Bush speech alarms even war enthusiasts

[UpInArms]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/26/MNGFR6RT7I1.DTL

Washington -- Even the staunchest supporters of President Bush's Iraq enterprise were less than cheered by his speech to the nation Monday night outlining the path forward, some describing the administration as being in a state of panic.

In particular, the neoconservatives who provided the intellectual argument that an invasion of Iraq could provide a template for democracy in the Middle East are expressing open alarm that this effort is dangerously off course.

"There's no question the administration has been in total panic mode, and they don't need to be, because Iraq is salvageable," said Danielle Pletka, vice president of foreign and defense studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank that has been a hotbed of support for the war. "But I think there is still so much indecision about what to do that it's going to be hard for them to do the right thing."

<snip>

Their dismay comes as some Republicans in Congress fear that Bush's Iraq policy has become unhinged, given the relentless bad news coming out of Iraq: a multiheaded insurgency among Shiites and Sunnis, the assassination of the president of the Iraqi Governing Council, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the steady rise in U.S. casualties.

Others on the political right, as distinct from their more interventionist neoconservative colleagues, have begun openly attacking the administration. Wall Street Journal contributing editor Mark Helprin called Abu Ghraib "a symbol of the inescapable fact that the war has been run incompetently, with an apparently deliberate contempt for history, strategy, and thought." He asked why the administration was trying to occupy Iraq with current troop levels, "even as one event cascading into another should make them recoil in piggy-eyed wonder at the lameness of their policy."

...lots more worth reading...

[robbedvoter]

1. Let's see: Cia alarmed, generals alarmed, now the neocons?

who is left ?

[UpInArms]

3. It would be nice if the mal-administration were

alarmed - and changed some of the stupid non-thinking idiotic ways.

But no, the Machiavellian maniacs only want to keep their power over the world. :grr:

[Seabiscuit]

11. It sould be even nicer

if the neo-con maladministration just continued to "stay the course" and hurtle themselves over Niagara Falls in the November elections.

:nopity:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. And don't forget the DIA...they blew the whistle on Chalabi.

[UpInArms]

5. here's a weird op-ed from the Moonie Times

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040525-051041-2200r

excerpt:

There are no orphans. Everybody owns a bit of the massive setback in Iraq, from the military men who failed properly to administer the prison of Abu Ghraib, to the civilian leadership of the Pentagon who ignored much good advice, to the State Department where Secretary Colin Powell's "case proved" speech to the United Nations on the eve of war locks him into the chain of responsibility. And then there is the CIA, which failed repeatedly to topple Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, misjudged his weapons of mass destruction, and failed in Iraq to repeat the deft management of tribal politics they had displayed in Afghanistan.

But in the haste to deflect blame onto others, and to survive the internecine wars of the Washington bureaucracy, there is now a hunt for scapegoats. The first designated target is Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress, once the Pentagon's favored intelligence source and later their chosen man to assume the mantle of power in Baghdad.

Chalabi is an easy target. Convicted of massive bank fraud in Jordan, and the purveyor of at best over-optimistic (and at worst, deliberately misleading) intelligence, he is now pilloried on the cover of Newsweek as "Our con man in Iraq." He is widely accused of passing intelligence material to Iran, and even of having been an Iranian agent of influence since the 1980s. (On the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Chalabi's hatred of Saddam Hussein -- and the geographic fact of Iran's looming presence alongside Iraq -- would explain some of his contacts with Iran.

But the real target goes beyond Chalabi. The hunt is on, in the Republican Party, in Congress, in the CIA and State Department and in a media which is being deluged with leaks, for Chalabi's friends and sponsors in Washington -- the group known as the neo-cons.

In particular, the targets seem to be Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the former assistant secretary (in Reagan's day) Richard Perle, Vice President Dick Cheney's national security aide Scooter Libby, and the National Security Council's Middle East aide Elliott Abrams. The leaking against them -- from sources who insist on anonymity, but some CIA and FBI veterans -- is intense. Some of the sources are now private citizens, making a good living through business connections in the Arab world.

[gratuitous]

14. Oh, so now it's "everybody's fault"

No, there were millions of us all over the country screaming at you that this was a mistake. A costly mistake. It's not "everybody's" fault at all. This can be laid at the feet of definite, identifiable persons who made discrete errors and omissions. If "everybody" is at fault, then no one's responsible, but that's not true in the slightest.

The usual raft of bullshit from one of the perpetrators, trying to deflect responsibility.

[nodictators]

17. Right on, gratuitous!

And ditto for that Newsweek title, "Our con man in Iraq."

That should be, "Bush's con man in Iraq."

And the NYT reporter Judith Miller's con man in Iraq.

Etc, etc.

[progressivebydesign]

15. Where is Bush's fault named in this editorial???

I really hate how Bush is excused from all this. People act as if he's out of the loop, and not responsible for it. If it happens in HIS administration, HE'S responsible. AND.. if he's unaware of things so massively important being done in HIS administration, then he needs to be removed for being completely unable to run a country. They can't have it both ways... he either knew all this was happening, and should resign. OR he is incapable of leading the country, and should resign.

[UpInArms]

18. all lower-tier targets

Bush/Cheney were friggin' deaf, dumb and blind.

:puke:

[MGKrebs]

24. But he's handicapped.

Consider this a jobs program for mentally challenged rednecks.

/sarcasm

[MGKrebs]

22. I seem to recall that the CIA was trying to restrain the admin.

They were saying that the intel wasn't good. But the admin went to the OSP and got what they wanted. So I would have a hard time laying too much blame on the CIA. Except for possibly rolling over when they should have stood up.

[daleo]

25. Everybody's fault = nobody's fault

The oldest dodge in the book. I am surprised they didn't blame it on "society". These conservatives ought to try a dose of personal responsibility.

I like the insinuation that being critical of the PNAC neo-cons is anti-semetic (they mostly mention Jewish neo-cons, then say their detractors make a good living through business connections in the Arab world).

[Poiuyt]

10. How about the public?

[keithyboy]

23. If the neocons want Bush gone, he's gone

And they have no compunction about how to get rid of him. They will pay for people to vote against him and if that doesn't work, look for their own black bag operation. These people are absolutely vicious.

[nodehopper]

26. But the MisAdministration ARE the neocons. This is just hot air.

More "pass the buck" PR. Neo-Cons can't be alarmed at marionette Bush's policies, they craft them.

[drfemoe]

36. But when neo-cons are calling for the "right thing" ..

that's pretty scary.

"But I think there is still so much indecision about what to do that it's going to be hard for them to do the right thing."

<snip>
Some of Bush's supporters concede the administration has committed blunders over the past year. Many suggest a sharp change in course -- such as adding thousands of troops, or moving up elections or forcefully quashing insurgents -- which they contend Bush did not promise Monday.
...
Yet while criticizing the administration for failures of execution, few neoconservatives have abandoned their belief that the war was a good idea or that it is intimately linked, as Bush insisted Monday, with fighting terrorism.
...
Neoconservatives warn, however, that the administration seems headed on a dangerous course. Pletka charges the administration with "subcontracting" the political process to the United Nations. Many are particularly worried by the decision to enlist a former Republican Guard general to pacify Fallujah, site of a bloody Sunni insurgency last month. Handing over security to factional militias is a recipe not for elections but for civil war, they contend. They urge instead a crackdown by U.S. forces.

"The truth is it wouldn't take much actually to turn this around, not that they necessarily will," said Gary Schmitt, executive director of the Project for a New American Century, a leading neoconservative think tank. "There are a lot of very positive trends going on in Iraq, and I think if you take care of the security situation and the political trend lines toward real elections, in fact I think Iraq is more than salvageable."
...
article cited ...

They just want a bigger "crack down". Doing what's "right" to them is not exactly a comforting suggestion.

American politics is in a civil war and Ira* is the battlefield.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. They are in panic mode

because Bu$h can't possibly win in the November election.

So instead of trying to solve their problems, it is much easier just to implement their plans for the next terror attack. Then Bu$h doesn't have to worry about no stinkin' election.

[w4rma]

6. Seems to me they're more worried about the election than fixing Iraq.

Otherwise they'd be doing some things that their base isn't going to understand or like, which *have* to be done, otherwise Iraq will be another Iran for the foreseeable future.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. PNAC is upset that maybe, by accident, Iraq will become a democracy,

independent of the United States, with the ability to evict all foreign military from its borders and operate without the benefit of U.S. tax dollars, etc. You know, like * said on Monday night.

The Plan was for Iraq to become a satellite of the U.S. with a home base for the military in the region in order to launch future wars on other countries; take the Iraqi oil and keep the money and give it to hard-working corporate executives and shareholders; send a message to other countries not to mess with the "last superpower in the world"; etc. Now PNAC is faced with the potential of the U.S. actually doing what * said it was going to do.

More likely version: Iraq civil war with much casualties, poverty, and social unrest for decades. Maybe the PNAC WOULD prefer this if they can't get their goals realized.

Can you say "coup d'etat" (here, not Iraq)?

[THUNDER HANDS]

8. oh please

If Bush's poll numbers tick up to 51% approval then all these neocons will be changing their tune saying how great everything is.

They have no loyalty to anyone but their own warped selves.

[callous taoboy]

9. Clinton

was such a professional.

[Bandit]

12. And a man with more "Character" in his little toe than this whole Cabal

has period. As far as being a "Man of Character" goes Clinton is just that while Bush* is just a Character. And I'm sure everyone in America knows that as fact even if they won't admit it.

[callous taoboy]

13. Even my dad, who voted for empty set

had to admit to me before the 2000 selection that he's a "light-weight."

:shrug:

[progressivebydesign]

16. Wasn't Bush's theme in 2000 about bringing character back to the WH? N/T

[The Blue Knight]

20. He's a uniter, not a divider!

And damnit! His poll numbers sure as hell prove it!

[Virginian]

28. And he is quite a character.

But he doesn't have character.

[Auntie Bush]

21. Hey, Bandit...I love that!

A "man of character" vs. "a character".
Clinton vs. Bush

[Aidoneus]

30. Yes

The way he bombed & starved Iraq for a decade and STILL maintained the support of "anti-war" liberals was an enourmous feat..

[Aidoneus]

32. I thought that was worth at least some outrage..

if a left-based broadside on one of the worshipped pillars was not worthy, at least the typo in enormous..

[Politicub]

19. Neocons should just be known as cons

Because they are nothing but intellectual con artists.

Their theories have wrecked this country and demolished our reputation on a global scale. We will all be paying for the con artists' folly for a generation or more.

[struggle4progress]

27. Is it "Bush's Iraq policy" or "Bush himself" ...

that has become unhinged?

[yellowcanine]

29. "they don't need to be, because Iraq is salvageable" - but is it given

the present unwillingness of the Bush administration to admit and then learn from mistakes? It is a truism that useful change cannot take place until the need for the change is recognized - and that requires the recognition and understanding of what is not working. Sometimes the necessary change cannot happen until the architects of the failed policy leave or are given other responsibilities where they can do no harm. So far the Bush administration has not shown themselves willing to get rid of the failed architects, instead they have thrown over the side or neutralized anyone pointing out the failures. As long as Rumsfield and/or Wolfowitz are still calling the shots, you know that Bush is not serious about changing direction.

[Hamlette]

31. This should be the next attack ad

like the one Bush is running against Kerry. "Even the Wall Street Journal's editorial believes Bush is incompetent" and the American Enterprise Institute belives "there is no doubt the whole admin is in total panic mode."

You don't make good deicisions when you are incompetent and in panic mode.

He should also say flip flopping is good when you've headed down the wrong path as we surely have in Iraq.

[9215]

33. From "cakewalk" to barely salvageable. Jeeeeeez! No matter

what this chimp does his feet are never held to the fire.

We need to find out if he has been playing with any office interns, he must have done something like that, must've.

[JoFerret]

34. Doomed

They are all doomed

[Snazzy]

35. "war enthusiasts"

That like a civil war buff? Can we just send them all off to do a reenactment already.... With blanks and some nerf fake WMDs. Commander bunnypants can dress up like something for sure.

:hippie:

[phoebe]

37. when are these "think tanks" going to be held accountable

for supplying erroneous, biased, politically motivated "information" to the administration? Practically every major media outlet repeatedly goes to these same "experts" to get their "views", "expertise" or "opinions".

[DulceDecorum]

38. The MESSiah

cannot return until after the Temple of Solomon is rebuilt.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18780

And in order to rebuild it we need a few bad demons.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pardos/ArchiveSolDemons.html

And lots and lots of blood for the offering.
And lots and lots of flesh for the burnt offering.
And lots and lots of children for the topeth which is now almost complete.

Soon, we will be in Rapture,
but for now, we partake of the ecstasy of St Julian
the patron of clowns, jugglers, and murderers.
Let us go and kill all the occupants of the middle east,
so we can better glorify our lord and master.