Bush hints at sending more troops to Iraq

[radfringe]

Bush hints at sending more troops to Iraq
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=466118
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
22 November 2003

President George Bush has raised the possibility that next year American troop strength in Iraq might be increased, rather than reduced, if the fraught security in the country requires it.

Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, and other senior administration officials have left little doubt US forces will remain in Iraq, even after the accelerated handover of most authority to a provisional Iraqi government in mid-2004. But the Pentagon's plan, under a complicated rotation system announced last month, is for total troop strength in Iraq to drop to 105,000 by next May from the present 130,000.

Military analysts say that without mass call-ups of reservists there are not enough regular troops to maintain forces at the present level beyond the first quarter of 2004. But at Mr Bush's press conference in London with Tony Blair, he seemed to startle even his close aides near by, by suggesting the number could rise. "I said that were going to bring our troops home starting next year?" he asked rhetorically in response to a question. "We could have fewer troops in Iraq, we could have the same number, we could have more troops in Iraq."

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. .

Heh heh. No soldier left behind. Way to go, Bush!

Mmm... Jenna Bush in kevlar... HOT!

Oh, crap. I just vomited all over myself.

[hadrons]

2. "....he seemed to startle even his close aides near by...."

aides: "SHIT!!! ... Whistle ass is letting the cat out of the bag!!!"

[lumpy]

3. Those bungling fools

can't even get their stories straight. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing or saying.

[cliss]

4. "We could have fewer troops in Iraq,

we could have the same number, we could have more troops in Iraq".

What do you say to a statement like this? And what about the previous sentence, asking himself if he had said something recently.

This is the problem with Bush, and all the other people in the administration for that matter. They are nothing but a bunch of fucking liars. They lie every time they open their mouths.

The most spectacular recent one was the banner on the USS Lincoln. Bush denied that he had anything to do with it. This was a "quickie", in other words people didn't have to dig very deep to find the backup on that one. Within about 4 hours, we had the facts here on the DU: Bush and his people had indeed ordered the banner.

So here we go again. Of course, you can tell the situation here. He was in a foreign country. He was out of his element. He was asked to speak (something he shouldn't do). He was caught again (shit, another "banner" situation, he thought).

The only way to get out of it was to hedge. Ask a rhetorical question. Give all the possibilities, because you're not sure of what you should say.

I wonder if his speech therapists were happy or disappointed with him when he came back.