Posted on 11/29/2006 9:48:42 AM PST by jamese777
In N.H., says Bush must admit that to regain trust
BEDFORD, N.H. -- Former House speaker Newt Gingrich told a New Hampshire audience yesterday that unless the Bush administration admits that the war in Iraq is a "failure," it will never develop a strategy to leave the country successfully.
Gingrich, who has been laying the groundwork for a presidential run, said the Bush administration needs to plan a "third stage" in Iraq, following the military takeover stage and the recent democracy-building stage. But he says a third stage can come about only if officials admit they must change course.
"If the military, White House, and State Department continue to avoid the word 'failure,' how can you bring about a third stage?" Gingrich said.
Gingrich was in New Hampshire for three campaign-style events Monday night and yesterday. While the former speaker has expressed interest in a presidential run, he said yesterday that he is more interested in injecting ideas in to the 2008 campaign than in putting his name on the ballot. He said he will not seriously entertain a presidential campaign until September.
Gingrich, who served on a key Pentagon board that advised Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the runup to the Iraq war, was eager to distance himself from the Bush administration's handling of the war.
He said a show of contrition by the White House would help the president regain the trust of the American people and avoid a quick pullout, which would be disastrous.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
And what would things be like if we hadn't gone to afganistan and iraq?
He is another self centered politician trying to run in 08 and distancing himself from the President.He was a cheerleader for the war and now he calls it a failure.Thank goodness this media and these politicians were not around for WW2.We would all be speaking German or Japanese now.
LOL!
Maybe he could use "Moral Equivalent Of War," you know, MEOW, too!
"The war was not a failure, but this occupation is."
Bingo.
Pandering.
Kinda thinking the same thing here.
Amen brah!
[let the flaming begin]
LOL
He'll be a "GOP expert" on MSNBC before long.
I must not be very smart. Why is he still alive?
Good one!!!!
I couldn't have said it better myself.
The last time I checked, Saddam was out of power and getting ready for the gallows.
I heard the Iraqis have had two or three elections.
Our miltary is killing terrorists by the thousands.
Newt needs to put it in perspective.
Because they're opportunistic swine?
Because Hillary wants him to run with her as Vice President.
The war, overall, is not a failure. The current strategy is a failure. al-Sadr is still alive. So are a lot of other jihadist sub-humans that should not be permitted to exist in the region. Until we retool our strategy to take out every last one of them, our strategy is a failure. A post-liberation Iraq wherein people like al-Sadr still operate is doomed.
Yeah, and elected two pro-Iranian fundamentalists: Maliki and Sadr.
Well yes, Reagan did cut and run from Beirut, but that was the biggest mistake of his presidency, which laid the groundwork for the terror-tactic wars we now face.
But of course the easy soundbite whenever anything goes wrong is to just claim that Reagan would have done it different.
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