Kissinger: From Secret Wars In Cambodia To Secret War Plans For Iraq

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013102017_pf.html">Wherever a Senator's Question Leads, Kissinger Gamely Follows

By Dana Milbank
Thursday, February 1, 2007

So now it can be told: President Bush has a secret plan to end the war in Iraq. Henry Kissinger, who as Richard Nixon's secretary of state learned something about secret plans, went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday to argue that Bush, too, has such a proposal.

"I am convinced, but I cannot base it on any necessary evidence right now," Kissinger told the senators, "that the president will want to move toward a bipartisan consensus" to stabilize Iraq through diplomacy.

{excerpts from his testimony}:

Sen. Barack Obama: "Is there any place that you're familiar with where the administration has articulated this strategy?"

Kissinger: "I don't know any place where the administration has articulated this particular strategy. From my acquaintances with some of the people, I think it is possible that they will come to this strategy."

Sen. Barack Obama: "You are suggesting that they have some secret strategy that we have not been made privy to."

Kissinger: "I would be disappointed and surprised if they did not accept some of the elements of what has been discussed here."

Sen. Barbara Boxer: "I want to make sure I heard you right, because it's hard to hear you, so tell me if I heard you right."

Kissinger: "(inaudible)."

Sen. Joe Biden: "I'm sympathetic to an outcome that permits large regional autonomy,"

Kissinger: (concurred).

Sen. Richard Lugar: "We cannot be in a situation in which we say 'We're out of there."

Kissinger: "I believe very strongly that we cannot withdraw from the region."

Sen. Russ Feingold "I certainly agree with you that we cannot disengage from the region -- but what about redeployment from Iraq?"

Kissinger: "Of course significant American forces can be withdrawn."

Sen. Norm Coleman "Is it your belief that a precipitous withdrawal . . . would have a greater negative long-term impact?"

Kissinger: "That is my conviction."

Sen. Bob Menendez: "Would you agree that every alternative carries with it some rather grave risks?"

Kissinger: "Absolutely."

Sen. Johnny Isakson: (Saying that he hoped Bush's troop buildup would allow for reconciliation and diplomacy). "Am I wrong?"

Kissinger: "The objectives you've stated are compatible with what the president is attempting to do."

WTF?!?!?!?!

Sen. Bob Corker: "I think what I'm seeing here is someone testifying and almost everyone on this committee agreeing. It's an interesting thing to watch."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013102017_pf.html