Bush says Iraq's neighbors need to help (Bush consulted with Condi also)

[rodeodance]

what a pusssssssssh! talking to his mirror!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061211/ts_nm/iraq_usa_bush_dc

Bush says Iraq's neighbors need to help

By Steve Holland 9 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facing strong pressure to shift course in
Iraq,President George W. Bush said in a veiled message to
Iran and Syria on Monday that Iraq's neighbors need to help Baghdad's struggling government survive.

Bush consulted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top diplomatic officials as part of a high-profile focus this week on how to change strategy in Iraq, leading up to an announcement of his new plan possibly next week.

He was also to meet a number of outside experts on Iraq later at the White House on Monday, hold a video teleconference on Tuesday with U.S. military commanders in Baghdad, then visit the
Pentagon on Wednesday.

He said he wanted to talk to both the diplomatic and military communities to make sure their recommendations are closely coordinated, "so that when I do speak to the American people, they will know that I've listened to all aspects of government and that the way forward is the way forward to achieve our objective: To succeed in Iraq."

Bush is under pressure to shift strategy due to surging sectarian violence, rising U.S. casualties and American doubts about his handling of the Iraq conflict.

[Robbien]

1. Bush: I bombed them back to the Stone Age, now you ME guys have to clean

up my mess.

[sutz12]

2. It's gonna be tough to get them to cooperate....

when we won't even fucking talk to them, George.

[htuttle]

3. The Emperor adds: "...And how do you like my fine new clothes?"

[rodeodance]

4. "When I do speak to the American people, they will know that I've listened ..

........Bush, speaking with US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Vice President
Dick Cheney at his sides, said he was gathering the best possible advice ahead of announcing much-anticipated changes to his strategy in Iraq.

"When I do speak to the American people, they will know that I've listened to all aspects of government, and that the way forward is the way forward to achieve our objective: To succeed in Iraq," he said.

"And success is a country that governs, defends itself, that is a free society, that serves as an ally in this war on terror," said the president, who was expected to lay out his new plan as early as next week.

On Tuesday, Bush was to have a video-conference with military commanders and US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, as well as a meeting at the White House with Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi.

The meeting with Hashimi had been scheduled for January but was moved up after Bush met last week with powerful Iraqi Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Wednesday will see the president, who met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan on November 30, at the
Pentagon.

[Fridays Child]

5. He's too arrogant to ask for their help but he'll TELL them what to do.

And his descent into madness continues apace.

[ashling]

6. picture on the wall has more insight that Bush

On the wall behind Bush as he spoke hung a portrait of a co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, James Baker, a Bush family friend who is a former secretary of state. Bush is said to have privately chafed at news reports suggesting his father's loyalists, such as Baker, were needed to come up with a new plan for Iraq.

I just hate it when Baker is the most logical person in the room

(see my thread:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=5935483&mesg_id=5935483)

Bush has rejected a key recommendation of the Iraq Study Group -- holding direct talks with Iran and Syria -- because he believes Tehran is secretly building a nuclear weapon and Damascus is trying to destabilize Lebanon's government.

because that worked so well with North Korea.

[Roland99]

7. Uh, isn't that what everyone and their brother (outside the neocon circles) was saying 3yrs ago?????