Bartlett: White House flexible on Iraq (comedic relief thread)

:rofl: :spray:

Bartlett: White House flexible on Iraq

The fledgling Iraqi government must "step up and take more responsibility" for the country's security, a high-ranking White House official said Monday.

At the same time, Dan Bartlett denied in a television interview that the Bush administration's war policy has been a sweeping "stay the course" commitment, saying "what we aren't doing is sitting there with our heads in the sand."

In contrast to earlier White House statements, Bartlett did not deny a New York Times report saying the head of the U.S.-led Multinational Forces in Iraq and the U.S. ambassador were working on a plan that for the first time would set a specific timetable for disarming militias and meeting other political and economic goals.

"I was a bit puzzled about the report over the weekend because it was stating something that we've been talking publicly about for months," the senior White House counselor said on CBS's "The Early Show." Bartlett said the goal is to "define demonstrable milestones and benchmarks" and said it has been "very much a part of our strategy all along."

<SNIP>

"It's never been a stay the course strategy," he said. "The enemy we're fighting is a very determined one. They're very lethal. ... But we are going to prevail and it's going to require the Iraqis themselves to step up and take more responsibility, and that's something we'll be impressing on them in the weeks and months ahead."

<SNIP>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061023/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_24

:rofl:

These guys are beginning to look like a broken jar of mayonnaise on the grocery store floor.

You ever try to pick up mayonnaise? It just runs in any direction it can.
No plan at all.
It just runs.

lol

:hi:

n/t

I hope he maintains that position for the duration.

from the REAL cheese eating surrender monkey in the White House.

Assholes....

will NEVER be able to take over. No one over there will give BUSHCO their native oil rights.

It's not cut & run when the Republicans do it.

-ing, and loop-de-looping all over the place. i think that was in one of the speeches he gave. remember?








what a bozo.

They are mixing up "strategy", "policy", and "tactics".

The White House probably has no business being involved in "tactics". I would think they would set the goals and let the military figure out the tactics. It is absurd for them to claim the White House is somehow regularly involved in tactical decisions. If they are, they have a lot to answer for, and it's one more thing that would make this conflict similar to Viet Nam.

The "policy" of not entertaining any sort of outside input or compromise most definitely needs to change.

And who the hell knows what their strategy is? It seems like it's just to use the war as campaign ad material, and if they can steal the oil in the process, well, all the better.

domestic political power. Of course, that neglects the very real and legitimate question of what the strategy of the Iraqi Resistance was and is. I'd say a plausible first analysis suggests the Iraqi Resistance strategy is to kill the American Army by a death by a 1,000 cuts. (Lesson from Vietnam: The U.S. will almost always lose any war of attrition. The sole exception I can think of is the U.S. Civil War when Grant essentially defeated Lee by severely attriting his forces, while Sherman came up the back alley.

They always did have a contingency plan for Iraq, but when 9/11 landed in their lap they chose the path of "act tough", not necessarily because it was the best strategy, but because it had the best political aura. And that is a very difficult path to turn away from, which I suppose would dramatically de-value that option in the eyes of many who have to make these choices.

It is hard for me to contemplate any strategy of the insurgents beyond "get the foreigners out of our country". There may be more going on there, but until that one is dealt with, it's glare will overwhelm everything else.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061023/ts_nm/iraq1_dc

U.S. says has set no deadlines for Iraq

By Caren Bohan 11 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday it was using "milestones" to gauge the progress of the Iraqi government in addressing security problems but insisted they were not linked to any ultimatums.


The comments were made as a senior Iraqi government minister urged the West not to give in to defeatism, saying the United States and Britain must not cut and run from
Iraq despite the bloodshed.

U.S. officials denied a weekend report in The New York Times that said the Bush administration was drafting a timetable to boost pressure on the Iraqi government to make faster progress on assuming responsibility for security.

"I was a bit puzzled by the report over the weekend, because it was stating something that we've been talking publicly about for months," White House counselor Dan Bartlett told CBS's "Early Show."

"Our ambassador in Iraq has been working with the Iraqi government to do just that, to find the demonstrable milestones and benchmarks along the way in which we will hand over more security control."

... toward an ultimate goal.

What's your ultimate goal, Mr. Bush*?

because milestones 1 and 2 just simply didn't capture the essence of war in the eyes of the chickenhawks.

And don't tell me "Iraqi" elections, since they seem to have done jack squat in changing the situation.

with is milestones?

You would have thought they might have considered milestones before invading.

I think of this imaginary conversation in my head, between the Iraqi Puppet Government (IPG)and the American occupiers(AI).


AI: "You need to take over more of day to day security. We are getting blown to shit out there every day".

IPG: "Hey asshole, you fired our army. With what do you wish us to exert this security?"

AI: "Oh yeah...Shit, I keep forgetting about that. Well, uh, I guess you can keep using our army."

IPG: "Will do. Hey, so how is the training of the new police force coming?"

AI: "They are all dead or will be soon, and we closed the police academy in Jordan"

IPG: "Oh. So what's the plan now?"

AI: "PLAN!? There's no plan! Plans make you predictable. We will wing it until the US taxpayer stops payment on the checks. That's the clear path to victory."

IPG: "So how exactly did you guys win WWII ??"

Does this mean anything? Anything at all?

if they won't even "step up to the plate".

Incredibly stupid fucking sports analogy from the mouths of Chickenhawk Repuke Scum.