Fmr Bush Official: Iraq probably can't be fixed

In a story about U.S. contingency plans in Iraq, the UK newspaper The Guardian quoted a senior Bush Administration official:

"Petraeus is brilliant. But he is the captain of a sinking ship," saida former senior administration official who questioned whether Iraq'sdivided political leadership could prevent a descent into chaos."Iraq's government is a mobile phone number that doesn't answer. Iraqprobably can't be fixed."

One can only speculate who that former senior official was?  Colin Powell?  Richard Armitage?  George Tenet?

The article went on to add that the Bush Administration's 'plan B' is to "internationalize" the burden on Iraq. 

But that was the same strategy that John Kerry advised three years ago.  Here is an excerpt from a Kerry speech from April of 2004:

The immediate goal is to internationalize the transformation of Iraq, to get more foreign forces on the ground to share the risk and reduce the burden on our own forces. And that is the only way to succeed in the mission while ending the sense of an American occupation.

Like with a fake wrestling match, the management of this war has been one big delayed reaction.

Comments

[dagored]

What are Democrats doing NOW to end this mistake called Iraq...Here is Bush with an approval rating in the low 20's and the Demos act as if they are dealing with a strong man...what a laugh!! The American people sent a strong signal in November 06 that they wanted this insane war stopped and our troops returned to the USA...
It is pure madness to give in to this sociopath Bush...Remember
Democrats, the American electorate is watching you with increased frustration...bring the troops home!!!

[smirking crumpet]

I can think of only one reason that democrats caved in again, even with all the blogo-support for standing firm on funding and timelines. A substantial number of democrats in congress must be completely and utterly beholden to deep pocket corporate bosses; men who know they will continue to make a lot of money as long as our troops and their equipment continue to get ground up in the Iraqi theater of operations. Subservient democrat . . . thy name is Whore!

[Kirk Tofte]

People forget--because the MSM never brings it up--that the second assignment General Petraeus had in Iraq was to be in charge of training the new Irai military. He may be "brilliant" and the surge my be "General Petraeus' plan" but the fact that Bush's new program calls for Iraqis to stand down while more Americans get shot up is partially the General's fault.

[Chief Editor: Todd]

Smirking Crumpet, you may have a point there! What you just wrote mostly pertains to the DLC people -- like Hillary. It will be interesting to see whether Hillary will vote for this funding bill that does not include a deadline. Then again, she is so politically calculative that she probably won't....since she knows it will cause a backlash against her.

[a surgically complete democrat aside from some missing teeth and appendix]

It seems like eunuchism is now requirement for a man to be a member of the Democratic majority of the United States House of Representatives.

At this point one can only hope that the same require-
ment will not be the rule for Democrats in the in the United States Senate.

Perhaps we can take action and prevent the unauthorized practice of surgery upon the genitalia of Democrats in The House and Senate. Maybe we should demand that the victims of this surgery, which was not authorized by the voting public, be rehabilitated,by reconstructive surgery before it's too late.

[pelican1]

Dagored, you may have hit the nail on the head, in a way.

A a psychologist of over 30 years, I have been quite concerned about the seeming lack of mental health in the higher offices of the White House. Of course one can never be entirely certain of any kind of Dx, what with the constant spinning and obfuscating.

Still I keep getting glimpses of some serious pathology.

I live about as far as one can get, outside the beltway, both in terms of geography and and world view. So, there is no way to know for sure, but just think what the people in D.C. have seen. While many of us in the blogosphere and elsewhere strongly suspect that the White House is full to the brim with seriously frightening pathology, people inside the beltway may know it, for sure.

What does one do with a psychotic, with religiously induced delusions, with his finger on the button?

It might not be the wisest thing to push him into a corner.

Just wondering if the Dems. are not afraid, and for a very good reason.