Post: Surge Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting At Highest Levels Of Bush Administration

[babylonsister]

Post: Surge Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting At Highest Levels Of Bush Administration

Among Top Officials, 'Surge' Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting

By Peter Baker, Karen DeYoung, Thomas E. Ricks, Ann Scott Tyson, Joby Warrick and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers and Researcher Julie Tate
Sunday, September 9, 2007; Page A01

For two hours, President Bush listened to contrasting visions of the U.S. future in Iraq. Gen. David H. Petraeus dominated the conversation by video link from Baghdad, making the case to keep as many troops as long as possible to cement any security progress. Adm. William J. Fallon, his superior, argued instead for accepting more risks in Iraq, officials said, in order to have enough forces available to confront other potential threats in the region.

The polite discussion in the White House Situation Room a week ago masked a sharper clash over the U.S. venture in Iraq, one that has been building since Fallon, chief of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations, sent a rear admiral to Baghdad this summer to gather information. Soon afterward, officials said, Fallon began developing plans to redefine the U.S. mission and radically draw down troops.

One of those plans, according to a Centcom officer, involved slashing U.S. combat forces in Iraq by three-quarters by 2010. In an interview, Fallon disputed that description but declined to offer details. Nonetheless, his efforts offended Petraeus's team, which saw them as unwelcome intrusion on their own long-term planning. The profoundly different views of the U.S. role in Iraq only exacerbated the schism between the two men.

"Bad relations?" said a senior civilian official with a laugh. "That's the understatement of the century. . . . If you think Armageddon was a riot, that's one way of looking at it."

For Bush, the eight months since announcing his "new way forward" in Iraq have been about not just organizing a major force deployment but also managing a remarkable conflict within his administration, mounting a rear-guard action against Congress and navigating a dysfunctional relationship with an Iraqi leadership that has proved incapable of delivering what he needs.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/08/AR2007090801846.html?hpid=topnews

[soothsayer]

1. Soon Patreus will show up to centcom wearing a suicided bomber's vest

and KABOOM!

[leftchick]

2. I was concerned about Fallon's concerns

and I was right to be concerned...

<snip>

Lawmakers were not alone. Fallon, who took command of Centcom in March, worried that Iraq was undermining the military's ability to confront other threats, such as Iran. "When he took over, the reality hit him that he had to deal with Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and a whole bunch of other stuff besides Iraq," said a top military officer.

[WillyT]

3. K & R !!!

:kick:

[babylonsister]

4. .

[seemslikeadream]

5. Armageddon

There's that word again

(*_*)

[Quantess]

8. Probably done on purpose, to excite Christian Fundies.

Finally we get to meet Jesus!
:nuke:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. Why doesn't BUSH just "throw in the towel"

he's done

[opihimoimoi]

7. Bush is a Spineless Coward and a PETER/PUPPET

[TacticalPeek]

9. K & R

:kick: