertaining the facts is entirely foreign to you, isn't it. Perhaps you should dig into those facts, but I forgot, you're a liberal, you already know everything you need to know, don't you. So let's not bother with any nasty FACTS, how typical.
Donna M, is that the best you and do, look at conservative and scream NAZI! I love it. Maybe we should look at all liberals and compare them to Joe Stalin, or maybe Lenin, would be fair, don't you think. The comparison of liberals to Stalin is much more apt as you make no secret that you wish to build another socialist type "paradise" here.
George, have we "occupied" Japan and Germany for over 50 years now? I guess you missed that. A sovereign nation has the right to request military assistance from another country, grant basing rights, ect. You apparently don't think that extends to allowing the "evil" US to do so. Saudi Arabia ASKED the US to maintain a base, to deter Iraqi and Iranian aggression. But I guess you missed that, too.
This has long since ceased to be about honest disagreements. The politics of the left degenerated to a HUGE amount of name calling as far back as the late 40's. Read the rhetoric of Truman's campaign in 1948, read what was said about Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, ect. Now the left has passed in the realm of psychosis. Your opinions become facts, you ignore any facts that don't fit your notions, seem unable to even allow the possibility that you might be wrong. Look at the numbers in polls on political ideas. You've lost the American people, you lose more every day. The more strident you become, the more you push the bulk of the American people away. You've lost your way, care now only about being right, about advancing your agenda at ALL costs.
Similarly, Ann Richards at the Democratic National Convention said that George H. was born with a silver foot in his mouth. Perhaps it is the other way around...
It is very intriguing why W. is suddenly embracing the Baker-Hamilton report and quite mysteriously out of the blue. I like your theories.
Instead of unloading your FL swampland, I might be interested in that property located in the gated community of the esteemed Sun City neighborhood.
We see thru you Mark ... but keep looking into that mirror, maybe you will get sick enough to change your ways.
Sometimes I wonder if the "left" has been out of "power" for so long that it has completely forgotten how politics works. The stage is being set for September, when Gen. Petraeus is to report on the state of the current effort ("surge"). Dem leadership managed to create a de facto timetable. That's good. The President is positioning himself to respond to any unfavorable news, because there is no longer an open-ended "war" in Iraq. That is good.
This is how things happen in politics. There is no reason not to see this as positive development if you're interest is seeing this fiasco end. If you were thinkin maybe the Pres would get on TV and break into a confession, and declare peace, I gotta wonder just how bad Mr. Rove has messed with your minds over these six years.
Mark M .
Impeachment for what? How about manipulating intelligence to push the nation into it's worst foreign policy disaster in our history? Or how about the illegal wiretapping of American citizens?
Or just generally failing to uphold his sworn oath to "protect and uphold the Constitution?"
I suppose nothing would be good enough justification for impeachment for you, aside from a written confession from Bush that he has knowingly deceived the people and assaulted the Bill of Rights.
You speak of "liberals" wanting to build a "socialist type paradise" here, unaware that we already have a socialist-type paradise; built and maintained by just as many Republican politicians as Democrats over the years. Except in the socialist system we have now, the wealth is transferred from the poor and middle-class up to Wall St. and Washington DC; not the other way around. The name of the game is "bail-out," except we spend way more of our tax dollars bailing out banks and large corporations than we do poor individuals. There is "wealth redistribution," alright, and on a grand scale, except its not the kind that Bill O'Reilly incessantly rails about. It's the mass confiscation of wealth, through the hidden tax called inflation, and we at the bottom of the pyramid suffer the most.
And if you advocate a continuance of imperial foreign policy, then you advocate a strong central government, dependent on a strong central banking cartel to finance its wars, which is dependent on the illegal and unconstitutional income tax, and the insidious hidden inflation tax, as well.
SO STOP CALLING YOURSELF "CONSERVATIVE!"
\\\\If anyone believes that this really signals a change then I have high hopes for the unloading of that proverbial swampland in Florida.////
And that stock I've got on a really great bridge in Brooklyn! Great article!
Jerry K.,
You are right, GWB follows his agenda without flinching and is a very willing accomplice in what is going on because he believes in Pax Americana. And this is the way the PNAC planned to get there!
Thank you, keep up the good work. Never pay attention to the ones who see this thing coming, and choose to mock and discourage those who would dare try to fight it.
By excusing themselves from any responsibility, with a self righteous proclamation of of how clever they are for seeing it's hopeless to even try, they become even more a part of the problem than those who simply refuse to accept such things could ever happen. These cowards actually try to stifle intelligent resistance, so they can feel better about themselves. Real smart guys.