NYT: "This administration has been orchestrating a foreign policy disaster of epic proportions"

[kpete]

Editorial
Bush, Maliki and That Memo

Published: December 1, 2006


President Bush’s news conference yesterday with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq had an even greater than usual sense of unreality about it, with Mr. Bush insisting that Mr. Maliki is “the right guy for Iraq” and that American troops will stay “until the job is complete,” while Mr. Maliki asserted that his country is a democracy and he is not a captive of Shiite militias.


..................

Mr. Bush’s lack of curiosity was well known even before he became president, but as time has gone on and bad news has mounted, that disinterested quality has turned into a stubborn refusal to hear bad news. The country simply cannot afford it any longer. Three years of having Mr. Bush trust only his gut has plunged Iraq into bloody chaos and done untold damage to America. There needs to be an urgent change in policy.

Mr. Hadley’s memo actually provides a clue to how Mr. Bush has managed to avoid facing hard facts. Despite the horrific situation it describes, the policy recommendations fail to convey any strong sense of urgency and seem to shrug off American responsibility for what has gone wrong. Either the president’s security adviser was afraid to be as blunt as the situation requires or he, too, has managed to convince himself that the disaster is really not all that disastrous.

The president’s advisers need to tell him all the harsh truths about Iraq in the vivid terms they require; they need to tell him how little time he has left to act. This administration has been orchestrating a foreign policy disaster of epic proportions, and history will remember both that the president failed to hear the warning bells and that many others failed to ring them loudly enough.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/01/opinion/01fri1.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[Jacobin]

1. Hadley is a neo-con

and is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The remaining idiots are running on blind faith and must ignore reality, or they will come crashing down

[Dhalgren]

2. And who is going to do anything about it? Nobody, that's who.

The Democrats have the opportunity to "do the right thing", but they fear (maybe correctly) that they will be turned out of office in two years if they do. Are they correct? If the Democrats in congress do the things that must be done to find a way out of this mess, will the American people oppose them? What do the American people want? Is that even a valid question? This is why I say that we all, every American citizen, shares the guilt for this crime against humanity that we have ALLOWED our elected government to commit. If the only way to solve this problem results in the American people siding AGAINST the solvers, then who is ultimately to blame for our nation's crimes? This is a time for every citizen to stand up and do what is right, which is what is best for our country, and this includes our elected officials, too. Will they do it? Will WE do it? I doubt it...

[A wise Man]

3. Let me get this straight

We invade Iraq on a lie, to steal their oil resources killing thousands of IRAQ'S and thousands of our troops killed and wounded. We cut the head off the chicken ie, Saddam Hussan as we see the chickens body running around aimlessly. We can't define the enemy and we can't take sides in this now evolving civil war.He keeps saying "Stay the course and Until the job is done". What course and what job is suppose to be done?