WSJ: In Iraq, Bush adopts, renames Democrats' ideas

[brg5001]

Now that it's election time, Bush appears to be adopting Biden's plan while taking credit for the idea.

As the Wall Street Journal put it in a front-page story to run Tuesday morning: "The new approach bears some striking similarities to the "soft partition" strategy pushed by senior Democrats. . ."

Withdrawing some troops is being openly discussed by the administration apparently because we've had so much "success" under Bush's unwavering leadership. (Yeah, that's sarcasm.)

Of course, according to a recent NY Times article, the relative calm in the 'surge' areas have been achieved primarly by paying off Sunni tribal leaders. Mysteriously, attacks in those former insurgent strongholds where we've dropped off stacks of cash to the "enemies of freedom" have stopped.

The man has absolutely no shame. My guess is that in about 12 months, we'll declare victory and leave. Except for a huge contingent of mercenaries (contractors) and the planned embassy the size of Mars, and of course, the permanent bases with security to be provided by last year's enemies of freedom.

Of course, no one in the Noise Machine will ask why the President wants to "surrender to terrorists" by retreating for strictly political reasons "before the job is done."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118881964363216025.html?mod=most_viewed_day

"The Bush administration is quietly moving toward a major shift in Iraq policy, driven by successes in formerly intractable insurgent strongholds combined with dispiriting failures at fostering national reconciliation.

"After almost four years of trying to build Iraq's central government in Baghdad, the U.S. has found that what appears to work best in the divided country is just the opposite. So senior military officials are increasingly working to strengthen local players who are bringing some measure of stability to their communities. The new approach bears some striking similarities to the "soft partition" strategy pushed by senior Democrats. . ."

"Military officials say the local focus seems to be leading to an outcome that looks similar to the "soft partition" or federalism approach advocated by a growing number of Democrats, including Joseph Biden of Delaware, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a longshot candidate for president. Senior Bush administration officials, of course, have never used the phrase "soft partition." Instead President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates often refer to the new approach as "bottom-up reconciliation." Yesterday the president expressed hope that the military successes would 'pave the way for political reconciliation.'"

(edited for clarity and to provide cool new content)

[aquart]

1. George is a thief. Thieves steal. Elections, vote, ideas...

[rodeodance]

2. i hate it when he takes credit for stuff.

[Cassandra]

3. If he didn't steal ideas...

he wouldn't have any at all.