Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

[xoxoxoBruce]

I think I'll take my camera to the polls.

[tw]

From the NY Times of 17 Nov 2006:

In Visit to Vietnam, Bush Cites Lessons for Iraq
In his first day in the capital of a country that was America’s wartime enemy during his youth, President Bush said today that the American experience in Vietnam contained lessons for the war in Iraq. Chief among them, he said, was that “we’ll succeed unless we quit.”
{italics mine}

Someone send me some poison to drink.

[tw]

An ongoing analysis of Iraq has three options: "Go big, go long, or go home". The analysis of these options (including one by three highly regarded Colonels) is leaking all over the news services. "Go long" is a new expression for 'stay the course' which means troop number changes (up or down) by some tens of thousands. “Go long” is an obvious and complete loser’s strategy.

"Go Big" means hundreds of thousands of troops deployed now. Next year means hundreds of thousands will not accomplish anything. Iraq is that close to a cliff.

Hope for a successful application of 500,000 troops for one year is currently about 50-50 and diminishing each month. Henry Kissinger has already declared the Iraqi war is not winnable – because Iraq has been that bad for that long. That should have been your obvious concern over a year ago - long after Scowcroft defined what is now an ongoing Iraqi civil war.

Meanwhile no one is talking about that other war that still can be saved but is also being lost - Afghanistan. British leaders only provided about 10% of the troops that British military commanders in Afghanistan desperately requested.

Leaders are supposed to know when to cut their losses long before everything is lost. American leaders will be telling George Jr what to decide within a month.

"Cut and Run" will not be acceptable to those in power because it admits something glaring obvious - "Mission Accomplished" was lost when the looting began. So these same analysts will be looking for "Blame and Run" - which is really "cut and run" with a propaganda spin. Unfortunately for American soldiers, that may be more of "Go long".

[tw]

From the Washington Post of 22 Nov 2006:

Report Finds DHS Lax on Contracting Procedures
Private consultants hired by the Department of Homeland Security have found widespread problems with its contracting operation, including nearly three dozen contract files that could not be located.

Files that could be found often lacked basic documentation required under federal rules, such as evidence that the department negotiated the best prices for taxpayers, ...

The assessment underscores complaints by department auditors and outside experts that procurement officials persistently neglected contracting responsibilities as they spent billions of dollars after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- much of it on security systems that do not work as planned.

Cut taxes and spend on Halliburton, et al with reckless abandon. No problem. We have Rush Limbaugh to blame it all on 'tax and spend' Democrats. Are you an independent or do you have a political agenda that justifies this?

The confidential report, delivered to department officials in March, ...

If we told you this, we would have to kill you? Thank god for the patriotic Americans - also called leakers and whistle blowers. Just another reason to hate Democrat and Republican extremists.

At the outset, the team of acquisition specialists could not locate 33 of the 72 contract files it had selected for the review, ...

No wonder George Jr could not find Saddam's WMDs. Government is now just as consistent and organized as George Jr's autobiography. 85% of all problems are directly traceable to whom?

OJ Simpson only killed two people.

[tw]

You may not have noticed. Troops would never publically contradict the president; say "Mission Accomplished" is flawed and wrong. Retired Generals were doing that talk many years ago when "Mission Accomplished" was justified using wacko conservative political righteousness. Some years later, every General that served in Iraq and then retired were warning of a failure we know as "Mission Accomplished". Finally, active duty troops are now talking - actually leaking. They are leaking intelligence assessments that apparently are not shared even with the Iraqi army or puppet government.

Marine Corp intelligence assessment for Anbar province last March has been updated - and leaked. Active duty troops telling you how much extremist conservatives and this president hate the troops. From the Washington Post of 28 Nov 2006:

Anbar Picture Grows Clearer, and Bleaker
The five-page report -- written by Col. Peter Devlin, a senior and seasoned military intelligence officer with the Marine Expeditionary Force -- is marked secret, for dissemination to U.S. and allied troops in Iraq only. ... Devlin suggested that without the deployment of an additional U.S. military division -- 15,000 to 20,000 troops -- plus billions of dollars in aid to the province, "there is nothing" U.S. troops "can do to influence" the insurgency.

No decent American or president would have put American soldiers into another Vietnam. Especially when the facts were so obvious that ... well in another post are examples of how long ago a loyal administration would have seen this civil war coming: Knowing Civil War is Coming if only in The Cellar . A loyal administration would never have put troops in this situation. A loyal administration - which means not extremist conservative choosen by god - would have gone after bin Laden.

Active duty troops provide numerical estimates - tens of thousands of troops and $billions just for one of Iraq's 18 provinces. Extremist conservative's hate for the troops has become so obvious that even active duty troops must leak reality and intelligence assessments. Go big or go home? George Jr's contempt for the American soldier was expressed today. He said American troops will not pull out. Does that mean 500,000 troops? No. George Jr will do anything to American soldiers so that defeat does not occur under his watch - just like Nixon. His legacy is more important than some dead soldiers. Active duty troops are now demonstrating how much contempt this president has for the American soldier.

[tw]

From the NY Times of 28 Nov 2006:

Bush to Pursue Fresh NATO Commitments
President Bush called on NATO countries Tuesday to boost their ability and willingness to battle Islamic extremism in Afghanistan and across the Middle East, ...

"We're in a long struggle against terrorists and extremists who follow a hateful ideology and seek to establish a totalitarian empire from Spain to Indonesia," Bush said in a speech at Latvia University as part of a meeting of the NATO members.

At this point, is there anyone with minimal junior high school science education that still believes those lies? In order to win the AFghan war, first, an enemy must be defined. Where is this Taliban that would attack Spain and Indonesia. It is called an insurgency. If a president cannot even define the enemy, well, this is a threat to the stability of NATO. A leader that cannot even define the enemy cannot create a strategic objective. An army without a strategic objective cannot win and has no exit strategy. What NATO country, other than one with an extremist conservative government, would deploy troops without a strategic objective? How does one define a strategic objecgtive if the enemy is not even correctly defined?

[tw]

From the Washington Post of 3 Dec 2006 Page B01:

Move Over, Hoover
Shortly after Thanksgiving I had dinner in California with Ronald Reagan's best biographer, Lou Cannon. Like many historians these days, we discussed whether George W. Bush is, conceivably, the worst U.S. president ever. Cannon bristled at the idea.

Bush has two more years to leave his mark, he argued. What if ...

He has almost two more years. A list of atrocities George Jr has performed only in his first two years. Destroy the Oslo Accords. Destroy the anti-ballistic missile treaty. Violate promises made to Russia thereby making Russia very nervous and slowly backing away from democracy. Stifled anti-terrorist abilities in America. Destroyed America's fabulous reputation and popularity throughout the world - see Turkey as a perfect example. Sat in a FL classroom reading a children's book and never once even authorized American fighter jets to protect America after being told "America is under attack". All but declared unilateral and unjustified war on Iran, Iraq, and N Korea. $billions on an anti-ballistic missile system that just does not work - as predicted. Learned the names of countries adjacent to Israel. A missile defense system predictated on threats that don't exist while completely ignoring warning of real threats (see Counterterrorism Security Group). Let Osama bin Laden go free. Invaded a country that was a threat to no one - Iraq. Proved what happens when American does not do nation building. Advocated government support and money to religion. Ecouraged the hatred and vicisousness never before seen in Washington complete with a ten fold increase in legalized bribery (ie K Street project). $450,000 'legalized bribery so that First Energy could continue operating a nuclear reactor with a potential 3 Mile Island problem and a hole in its containment dome.

... after six years in power and barring a couple of miracles, it's safe to bet that Bush will be forever handcuffed to the bottom rungs of the presidential ladder. The reason: Iraq.
... He has joined Hoover as a case study on how not to be president.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

And this is what tw believes is true.

No wonder I can sandbag the man on history; the more he rants, the better I look.

More and better nuclear defense than MAD is simply less mad, hm? I've lived around good nuke targets the better part of my life. I agree that the ABM as written was obsolescing fast enough to be a dead letter in a very short period, and I say that the better way to defend against ballistic missiles is to make their use too fraught with problems, too limited as to success. Tw's view on this is of course, precisely not in the interest of the nation of which he is a citizen, but precisely in the interest of certain other nuclear, ballistic-missile powers. Once again, he exposes his Communist underbelly and other unmentionables. You're a fuckup, boy!! You make your commie buddies look bad.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

I think I've found another way to play Atropos -- and cut off the thread. Hee!

[Aliantha]

Just remember, Atropos got his come uppance in the end.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by UrbaneGuerilla

I've lived around good nuke targets the better part of my life.

*sigh*
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

Listen to these idiots.
Man, someone seriously got to these poor fools.

[tw]

From the Washington Post of 13 Dec 2006:

Army, Marine Corps To Ask for More Troops
The Army and Marine Corps are planning to ask incoming Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Congress to approve permanent increases in personnel, as senior officials in both services assert that the nation's global military strategy has outstripped their resources.

In addition, the Army will press hard for "full access" to the 346,000-strong Army National Guard and the 196,000-strong Army Reserves by asking Gates to take the politically sensitive step of easing the Pentagon restrictions on the frequency and duration of involuntary call-ups for reservists, according to two senior Army officials.

Deja Vue Vietnam. Next step is a draft.

"Right now, the strategy exceeds the capability of the Army and Marines."

That strategy still does not supply enough troops in the field. History says this is how all great empires burned themselves out in this myth that they are the all powerful - god's chosen nation. America now has enemies everywhere. Wacko extremes said that even seven years ago when a president had intelligence and a vice president did not have dictatorship tendencies. Amazing what happens when people listen to emotion of wacko extremists than logic from non-fiction.

No wonder the current administration had to retire so many generals to find someone that would agree with them.

... two-thirds of Army units are rated "non-deployable."

But then one need not read that because even the Iraq Study Group defined that reality. A patriot already read the report; already knew that reality.

Has the Bush Doctrine failed?
The American military force is stronger now than it ever has been in history - partly because it's now been used, and is battlefield-hardened with commanders having all sorts of different kinds of experience.

That was classic propaganda AND a common lie of 30 Aug 2006. Published facts (those that ignore presidential lies) knew the opposite was true AND had to be true. Too much equipment was being stripped to send overseas - and too many costs were being hidden or not being spend to replace lost equipment. Even Humvees without armor demonstrated the problem. Did you, an American, realize this problem years ago? Two-thirds of the American ground force is not operational - as was obvious long ago. Again Frontline's The Lost Year is how one learns so that 30 years from now, another scumbag member of the Democrat or Republican party does not try to destroy America.

Demonstrated is the difference between those who think emotionally verses those who think patriotically and logically.

[yesman065]