Gingrich breaks ranks to attack US 'failure'

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 12/08/03 | Alec Russell

[Pokey78]

An influential member of the Pentagon's main advisory body has broken ranks and criticised America's record in post-Saddam Iraq saying that after taking Baghdad America "went off a cliff".

Newt Gingrich, a senior member of the Defence Policy Board which advises Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, said yesterday that America had been prosecuting an ineffective military campaign at the expense of the political moves essential for victory.

He told Newsweek that the army had not learned the lessons of Vietnam in how to run a counter-insurgency campaign.

Mr Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, said the army had failed to tackle the aftermath with a swift handover of responsibilities to the Iraqis.

He added: "I am very proud of what Tommy Franks [the commander in the war] did up to the moment of deciding how to transfer power to the Iraqis. Then we go off a cliff."

[mercy]

Human beings don't change much in fifty years. World opinion is a pile of stinking ofal .... just like always. Our behaviour connotes weekness and encourages resistance and terrorism.

You just don't realize how deep PCness goes and how bad a case of it you and the West has.

SOMEBODY needs to dominate this planet .... for the good of all concerned. All this muticulturalism is well and good if it's about lederhosen and beerfests or camel racing and goat humping. But when it comes to religious domination of a planet by a bunch of late commer wannabees with murder on their mind (Moslems) .... it's time to think about the true meaning of genocide and realize it has it's uses.

God Damn these stupid miscreants straight to hell. Personally I want to assist as many of them there as soon as possible. Wake the hell up people! They'll be a nuclear device in your effing mailbox anytime now.

[arasina]

Didn't Newt say something about this in his interview today with Chris Wallace on Fox News? (It has been a rough day for me so I'm not sure what I heard. I do know he discussed the Prescription Drug plan and he paid Hillary a compliment.

[Gritty]

We can thank a drumbeating, hostile Media and an attacking Democrat Party for some of the changes in policy.

When the Dems and anti-war crowd started hammering on this Administration (as soon as they started talking about invading Iraq and haven't let up. The Administration started pulling their punches to placate the noise. They are now having to play to the crowds the Liberals have gathered instead of concentrating on doing the correct thing - even if it takes 5 years. The Dems and their compliant Media have made it an election issue for 2004, the treasonous b@st@rds!

As a nation, we are way, way too impatient. The Dems are undermining our policy daily and making it much more difficult to proceed correctly. We are fighting a war on two fronts now (here and there).

Newt is right in that the Administration is paying attention to too many factions. Sure, we've made mistakes. But, the biggest mistake we are making is trying to please everybody.

[ladyinred]

Oh dear God, no. Just what we needed. The media despises Newt. I wonder if he will suddenly become a brilliant spokesman now?

[Texas Eagle]

Oh, brother. Does Newt have a new girlfriend?

[isom35]

sean hannity will not be pleased!

[beckett]

I am on record as having loathed Gingrinch since he first came to national prominence. Remarks like these and his overweening ego are the reason why.

[TheDon]

Everyone wants to run foreign affairs. But there is only one person who has the responsibility for making the tough decisions and living with the consequences. If Newt made a comment like this in public, I think it was he that went off a cliff. Either a reporter is trying to make a story out of nothing or Newt wants to get some more airtime.

[Bedford Forrest]

Smart? Yes. Trustworthy? Absolutely not. He is the Republican Dick Morris, in my opinion.

Roger that, bigtime. You forgot to mention that women never stay with him very long. Possibly due to his long ego and short hammer. I have never forgiven him since he immolated himself over chump change and a lemon tart, and left us with the Pop n Fresh Doughboy.

[america-rules]

"Japan and Germany " Took more than 5 years before the allied powers gave them back control of their countries !

[Stultis]

Newt's suggestions are fine, so far as they go, but they miss the mark. We weren't set up implement this strategy because the pinstriped appeasers at State and the CIA adamantly refused to spend the tens of millions Congress provided them to buildup and establish liaison with Iraqi resistance elements, and to prepare expats for regime change. The Pentagon was left these tasks, and did the best they could at the eleventh hour, and with little aid from the folks who were supposed to have been working the problem for nearly a decade.

Newt above all people should know this is whence the problem derives!

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

I heard Newt speak tonight, and he spoke of what he thinks the exit strategy should be like. He said it needed to be more like what we did in Afghanistan. I think his words were taken out of context..and I don't think it was as critical as this article made them seem. I think he is actually articulating what we are now trying to do.

He said we got it absolutely right in the beginning,..and are fine tuning it now. AND...are doing so in a complicated region of the world. Though his words were critical of what was happening in this phase, he is advocating Iraqi's take a bigger role, but with Americans STILL standing with them to make sure they are doing the job right. Iraqi's are better able to know who the insurgents are and to indentify them. But they still need our help.

It was much better stated than Iam able to restate, and better stated by Newt than when they are misquoted by someone who would like nothing better to do than to MISQUOTE Mr. Gingrinch.

All in all, I think he is right. And we would BOTH be very critical of anyone bashing our very able Generals and administration. He was doing neither. What he offered was an intelligent approach, which is felt by people in the region and in the administration as a means of having Iraqi's helping themselves more. But still have the USA staying there helping them to achieve those goals.

I saw his interview tonight, and wasn't offended by what I saw. Not yet anyway.

FRegards

[L.N. Smithee]

I don't apologize for my low opinion of Newt Gingrich today and never will. He let all of us down when he was forced resign as Speaker after his extra curricular activities became public. He was stupid. If you want to act like he did, then don't run for office. What he does in his private life was his own business and I could care less until he ran and became Speaker of the House and then trashed Clinton the way he did. What did he expect? He should have known better!

If you are inferring that Gingrich resigned because of his extramarital affair with a staffer (whom he eventually married), you are engaging in revisionist history. The last straw for Newt was when he predicted that the GOP would gain seats in the House in the 1998 midterm election, and instead, the party uncharacteristically lost some. After some very loud sniping at his supposed failure to deliver for the GOP, he said publicly before the week was up that he didn't need the job, and the search for a replacement began BEFORE the Senate trial of Clinton.

With all due respect, get your facts straight.

[faithincowboys]

newt's timing was atrocious, he provides cover for Hillary. Gingrich has just dealt himself a heavy blow.

[onyx]

The media despises Newt. I wonder if he will suddenly become a brilliant spokesman now?

He'll make himself available, that's for sure.

Criticism is one thing. Undermining is quite another, and I think Newt's comments belong in the latter category.

We do eat our own. Sickening and disgusting. Newt knows better.

[joesbucks]

Please explain your difference between difference of opinion and undermining. In these quarters, if you disagree with the president, you're not expressing opinion, you're undermining whether that is your intention or not.

Newt is a loud mouth. He still is sitting in the back row lobbing his "bombs". When we were in the minority, he had wisdom to speak up and gather attention. Now that we are in power, somehow what he has done for years is innappropriate. He is also very closely connected with people who know the facts. If he is speaking with knowledge and truth, then is that still undermining?

[prairiebreeze]

Genocide? That's the sort of talk that gives the right and conservatism a bad reputation. So the tactics of Hitler and Rwanda and Hussein appeal to you, huh? A little ethnic cleansing goes a long way? Maybre a lot of ethnic cleaning. Sheesh. I don't support that at all.BR>
Your opinion is your right as is mine. But the God that I know offers infinite love and forgiveness and will not command as you ask. Even though in times of deep frustration I almost wish He would. But He won't. God doesn't believe in genocide.

Prairie

[AAABEST]

Errant Newt makes out of line statement, sets off henhouse.

[biblewonk]

So, how is Newt wrong?

[cynicom]

This is the break the dems have been looking for. Newt has given them the hammer with which to pound Bush.