Bush's new plan to "restore security" in Iraq by summer '09

Either the White House is banking on short-term memory loss, or they truly believe the public will give them more time.  With the troop surge producing mostly negative results, Defense officials are drafting a new Iraq plan in hopes of delaying a Congressional vote to end the war:

The classified plan, which represents the coordinated strategy of thetop American commander and the American ambassador, calls for restoringsecurity in local areas, including Baghdad, by the summer of 2008.“Sustainable security” is to be established on a nationwide basis bythe summer of 2009, according to American officials familiar with thedocument.

The detailed document, known as the Joint Campaign Plan, is anelaboration of the new strategy President Bush signaled in January whenhe decided to send five additional American combat brigades and otherunits to Iraq. That signaled a shift from the previous strategy, whichemphasized transferring to Iraqis the responsibility for safeguardingtheir security.

While it is their hope to give Congress another new reason to continue the war, this strategy will likely backfire.  The thought of continuing the status quo until 2009 will be a tough pill for the public to swallow, especially when less than three out of every ten Americans believe the current troop surge is working.

The real question is whether Congress will allow this to happen?  If they do not, it will be because the Biden-Levin wing of the party changed their attitude about the good of rubber stamping a failed policy.

Comments

[Allen]

Fuck Bush he always going to Kill us

[granny]

Dear Tony,
I don't know whether I am more impressed and admiring of your unfailingly civil and congenial tongue; or horrified by the ever lurking possibility that the American people will just plain fail to stand up for what is right, but this delightful phrase invites both responses beautifully:
"thought of continuing the status quo until 2009 will be a tough pill for the public to swallow"

The concept that this new nonsense would be given even a moment’s consideration is incredible.

We should be treating the President's nonsense, as nonsense, and with the same distain and disrespect that he has shown every bill he has proclaimed will be vetoed even before it was written.

As far as I'm concerned this crowd has earned nothing but utter contempt from the American People. (And we, I might add, are earning a substantial portion of contempt for ourselves, continuing to tolerate this charade of "leadership")

For the record, also, that “Sustainable security” to be established on a nationwide basis by the summer of 2009, is, I think it goes without saying, security WE, our young men and women, will be expected to "sustain" with their lives ... for another how many decades. This is Bush's "presence as in Korea", creeping up from behind.

We have a mechanism in place in this country, to deal with "leadership" gone a-muck. We ought to be using it now. We should have been using it long since, beginning with the dismemberment of our civil liberties.

Every single voting age American who thinks what Allen has posted, should get onto the internet, and on the phone and work for the impeachment of these people.

[Chief Editor: Todd]

Amen, Granny! We cannot simply count down the days until January '09. Our Congress needs to get with the program and investigate these people!! Enough is enough. It ought to start with a perjury trial in the Senate for Alberto Gonzales, and end with a special prosecutor investigating and possibly charging the rest of them.