"Wake up," republican Warner told Bush's nominee for 'war czar'

[bigtree]

War Czar Doubts Iraqi Success



Associated Press | June 07, 2007

WASHINGTON - The general picked by President Bush to become his war adviser said Thursday he has serious concerns about the Iraqi government's ability to take control of its country, no matter how much pressure is applied by the United States.

"The question in my mind is not to what extent can we force them or lever them to a particular outcome but rather to what degree do they actually have the capacity themselves to produce that outcome," Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"And if produced or if pressed too hard will we, in turn, end up with an outcome that isn't really worth the paper it's written on?" he added.


"Wake up," said Sen. John Warner, R-Va., in response to Lute's suggestion that Americans should be more patient with the embryonic democracy in Baghdad. "We're paying a heavy price for them to establish this government.

"How much more time should we give after four years in Iraq?" asked Levin, D-Mich.

"Baghdad is burning while the Iraqi politicians avoid accepting responsibility for their country's future," he added. "I believe the only chance to get Iraqi politicians to stand up is when they know we are going to begin to stand down."

more: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,138378,00.html

[Virginia Dare]

1. WTF Warner? The Generals are doing the best they can..

with what they've got. You're the one that needs to wake the fuck up.

[ValiantBlue]

2. I think Warner is right

He understands the urgency of the situation.

[Virginia Dare]

3. I wish he would have understood it a while ago...

he doesn't need to be piling on the Generals, he needs to get onto the Bush Administration, each and every single day. Until I see some REAL action from him, I will write him off as blowing smoke out his ass at this point.

[ValiantBlue]

4. I concur

Lets hope these words will lead to action, and are not just more poltical manuevering on his part.

[Hubert Flottz]

5. Warner is a disgusting, spineless, POS...

He's trying to buy a few votes with his too little too late bullshit. Warner rubberstamped EVERYTHING about Iraq...it's his war as much as it is Dick Cheney's war!

[bigtree]

8. He may well be all of those, but his vote on an exit date would be welcome

And his skepticism and criticism of this general, who is proposing that we 'wait' for some sort of success in Iraq, is a welcome indicator of his unwillingness to continue his cover of Bush's occupation. After all, it is this type of skepticism which should compel a veto-busting majority of republicans to reverse their own support and sign on to a legislative rebuke of Bush to force an end. We rightly condemn these obstructer's support for Bush so far, but their votes in favor of legislation containing a timetable may be the only way they can survive the political firestorm against those standing in the way of a withdrawal.

That firestorm of criticism from their constituents will certainly intensify as the election draws closer. Warner will likely be at the head of any defection. If that happens, we can't be so caught up in our own politics that we don't encourage those defections to enable a compromise which would begin to bring our troops home.

[Hubert Flottz]

9. I agree, but I know this man does NOTHING out of any goodness

in his heart!

May they(being the ones that caused and enabled the invasion of Iraq) every one burn in hell someday!

[bigtree]

6. he thinks we are 'in the early days'

and 'time will tell'

He does need to wake the fuck up if that's what he's selling.

[hootinholler]

7. We defeated Hitler *and* Hirohito in less time.

We stood up a democracy in Japan *and* West Germany.

-Hoot

[Old and In the Way]

10. But our motivations were entirely different back then.

We weren't occupying those countries as a pretext to steal their natural resources. The Iraqi's aren't dumb and a big reason why they government isn't working is that they don't want to legally validate the American engineered Hydrocarbon Law. The one that signs over the profits to US Oil companies.