U.S. foreign policy experts oppose Bush's surge

[Scurrilous]

Source: Reuters

<snip>

"More than half of top U.S. foreign policy experts oppose President George W. Bush's troop increase as a strategy for stabilizing Baghdad, saying the plan has harmed U.S. national security, according to a new survey.

As Congress and the White House await the September release of a key progress report on Iraq, 53 percent of the experts polled by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for American Progress said they now oppose Bush's troop build-up.

That is a 22 percentage point jump since the strategy was announced early this year.

The survey of 108 experts, including Republicans and Democrats, showed opposition to the so-called "surge" across the political spectrum, with about two-thirds of conservatives saying it has been ineffective or made things worse in Iraq.

Foreign Policy, published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the experts polled on May 23 to June 26 included former government officials in senior positions including secretary of state, White House national security adviser and top military commanders."



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1745774020070820

[pinto]

1. Kick.

[ClintonTyree]

2. Doesn't matter.....

the DECIDER knows it's working, everyone else is wrong. He answers to a "higher power", after all. :eyes:

More from the article:

<snip>


Ninety-one percent of those polled said the world has grown more dangerous for Americans and the United States, up 10 percent from February.

More than 80 percent of the experts said they expected another September 11-scale attack on the United States over the next decade, despite what they described as significant improvements among U.S. security, law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

A decade from now, the Middle East still will be reeling from the ill-effects of the Iraq war, particularly heightened Sunni-Shi'ite tensions in the region, 58 percent said.

Thirty-five percent believed Arab dictators will have been discouraged from pursuing political reforms as a result.

Only 3 percent believed the United States will achieve its goal of rebuilding Iraq into a beacon of democracy within the next 10 years.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! :banghead:

[Theduckno2]

3. I can think of 2 reasons why this can be viewed as a positive event.

1. It will provide political cover to members of Congress so far unwilling to oppose Bush's escalation in Iraq. I swear some of these gutless wonders in Congress would hide behind their grandmother if George Bush was armed with a stapler.

2. This survey also establishes the parameters of discussion and a baseline in regards to the upcoming General Petraeus report. He will be less likely to produce a report in accordance with White House political wishes and more likely to stick closer to reality. I think this survey, along with the May'07 Chatham House report, go a long way in dispelling the fanciful neocon myths emanating from the likes of Dick "Last Throes" Cheney.

In regards to the last sentence of the article, who are those 3% and where are they getting their hallucinogens?

[ClintonTyree]

4. Since Betrays's report is being produced by the White House.....

I think the second of your thoughts is a little off base. They're going to write a glowing report for themselves, perhaps with a few small negatives thrown in to keep everyone from dismissing it completely. Betrayus's questioning by Congress should prove to be a far better barometer of The Surge's success or failure than the written report. At least we'll be able to tell how far up Bush's ass Betrayus has crawled. The more glowing the testimony, the farther he's crawled.

[Theduckno2]

5. Alright, maybe we can find a middle ground.

I will give you that the White House intends to craft a glowing report on Iraq, but I submit that General Petraeus will be less likely to provide the cherry-picked fireflies that would enhance the glow of the report.

I also think his upcoming testimony to Congress will be indicative of his overall integrity and I believe he knows it.

[rodeodance]

6. "two-thirds of conservatives" Well, gee Jr--you best listen up!

[peacetalksforall]

7. No one ever talks about the prison plan. PNAC just loves taking

money to torment and torture - they just can't let those prisons go and if our kids are not in Iraq, how are we going to hold those possibly innocent and not so innocent able bodied men there - (or formerly able bodied men and boys).

PNAC - not good for the world. Including everyone who gave them the go-ahead for their plan and sponsored them.

[antiimperialist]

8. But...but...Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack said the surge is working

Yes, Pollack supported the surge wrote a book supporting the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and O'hanlon cheered the surge before it started, but they are good boys. Screw the experts.

[Scurrilous]

9. The Terrorism Index

In the third Terrorism Index, more than 100 of America’s most respected foreign-policy experts see a world that is growing more dangerous, a national security strategy in disrepair, and a war in Iraq that is alarmingly off course.

<snip>

"Americans are thinking more about the war on terror than ever before. But that doesn’t mean they’ve come to see this issue in the black-and-white terms preferred by many elected leaders. The combination of bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, continued terrorist attacks from Britain to Somalia, and a presidential election in which candidates are defining themselves based on how they would stare down the threats has many seeing shades of gray. Six years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, just 29 percent of Americans believe the United States is winning the war on terror—the lowest percentage at any point since 9/11. But Americans also consider themselves safe. Six in 10 say that they do not believe another terrorist attack is imminent. Likewise, more than 60 percent of Americans now say that the decision to invade Iraq was a mistake. Yet around half report that they would support similar military action to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Such seemingly incompatible points of view may stem in part from the fact that we are increasingly asked to reconcile a bewildering array of threats—and a nebulous enemy that defies convention. In Iraq, for instance, the same surge in U.S. forces that is meant to help pacify Baghdad only escalates violence elsewhere in the country. In the broader Middle East and South Asia, some of the same countries that are now the United States’ most crucial allies have also been guilty of cultivating the very terrorists we look to bring to justice. Deciphering priorities from such difficult paradoxes can be hard. So, how can one determine whether the war on terror is making America safer or more dangerous?

To find out, FOREIGN POLICY and the Center for American Progress once again turned to the very people who have run the United States’ national security apparatus during the past half century. Surveying more than 100 of America’s top foreign-policy experts—Republicans and Democrats alike—the FOREIGN POLICY/Center for American Progress Terrorism Index is the only comprehensive, nonpartisan effort to mine the highest echelons of the nation’s foreign-policy establishment for its assessment of how the United States is fighting the war on terror. First released in July 2006, and again last February, the index attempts to draw definitive conclusions about the war’s priorities, policies, and progress. Its participants include people who have served as secretary of state, national security advisor, senior White House aides, top commanders in the U.S. military, seasoned intelligence professionals, and distinguished academics. Eighty percent of the experts have served in the U.S. government—including more than half in the Executive Branch, 32 percent in the military, and 21 percent in the intelligence community.

The world these experts see today is one that continues to grow more threatening. Fully 91 percent say the world is becoming more dangerous for Americans and the United States, up 10 percentage points since February. Eighty-four percent do not believe the United States is winning the war on terror, an increase of 9 percentage points from six months ago. More than 80 percent expect a terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11 within a decade, a result that is more or less unchanged from one year ago."

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