Posted on 11/12/2006 9:07:03 AM PST by TexKat
Dear God in heaven...
Dear God is right. Can Cheney save us? He may be the only voice of reason left in that place. I am miserably disappointed by all this. I still hope Bush will pleasantly surprise us. Praying hard.
And thank goodness for that. They sure are doing a lot of whining on this thread tonight. Wonder what they actually do to help the conservative movement?
I mean, besides whine and throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble.
Let's get 'em some white flags. 
Those are the same people who got us in this mess in the first place!
I would think even the democrats have to know this is unthinkable. Even if it's for the baser reason of them wanting to survive in the majority in '08. They can't seriously believe that not tending to this will assure power? Their main concern, as it relates to maintaining power, has got to be that they can match President Bush's record on keeping us safe, i.e. not taking another hit.
To eliminate our presence in Iraq, after what it took to establish it, can't be what they're thinking. Unless they are so disengaged from the truth (which is possible) that they are completely whacked.
One of the democrats problems are the people they have ready to assume command of the committees. I think Rangle gets the banking committee, and he is an unreflecting idealogue who can really impact the funding of the war effort. Not good.
Pessimists always call their views "realism."
I don't need anyone to tell me what to do. We're not stupid over here - well, unless you believe John Kerry.
We're committed to making this work, though and we're not going to give up because of a setback.
Y'all go on ahead and doom the country and plan the big failure and stuff. Just don't be offended if we choose not to join you.
A New Man. Next, A New Plan For Iraq?
Rumsfeld's exit opens the door to fresh thinking
By Anna Mulrine and Kevin Whitelaw
Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld didn't appear on any ballot last week, but the war that he and President Bush have waged in Iraq emerged as perhaps the most decisive factor in the Republican defeat. After a dreadful year of worsening sectarian violence and revenge attacks, polls have clearly shown a diminishing faith in the Bush administration's ability to turn things around in Iraq-nearly 6 in 10 voters said they disapprove of the war.
President Bush wasted no time in announcing Rumsfeld's resignation (though insisting that the departure was planned regardless of the election's outcome). The nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for the Pentagon post is a clear signal that the White House is trying to shake off its history of "stay the course" rhetoric. But while Bush's motivation might have more to do with politics than with military strategy, Gates could make a real difference. A member of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group led by former Rep. Lee Hamilton and former Secretary of State James Baker, who served in the first President Bush's administration, Gates could be a critical bridge between the White House and the clutch of foreign-policy graybeards many Republicans and Democrats are looking to as a lifeline— a last-gasp chance to reverse the downward trend in Iraq.
Shifting gears. The choice of Gates eases the way for Bush to latch on to at least some of Baker's proposals, due out soon. Baker's group could point to a strategy that "is a little different— or totally different," Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, who next month will become the No. 2 commander in Iraq, tells U.S. News. In any event, he adds, "it's going to be very much a factor."
The Baker report is expected to cement a shift in emphasis from creating a model democracy in the Middle East to simply achieving stability in Iraq-still no small feat. "Both the American people and the Congress don't want this to last a lot longer," says a senior U.S. military official. "You'll always get the party line of 'stay the course,' but everybody realizes that it's to a point." The question of an American troop surge, advocated by Republican Sen. John McCain, will come to the fore as well. "Do we need more people, or do they become a greater irritant?" asks Odierno. "There comes a time when you wear out your welcome."
Challenges. There are no magic bullets in Iraq. The underlying problem is that America's ability to change the dynamic there appears to be continually diminishing. The Sunni insurgents remain disturbingly strong—October was the deadliest month for U.S. soldiers in nearly two years. And troops have been unable to quell the sectarian violence. A vaunted security plan for Baghdad has failed to stem the bloodshed, Iraqi security forces remain unreliable, and U.S. officials have been unable to persuade Iraq's government to confront the Shiite militias or their leaders. The White House was particularly discouraged by what National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley found on his recent trip to Iraq. "The situation there is as complex as it's ever been and is getting more complicated every couple of weeks," says a senior administration official.
Gates would be greeted at the Pentagon by "one of the most monumental challenges ever facing a secretary of defense," says Larry Wilkerson, a retired colonel who was chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Gates is known more for being a good manager and a consensus builder than for his out-of-the-box thinking. His career in government began 40 years ago when he joined the Central Intelligence Agency as an analyst. A renowned Soviet expert, he would be reunited with many former Bush 41 colleagues. In a speech last year, Gates signaled the need for patience in Iraq. "We need to stay there," he said, "as long as necessary to get the job done."
But the Cold War veteran would represent a return to the philosophy of "realpolitik" in foreign policy. In the same speech, he laid out a definition of victory that is much less sweeping than the one described by Bush administration's early rhetoric about bringing democracy to Iraq. "We all hope that it will be quick-that in a year or two, this government in Iraq will be secure enough that they will be able to invite us to leave," Gates said. "And we can do so, leaving behind a government that can survive."
Gates could help usher in a new diplomatic outreach in the region, reversing the administration's refusal to engage with Iran and Syria. Two years ago, Gates chaired a task force that called for reopening a dialogue with Iran. Baker has also signaled that his Iraq Study Group is likely to call for new efforts to enlist Iraq's neighbors to help create stability in Iraq.
But one of his biggest diplomatic challenges may be contending with pressure from the new Democratic-controlled Congress for a speedy drawdown in Iraq. The likely incoming chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services committees both called last week for "redeployments"—meaning withdrawal—of U.S. troops to begin before the end of this year. "The key is to begin a reduction of U.S. forces in Iraq," says Sen. Carl Levin, currently the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Make Iraqis decide—do they want a civil war, or do they want a new nation?"
A quick withdrawal from Iraq remains unlikely, and Rumsfeld's departure may do little to change the dynamic on the ground. "It's like a new coach coming in," says one Pentagon official. "The guy doesn't yell at you anymore, and the guy doesn't ask you to do the impossible anymore. But at the same time, your losing season continues to be your losing season."
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061112/20iraq_2.htm
British patrol boat attacked, four dead
From correspondents in London
November 13, 2006 03:37am
FOUR British troops were killed and three seriously wounded in an attack on a patrol boat in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the Ministry of Defence in London said today.
Their boat was attacked on the Shatt al Arab river, a ministry statement said, but it gave no further details.
A military spokesman told the BBC that the patrol was caught in an explosion caused by an improvised bomb.
"The use of improvised explosive devices is very common in Iraq," said Captain Tane Dunlop, the Multi-National forces spokesman in south Iraq.
"It is slightly unusual in that this time it was targeting a boat."
Britain has some 7000 troops in southern Iraq, which has generally been calmer than the centre and north of the country.
More than 120 British armed forces personnel have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.
For better or worse (and I think it's better overall), our elected government make policy, not the military leadership.
The military have done a lot of good things in Iraq, but we must face facts - they haven't figured out a strategy to win. In modern America, a non-winning strategy is a losing one.
It still isn't too late but time is running out.
By Robert Kagan and William Kristol
Reading is your friend!
When formed last spring by Congress, the Iraq Study Group was little known beyond elite circles of the U.S. foreign policy world.
Pentagon reviews Iraq war strategy
Sat Nov 11, 8:30 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top U.S. military leaders have begun a broad review of strategy in Iraq and other crisis areas in the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism, The New York Times reported in Saturday editions.
Citing Pentagon officials, the Times reported that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace had assembled a team of what it called some of the military's brightest and most innovative officers and charged them with taking a fresh look at Iraq, Afghanistan and other flashpoints.
Pace announced the review in a series of television interviews on Friday but did not give many details.
The New York Times said that among ideas discussed were increasing the size of the Iraqi security forces, along with U.S. efforts to train and equip them, and adjusting the size of the American force in Iraq.
It added that Pentagon officials stressed that the review extended well beyond Iraq, and that some unorthodox ideas on how to fight terrorism were being weighed.
The military review, which formally began September 25, is being coordinated with the rest of the government, but the team has not met with members of the Iraq Study Group, the commission that is also looking into options for Iraq, the Times said, citing the Pentagon officials.
The officials said the team's objective was to outline options that Pace might draw on in advising President George W. Bush and Robert Gates, Bush's choice for the new defense secretary.
The team involved in the military review includes Col. H. R. McMaster, an Army officer whose 2005 operation in Tal Afar has been cited as a textbook case in how to wage counterinsurgency in Iraq, as well as Col. Peter Mansoor, the director of the United States Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., who commanded an Army brigade that fought the Mahdi Army militia in 2004 at Karbala, the newspaper reported.
Also on the team is Col. Thomas Greenwood, the director of the Marine Command and Staff College who oversaw efforts to train Iraqi security forces in Anbar, the Times said. In all, more than a dozen military officers are on the team, which is overseen by Capt. Michael Rogers of the Navy, a special assistant to Pace, the report said.
The review, which includes the participation of Gen. George Casey Jr., the top commander in Iraq, and General John Abizaid, the head of the United States Central Command, is meant to be completed in early December.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061111/ts_nm/iraq_usa_strategy_dc_3
Iraq: Sectarian Charges Rejected
November 12, 2006 19 03 GMT
Iraq's Defense Ministry rejected charges Nov. 12 that Iraqi Maj. Gen. Shakir Hulail Hussein al-Kaabi, commander of Iraqi Fifth Division responsible for security in Diyala province, targets Sunnis while ignoring the actions of Shiite militias, Reuters reported. The charges came from U.S. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander for all of northern Iraq.
http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=280442
I hope that they come to their senses after their anger subsides. Others are just dim operatives.
LLS
Except that, instead of covering Klintoons sorry A$$, this 'Study Group' will be, as evidence by the membership, charged by the Dims with putting together the Bush Impeachment 'evidence'.
JMO ... ~GCR~
The Iraq Study Group
November 12, 2006
Email this Print this Since beginning work in March, the Baker-Hamilton study group has consulted with officials in Iraq and across the region and with current and former U.S. military commanders, analysts, commentators and academics.
What's expected is a call for Iraqis to assume control over a steadily increasing share of their own security.
The time frame should be set by the elected Iraqi government, not dictated by the United States, said Frederick Barton, a member of the study group, to help establish the government as an effective and credible democratic force.
A master deal maker who pulled together the U.S.-led coalition that defeated Iraq in the first Gulf War, James Baker is almost certain to advocate a new strategic dialogue with regional players, including Iran and Syria, as essential to stability. While President George W. Bush has long been committed to holding Iraq together as a single country, a strong federalist model -- as Iraq's post-war constitution calls for -- appears to be essential.
"It won't be cut and run. It'll be turn and walk," said retired Army Gen. Lawrence Wilkerson, professor of political science at the College of William and Mary.
"Turn and walk will take 18 months, maybe two years."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061112/NEWS07/611120608/1009
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