WP: Major Change Expected In Strategy for Iraq War

[kskiska]

Friday, October 20, 2006; A01

The growing doubts among GOP lawmakers about the administration's Iraq strategy, coupled with the prospect of Democratic wins in next month's midterm elections, will soon force the Bush administration to abandon its open-ended commitment to the war, according to lawmakers in both parties, foreign policy experts and others involved in policymaking.

Senior figures in both parties are coming to the conclusion that the Bush administration will be unable to achieve its goal of a stable, democratic Iraq within a politically feasible time frame. Agitation is growing in Congress for alternatives to the administration's strategy of keeping Iraq in one piece and getting its security forces up and running while 140,000 U.S. troops try to keep a lid on rapidly spreading sectarian violence.

On the campaign trail, Democratic candidates are hammering Republican candidates for backing a failed Iraq policy, and GOP defense of the war is growing muted. A new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll released this week showed that voters are more confident in Democrats' ability to handle the Iraq war than the Republicans' -- a reversal from the last election.

Few officials in either party are talking about an immediate pullout of U.S. combat troops. But interest appears to be growing in several broad ideas. One would be some kind of effort to divide the country along regional lines. Another, favored by many Democrats, is a gradual withdrawal of troops over a set period of time. A third would be a dramatic scaling-back of U.S. ambitions in Iraq, giving up on democracy and focusing only on stability.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101901907.html

[TexasLawyer]

1. "Cutting and running" by any other name,

would smell as sweet.

[IndianaGreen]

3. It will be called Iraqi Lean Six

and it will be declared a rousing success, as our troops flee to Kuwait.

[sweetheart]

2. The civil war heats up...

..as the spine of public opinion rears its reasonable head.

Nixon was impeached for a reason. Bush and his cabal don't get this, and now its come to serious
war crimes over half a million civilians murdered !! FUCK !! why are they still standing?

[Swede]

4. Flip floppers.

Why does the GOP hate America?

[RDANGELO]

5. This doesn't mean anything.

First of all, *Bush is a very narrow minded stubborn man. Everyone around him could be telling him to change his policies, and he could hold fast. This whole thing could be just a pre-election ploy to deceive the public. They lie about everything all the time.

[Brundle_Fly]

6. go to the greatest!

[Canuckistanian]

7. This is "old hooey" mixed with "new hooey"

At least, according to Tony Snow.

[The Count]

8. admitting it's like Vietnam - "peace with honor" BS up the pike

Trying to change the subject from cocktober, they'll promise something vague that they'll drop after elections.

[Mr_Spock]

9. Strategy?

:rofl:

[Miss Chybil]

10. Let's see how many people can die before we have to run for reelection

again? (GOP Political Strategy)

[madrchsod]

11. the reality of the situation is something even the post or the nyt

do not wish to publish before the elections...i have found out a lot of interesting things on bbc overnight and npr in the morning...the word now is that soon the usa will have to call in syria and iran to stop the bloodshed in iraq. the top guys in the iraqi government have there own private armies and ties to different "terrorist groups" across the middle east. the us officials in iraq are screaming about this situation but the whitehouse won`t admit the iraqi government is the problem. so all these situations are leading to the whitehouse either admitting they were wrong and have to deal with iran and syria or face thousands of us dead and wounded...

[aquart]

12. Uh huh? And Afghanistan?