AP: Insurgents have thwarted U.S. in Iraq, Bush says

[jefferson_dem]

:puke:


Insurgents have thwarted U.S. in Iraq, Bush says
Updated 12/20/2006 10:44 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — Summing up a year of setbacks, President Bush said Wednesday that insurgents in Iraq have hindered U.S. efforts at "establishing security and stability throughout the country" in 2006.

<SNIP>

Bush sidestepped one question — whether he would order a so-called surge of troops in Iraq as a first-step toward gaining control of the violent and chaotic situation there. "Nice try," he told a reporter who asked about his plans.

<SNIP>

The president opened the question-and-answer session by conceding the obvious — things haven't gone well in Iraq, where the United States has lost more than 2,900 troops in almost four years of war, without quelling the insurgency.

"The enemies of liberty ... carried out a deliberate strategy to foment sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shia. And over the course of the year they had success," he said.

"Their success hurt our efforts to help the Iraqis rebuild their country. They set back reconciliation and kept Iraq's unity government and our coalition from establishing security and stability throughout the country."

Bush also explained a striking shift in position — his statement on Tuesday that the United States is neither winning nor losing in Iraq, contrasted with his insistence at a recent news conference that it was "absolutely winning."

<SNIP>

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-12-20-bush_x.htm?csp=34

[rodeodance]

1. and the US will continue to go after the "The enemies of liberty ..

[rodeodance]

2. Bush Babbled through most of the news conf. with old talking points

[maxsolomon]

9. enemies of OUR liberty

to do whatever we want

[Lord Balto]

31. Mirriam Webster

In-sur-gent 1 : A person who revolts against civil authority or an established government; esp : a rebel not recognized as belligerent

What civil authority? What government? "Insurgent" is what Bill Burroughs would call "a canine preparation." These Stalinists use words for their Pavlovian response value rather than anything having to do with their actual meaning. Fortunately even the dimbulbs of the world are starting to see through them.

[yellowcanine]

3. Did Bush actually say "thwarted"?? I would like to have heard that. I didn't know he even knew

that word and could use it correctly in a sentence. And does that mean we ARE losing? If it is a football game, the team being thwarted is usually losing. Just sayin'.

[Laurab]

17. He probably doesn't -

it's not like he writes his own speeches!

[IndyOp]

4. It's GOD! Right there at the Presidential Podium - Jaysus!!

Damn they are good with the visuals!

[Ron Green]

11. This is perhaps the most odious facet of the whole Bush crime operation.

Their willingness to use the best talent and technology to produce propaganda so subtle and effective that almost half the people in this nation are tricked into voting for this piss-ant.

[Lord Balto]

32. Hmmm...

Do you suppose if we nailed him to a tree we could have his birthday off from work? Maybe the morons would even pipe down about the second coming. Cheney and Condie could be the two thieves. We could call it Christalmeth.

[MasonJar]

5. Well, duh, George. Do you have any more insightful tidbits for us?

[rodeodance]

6. He said his earlier comments were meant to say that, ......

.....Bush also explained a striking shift in position — his statement on Tuesday that the United States is neither winning nor losing in Iraq, contrasted with his insistence at a recent news conference that it was "absolutely winning."

He said his earlier comments were meant to say that, "I believe that we're going to win, I believe that ... My comments yesterday reflected the fact that we're not succeeding nearly as fast as I had wanted."

[rodeodance]

7. AP Bush: Iraq insurgents hurt U.S. efforts

Bush: Iraq insurgents hurt U.S. efforts

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent 7 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Summing up a year of setbacks,
President Bush conceded Wednesday that insurgents in
Iraq thwarted U.S. efforts at "establishing security and stability throughout the country."
ADVERTISEMENT

Looking to change course, Bush said he has not decided whether to order a short-term surge in U.S. troops in Iraq in hopes of gaining control of the violent and chaotic situation there.

The president spoke as Robert Gates made his first visit to Iraq since being sworn in earlier in the week as defense secretary. Bush said he has asked his new
Pentagon boss to report to him as quickly as possible on plans to enlarge the size of the Army and Marine Corps...........

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061220/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

[rodeodance]

8. Chicago Trib: Has Bush really not heard of 'broken' army?

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/12/has_bush_really.html

Originally posted: December 20, 2006
Has Bush really not heard of 'broken' army?

Posted by Frank James at 9:05 am CST

The big news out of President Bush's interview yesterday with the Washington Post is that for the first time he seemed to acknowledge that the U.S. wasn't winning in Iraq though he said it's not losing either.

Oh yes, he also said he wanted to expand the military, apparently repudiating the smaller military strategy of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

But another of the president's responses was eyebrow-raising and seemed to point to what can charitably be called the president's hands-off style compared to many other presidents, especially war presidents.

That came across clearly in this exchange between a Washington Post reporter and the commander-in-chief.

REPORTER: So is our Army nearly broken, or not?

[Changenow]

10. Love the Christ imagery in the photo. nt

[rodeodance]

12. from WA Post: U.S. not winning war in Iraq, Bush says

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16275638/

U.S. not winning war in Iraq, Bush says
President seeking expansion of Army, Marine Corps


By Peter Baker
The Washington Post
Updated: 2 hours, 6 minutes ago

President Bush acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and said he plans to expand the overall size of the "stressed" U.S. armed forces to meet the challenges of a long-term global struggle against terrorists.

As he searches for a new strategy for Iraq, Bush has adopted the formula advanced by his top military adviser to describe the situation. "We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. The assessment was a striking reversal for a president who, days before the November elections, declared, "Absolutely, we're winning."


• More politics news
In another turnaround, Bush said he has ordered Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to develop a plan to increase the troop strength of the Army and Marine Corps, heeding warnings from the Pentagon and Capitol Hill that multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan are stretching the armed forces toward the breaking point. "We need to reset our military," said Bush, whose administration had opposed increasing force levels as recently as this summer.

[Tekla West]

26. how could he have predicted that an occupied people might resent being occupied?

So, if I get this right, the people in Iraq who do not want us to be there, are trying to stop us from being there. Well, come on, who could have ever predicted that? Come on now, what kind of historical precident is there for a nation under occupation to resist? Had it ever happened before, he might have known. But there was no way for him to predict this, after all, were we not welcomed in Paris, because we kicked the Nazi's out, and the French were thankful for.... OK, that's a bad one.

How about the American Revolution? Opps, another bad one.

OK, so he is clueless, and more than likely mentaly over the brink too. Don't those people deserve some representation too?

[Tempest]

13. Bush was warned about this BEFORE the war

But did he listen?

NNNNOOOOO!

[LaurenG]

14. "foment"

Is this the new buzzword for the neo cons? Foment is now (over)used by him each time he speaks about the war. I wonder if he just learned it?

[Felinity]

15. I am so grateful for the accountability.

Here I was thinking that the mess in Iraq was the b* administration's fault, or Rummy and Cheney's fault. How dome was that? (I was going to correct that spelling error, but I like it!)


"The enemies of liberty ... carried out a deliberate strategy to foment sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shia. And over the course of the year they had success," he said."

Was I wrong or what? Duh!! It's the "Enemies of Liberty" -- it's their fault. I hate those Enemies of Liberty!! HATE HATE HATE them. If it weren't for them everything would be all ducky!

Look what else the Enemies of Liberty have done:

They took away our right to Privacy.

They made us lie to start a war.

They made us torture them, and anyone who looked like them.

They took away our Habeas Corpus.

They gave oxy contin to Rush Limbaugh!

They made us hate Christmas!


Just in case:


:sarcasm:

[Marnieworld]

16. the quotes here do not match the article in the link

Does anyone have a link to these quotes?

[Az_lefty]

18. The Abomination of Desolation...

:hide:

[natrat]

33. ahhh reminds me of this zimmy tune

They're selling postcards of the hanging
They're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row

Cinderella, she seems so easy
"It takes one to know one," she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning
"You Belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says," You're in the wrong place, my friend
You better leave"
And the only sound that's left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row

Now the moon is almost hidden
The stars are beginning to hide
The fortunetelling lady
Has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing
He's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight
On Desolation Row

Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid

To her, death is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
Now you would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row

Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
Inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients
They're trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser
She's in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read
"Have Mercy on His Soul"
They all play on penny whistles
You can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough
From Desolation Row

Across the street they've nailed the curtains
They're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera
A perfect image of a priest
They're spoonfeeding Casanova
To get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
After poisoning him with words

And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
"Get Outa Here If You Don't Know
Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row"

Now at midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row

Praise be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody's shouting
"Which Side Are You On?"
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row

Yes, I received your letter yesterday
(About the time the door knob broke)
When you asked how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
From Desolation Row

[marmar]

19. "aking a "clear-eyed" view of the war on terror and the conflict in Iraq"

He doesn't have a clear-eyed view of anything....Jack Daniels won't let him. :beer:

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

20. When will

a reporter with some gonads ask him a question about 'Mission Accomplished'?
I watched this on CNN, they eliminated the crawl during the conference. I'm trying to use my imagination as to why. Also, I'm just now realizing he gets the questions beforehand. I should have picked up on this sooner, he gets a list of reporters to call on. :eyes:

[WestMichRad]

27. No point in asking the Shrub an intelligent question

It's not like he's capable of intelligently answering anything of importance. He just spouts more canned phrases and preprogrammed blather that says nothing. For everyone's sake I'm not going to repeat that crap, am trying to forget it.

It reminds me of "Bull Durham" where the wily veteran player (Kevin Costner) teaches the stud rookie not to try to think when responding to a question, but rather to stick to the meaningless cliches. Shrub has this down pat. After all, it's all about appearances, right?

No contest: Worst. President. Ever.

[badgerpup]

21. Shame on me, but my first thought was this was like a little kid...

...(spoken with accompanying over-indulged brat body language)"OK, I've admitted that we're not winning in Iraq.
NOW can I have more troops to mindlessly throw into this bloodbath for my War for on Terror"?

We now have TWO $64 questions...the first being
How do we know when we have acheived "Victory"?,
since it's never been defined,
and
Where you gonna get these extra troops?
The military you have now is overstretched and "broken".

Is this going to be yet another "The army you have, not the army you may want" moment? :eyes::puke::banghead:

...and those 'halos'...:rofl: They'd be more believable if his expression wasn't so constipated.

[volstork]

22. Is he wearing his earpiece again?

"The enemies of liberty ... carried out a deliberate strategy to foment sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shia. And over the course of the year they had success,"
He used the word "foment" ????? Come on, now-- there's NO WAY he knows what that means!

[disndat]

29. You are exactly right

This buffoon is just a front. It suits Bushco that he is nothing but an idiot, so not accountable for their horrible agenda: to rob the people blind while acting like the Reaganesque "common man,' to make him "folksy" to the multitude, tragically, of equally dumb Limbaugh listeners, out there.

[rocktivity]

23. Winner of this month's "You Call This NEWS?" award

Oh, wait, I get it--it's news to HIM...

:eyes:
rocknation

[Tom Joad]

24. And any would be successor who thinks any troops should stay in Iraq is as full of shit as bush.

[bj2110]

25. So, he didn't say "thwarted" or he did? Ah, yes, there's no quotes in the header... nt

[Javaman]

28. so therefore, his* new strategy is to...

Day bad, we good, we smash! we smash them good!

I'm so tired of monkey* politics.

[The Wielding Truth]

30. It's that god awful big embassy which must be dismantled that irks him.

[Rex]

34. Wow. Who would have guessed the piss poor number of troops

are getting beatdown by 26 million 'insurgents'. :eyes:

I never thought my country would be run by stupid little people, ever!