Post-surge redeployment? Seems as if the wh doesn't have a clue

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/09/washington/09prexy.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=todayspaper&adxnnlx=1183979530-stMmmo+rSYAVSEaEjvaDzA

White House Debate Rises on Iraq Pullback


By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: July 9, 2007

White House officials fear that the last pillars of political support among Senate Republicans for President Bush’s Iraq strategy are collapsing around them, according to several administration officials and outsiders they are consulting. They say that inside the administration, debate is intensifying over whether Mr. Bush should try to prevent more defections by announcing his intention to begin a gradual withdrawal of American troops from the high-casualty neighborhoods of Baghdad and other cities.

Mr. Bush and his aides once thought they could wait to begin those discussions until after Sept. 15, when the top field commander and the new American ambassador to Baghdad are scheduled to report on the effectiveness of the troop increase that the president announced in January. But suddenly, some of Mr. Bush’s aides acknowledge, it appears that forces are combining against him just as the Senate prepares this week to begin what promises to be a contentious debate on the war’s future and financing.

Four more Republican senators have recently declared that they can no longer support Mr. Bush’s strategy, including senior lawmakers who until now had expressed their doubts only privately. As a result, some aides are now telling Mr. Bush that if he wants to forestall more defections, it would be wiser to announce plans for a far more narrowly defined mission for American troops that would allow for a staged pullback, a strategy that he rejected in December as a prescription for defeat when it was proposed by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.

“When you count up the votes that we’ve lost and the votes we’re likely to lose over the next few weeks, it looks pretty grim,” said one senior official, who, like others involved in the discussions, would not speak on the record about internal White House deliberations.

That conclusion was echoed in interviews over the past few days by administration officials in the Pentagon, State Department and White House, as well as by outsiders who have been consulted about what the administration should do next. “Sept. 15 now looks like an end point for the debate, not a starting point,” the official said. “Lots of people are concluding that the president has got to get out ahead of this train.”

[rodeodance]

1. "get out ahead of this train.”-------umm... hope the train has breaks

[grilled onions]

2. Are They Finally Seeing Reality

It's like the old cartoons where the cartoon character is on the railroad bridge running for the train tracks are catching up to him and falling into the depths below. Is that a "W" on the back of that cartoon character??????????? :crazy:

[luckyleftyme2]

3. business as usual

He has to be the most incompetent leader we've ever had. How can one respect a leader of a party (republican) or a country who lets a man (friend or not) of the hook with the notion the penalty didn't fit the crime (which was covering up treasonous act by a superior).
Bill Clinton was impeached when he lied about an affair which was discovered (like hell) via a special investigation into white water! this was not a crime against a national security agent! And no amount of spin can change this.
a fair sentence for the severity of this crime of outing a c.i.a agent and putting them and their associates at risk could be the firing squad!
If he took the rap to save a higher up they both should get 30 years to life or the firing squad.
We all feel complicity was involved and once again this administration thumbed its nose at the law. the point being they do not represent the electorate but only the special interest groups;and removal from office is the only way to stop them!
the slogan they lie our sons and daughters die is FACT!

[bhamlett]

4. Finally

When are we going to get to the 51% in congress to stop Americans from being unnecessarily killed over here?

[Spinzonner]

5. If Bush had an ounce of integrity

He would admit the failure of his policies and do what would be best for the Iraqies and the Mideast and the United states.

He would take the recommendations of his own commission, and bipartisan proposals like Biden's, and the rest of the parties in the region and come up with a plan that would have at least a chance of leaving behind some kind of positive legacy - or at least less negative.

The current one or even the one being considered are just exercises in diverting blame and avoiding admitting errors.

[babylonsister]

6. Exactly. If he did any of the things you suggested, I'd be shocked!

The man doesn't have an ounce of integrity and seems to be very self-centered; what's in it for him, what's good for him, etc. This admin is just trying to stretch this out, regardless of how many more die in the process because of their failed policies. A hand-off would be good for them, but I think they're flat out of time, thankfully.