It has to be panic time in the WH about what to do in Iraq...

[Postman]

Given: Bush will not give up the potential oil profits that lay under the sand in Iraq.

1. Staying the course is no longer politically, militarily and logistically feasible

2. The Saudi's have announced that they may back the Sunni Insurgents (as if they aren't doing that already)

3. The US Army is broken

4. Bush is defiant about talking with regional powers (Iran, Syria) and continues the saber rattling at Iran.

5. 70% of the US public disapproves of his handling of Iraq even with the censored reporting coming out of Iraq.

6. Bush has announced a decision about Iraq will be put off until 2007.

Bush is in a box. He has no Ground Army to use in a hot-war. His bellicose attitude portends more wars and hostilities to come.

I wonder what was discussed between the retired Generals and Bush that was NOT reported in the news where they advised him that Iraq was still "winnable".

[sam sarrha]

1. all the hardware..trucks and tanks are worn out.. not worth bringing back..

[neoblues]

2. I wonder if he takes anything seriously...

None of those reasons/warnings/problems may actually reach him, despite how pressing, critical or rational they are. There's little anyone can do if he insists on "showing everybody he's the decider" and deciding to stay the course.

The "given" is one of probably a host of reasons little georgie bush insists on continuing his pursuit of IRAQ, but whatever the case... his only problem is making it "appear" he's thinking about what should be done in IRAQ (most of us would like to know he's actually "thinking" at all). When in doubt, bushling will stay the course. And, he's already made a big show of considering the suggestions--do we really expect any change?

[MGKrebs]

8. I think the Saudi info reached him.

Having been warned that he would be creating a full scale war by pulling out, and feeling the pressure to not just stay, the problem becomes more complex than he has been willing or able to contemplate, which everyone one but him knew it was from the beginning.

How can he possibly take additional WEEKS to come up with a plan? It is outrageous. If he was going to consider additional information besides the ISG report, why wasn't he gathering his information over the past weeks? He was evidently surprised and disappointed with the ISG report, and is now having to find a way to circumvent it. More reports and meetings, mostly secret, and his decision will be based on information that he can't share with us. It may not be what the American public wants to hear, but we will be asked to trust him one more time.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. he's only had four years. A few weeks won't make a diff.

Of course, he never listened to anyone before. Does anyone think he will start now? Turning over a scrub brush? Pedalling in a new direction?

The outrage is not that he demands more time; it is that nothing will change, now or then. The biggest outrage is that he doesn't comprehend just how badly he has failed.

Here is a man who could find the only oil-free zones throughout Texas. Here is a man who screwed up every company he touched. Here is a man who spent a scant 10 minutes per death on reviewing death penalty sentences imposed on innocent persons. Here is a man who has been pulled out of hot water repeatedly by daddy and daddy's rich friends.
Here is a man who has never "experienced" failure, not because of his successes, but because he was pampered, protected, insulated and promoted despite a constant record of failure.

I suspect that the new majority in the Congress will be surprised. The MINORITY will start pushing for impeachment long before the democrats do. The GOP will see it as self-preservation. Some of the dems continue to fear being accused of being anti-American, unpatriotic and anti-defense. Until they change that mindset, Bush stays. Once they wake up to what the rest of the country already knows, Bush will be gone. He will never be impeached, though. He is so arrogant, petulant, and headstrong, that like the fat rich boy who owns the equipment, he will take his ball and go home.

[Mojorabbit]

11. Add to that a full scale energy crisis if we pull out

and all hell breaks loose. I think in the end this will be the biggest consideration he looks at.

[maine_raptor]

3. No Ground Army, eh?

Time to drop the Big One.

I wonder if, while talking with those "retired Generals", he was simultaneously trying to summon up the spirit of Gen. Curtis LeMay.


:scared:

[opihimoimoi]

4. Obssessive Vanity verging on Insanity have trapped the dude like Gulliver

in the Land of Tiny people...

He thinks he can Fool to Rule but the TINY PEEPS know otherwise...

Bush is Toast but he don't even know it yet...still in Denial...

[GreenZoneLT]

5. Don't believe the hype

What's really depressing is that we could do what we're doing now in Iraq indefinitely, watching more hundreds of thousands of Iraqis die or flee the country. The Army isn't taking that many casualties, compared to a really hot war. We have 200-300 guys a year die from accidents when we're NOT deployed in a hot zone; in Iraq, it's less than 600 per year. We're having to spend more money on recruiting, retention and equipment, but it's not like the government can't just print the money. As a percentage of GDP, this war is pocket change compared to something like WWII.

The entire casualty list from four years of war and occupation would be considered little more than a one-day skirmish in the American Civil War. The Brits lost 20 times as many men in the first day of the Somme offensive in 1916.

There's really no pressure on the Bushies to do anything before the 2008 elections. They're pretty much working on the theory that the British generals did in 1917, thinking that a war of attrition is hurting the other fella more, and if you can just keep grinding, he'll quit. It's stupid, but don't expect them to change unless Congress forces them to (which is difficult, considering the open-ended authorization Congress previously granted).

They're not panicking. They're planning Christmas parties. Really dull, depressing Christmas parties.

[maine_raptor]

7. LOL And Welcome to DU

:hi:

On one level you maybe right; Generals are always prepared to fight the last war. Last Civil War we fought in was that little dust up we had 140 or so years ago! And look how well "attrition" worked back then.

As for the "open-ended authorization Congress previously granted"; don't forget that it was a Republican Senator that suggested recently that that authorization needed to be "re-visited". So with a vast majority of the American People now against the War, who knows? Stay tunned. :popcorn:

From your post name I take it that you have been, or are, somewhere "over there". Am I correct?

[izzie]

6. I guess it is time to hide in the bunker

Well this is how he ran his businesses and did any of us think he would do any thing else but take this one down? Any one in their right mind would see what rule by son after son has done to so many countries. One need talent to run a great country and not a name. I thought we had got that right in our minds about 200 years ago.

[global1]

10. I Hear * Is Contemplating Trading Sammy Sosa........nt

[TahitiNut]

12. The only "panic' recently demonstrated was Pickles rushing to her closet ...

... to change into another $8,000 dress. (The horror! The horror!) The money spigots are open and flowing into the coffers of the Cheney/Bush 'base' ... the biggest ongoing rape of the Treasury in our nation's history. The global corporatists have successfully made the US government a wholly-owned subsidiary, providing a Security Department that makes the Pinkertons look like a smalltown Mom and Pop operation. There isn't a federal function remaining that isn't at least partially deployed to benefit the wealthiest and most powerful.