Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

[tw]

Almost one in three Americans still support a mental midget and his "Mission Accomplished". Every general who served in Iraq and since retired has spoken out against his war. The Iraq Study Group defined an effective solution to minimize a resulting defeat – as the Wise Men did in Vietnam when we also ignored them to massacre 30,000 more American soldiers.

Generals are doing what any patriotic America would do: tell the truth. Necessary to protect American troops. From ABC News of 9 May 2007:

Political Punch
General Discontent
In an act of defiance perhaps not seen since President Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur, today the anti-war veterans group VoteVets.org, which has been influential with Capitol Hill Democrats, is launching a half-million-dollar TV ad campaign featuring Maj Gen John Batiste (Ret.), former commanding general of the first infantry division in Iraq. ...

Batiste then appears, saying, "Mr. President, you did not listen. You continue to pursue a failed strategy that is breaking our great Army and Marine Corps. I left the Army in protest in order to speak out. Mr. President, you have placed our nation in peril. Our only hope is that Congress will act now to protect our fighting men and women."

Remember George Jr is a fool who promotes a mythical worldwide terror organization that he calls Al Qaeda. Terrorist cells led by bin Laden are conjugating even in Cherry Hill NJ. Oh. These terrorists could not even discover that their automatic weapons would not work?

So why did George Jr make no effort to go after bin Laden? He even eliminated the Alec Station whose only function was to get bin Laden. Better for George Jr, politically, to have bin Laden alive. Reality - only threat to Americans in Iraq is ... George Jr. Phony threats such as Al Qaeda will keep the naive from learning reality.

An obvious reality exists as even demonstrated by Cellar Dwellers in The impending Veto. The United States has no smoking gun to justify "Mission Accomplished", has no strategic objective, and has no exit strategy. Confronted by this reality, supporters of George Jr cannot deny it. US no longer even has a Division Ready Brigade.

Hearsay according to those who support the troops. Irrelevant to ‘big dic’ thinkers who only see things in terms of military explosions such as ‘shock and awe’ (as if that had any strategic significance). Latter cannot see the difference between a tactical objective and a strategic one. After all, ‘shock and awe’ was big explosion. Therefore it must have accomplished something strategic.

This missing strategic objective was defined even four years ago here in The Cellar. How many dwellers noticed that reality back then?

Four years later and wacko extremists still cannot find an objective? Five years later and still no attempt to get bin Laden? Still they promote this mythical worldwide Al Qaeda lurking everywhere to kill us all? Yes - because it serves George Jr to lie. One in three have so much contempt for the America soldier as to ignore reality. More important is George Jr’s legacy.

Tonight on PBS News Hour, Sen Olympia Snow (R-Maine) even defines the problem. Every commander in Iraq that she talked to – everyone – said that a military victory cannot win this war. Of course. So obvious even from Sze Tzu’s book of 2500 years ago. What Senator Snow says is doctrine from Military Science 101.

Condi Rice was on Charlie Rose recently. Charlie pressed her constantly on their alternative plan should the Maliki government fail (and it is slowly losing supporters). Finally, Rice conceded that George Jr's administration had no alternative plan because their plan was to not fail. "Mission Accomplished". That was Charlie Rose on 7 May 2007.

Any war - including "Mission Accomplished" - is a defeat without a strategic objective. Even Gen Patraeus admits his effort is only a tactical objective intended to give Maliki time to establish a viable government. IOW Americans cannot win "Mission Accomplished". No strategic objective. Americans can only stall for time. Therefore the war will not be lost on George Jr's watch. Why is this obvious? What is the strategic objective? Crickets.

Moderate (intelligent) Republicans are realizing reality. A consensus is building in Congress among moderates (intelligent) and Democrats that September should be the cutoff date. Screw Condi Rice who never had a plan - even when warned repeatedly of terrorist threats in 2001. The legacy of George Jr – America’s worst president in 100 years. At least Nixon was smart enough to know he was lying. What should we expect when President Cheney tells him what to think?

[tw]

What is a strategic objective? This basic military / political concept is demonstrated using a well known historical event in The impending Veto .

[richlevy]

It looks like the GOP finally had an intervention.

G.O.P. Moderates Warn Bush Iraq Must Show Gains WASHINGTON, May 9 — Moderate Republicans gave President Bush a blunt warning on his Iraq policy at a private White House meeting this week, telling the president that conditions needed to improve markedly by fall or more Republicans would desert him on the war.
The White House session demonstrated the grave unease many Republicans are feeling about the war, even as they continue to stand with the president against Democratic efforts to force a withdrawal of forces through a spending measure that has been a flash point for weeks.
Participants in the Tuesday meeting between Mr. Bush, senior administration officials and 11 members of a moderate bloc of House Republicans said the lawmakers were unusually candid with the president, telling him that public support for the war was crumbling in their swing districts.
One told Mr. Bush that voters back home favored a withdrawal even if it meant the war was judged a loss. Representative Tom Davis told Mr. Bush that the president’s approval rating was at 5 percent in one section of his northern Virginia district.

Of course, some people just don't get it. On Scarborough Country tonight, Michael Reagan criticized generals who criticized the war saying that they shouldn't criticize unless they can come up with something other than 'cut and run'.

That is an amazingly stupid argument. It's like saying you can't stop a truck driver from driving drunk unless you can show that you know how to drive his truck. If the only two choices are leaving or brining back the draft and sending in 500,000 troops, is that what the generals have to propose?

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Meanwhile...

And: . . .