U.S. intelligence pessimistic on Iraq future

msn ^ | 16 SEP 2004 | AP

[Huck]

“It’s beyond pitiful, it’s beyond embarrassing, it’s now in the zone of dangerous,” said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., referring to figures showing only about 6 percent of the reconstruction money approved by Congress last year has been spent. “We know that the provision of adequate security up front is requisite to rapid progress on all other fronts,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ron Schlicher. Related story Powell doubts WMD will be found White House spokesman Scott McClellan said circumstances in Iraq have changed since last year. “It’s important that you have some flexibility.” But Hagel said the shift in funds “does not add up in my opinion to a pretty picture, to a picture that shows that we’re winning. But it does add up to this: an acknowledgment that we are in deep trouble.” 'Lack of planning apparent' Hagel, Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and other committee members have long argued — even before the war — that administration plans for rebuilding Iraq were inadequate and based on overly optimistic assumptions that Americans would be greeted as liberators. “Our committee heard blindly optimistic people from the administration prior to the war and people outside the administration — what I call the ’dancing in the street crowd,’ that we just simply will be greeted with open arms,” Lugar said. “The nonsense of all of that is apparent. The lack of planning is apparent.” He said the need to shift the reconstruction funds was clear in July, but the administration was slow to make the request. “This is an extraordinary, ineffective administrative procedure. It is exasperating from anybody looking at this from any vantage point,” he said.

[Atlantic Friend]

"we should, with the cooperation of the Iraqi council, give a warning to three cities in Iraq and level them"

I'm not sure the Iraqi Council will be real pleased to hear that the proposal is to level three Iraqi cities. Sorry, but expecting them to say "Oh, yes, of course, please help yourself" is a bit IL-Logical...

[Torie]

The fact of the matter is that per the CIA estimate, the Bush administration's more robust goals for Iraq appear increasingly unlikely to be achievable. At some point, the election there will have to be held, however flawed, and then an exit strategy needs to be mapped out, even if it leaves Iraq in a state of civil war or partition. Otherwise, it will indeed be like Vietnam. That is not acceptable. Slamming Hagel does not really address the fundamental issue.

I salute the Bush administration for its robust goals, and support those goals, but as events unfold, and more information is obtained, the cost benefit equation changes, and it is the responsibility of the administration to respond intelligently and objectively to such changed equation.

I should add that while it would be nice if the Bush administration had been more candid that the way events are unfolding is disappointing, I fully appreciate why it would be counterproductive for Bush to exude pessimism at this time, even if pessimism is objectively called for. For the Bush administration to do that would just make the downside predictions a self fulfilling prophecy.

And that is how I see it.

[sinkspur]

Hagel's willingness to step, front-and-center, to throw chum in the water during an election campaign is why so few Republicans like him.

He's a McCain Republican. He and Lugar think they can do a better job than Bush and want to make sure everybody knows it.

[what's up]

Hagel never misses a chance to bash Bush.

He is an ugly man. Also a McCain supporter. Lugar is weak and this is why he was always lauded in the 90's as a Republican "stateman". Clinton used him to get his policies thru.

[Huck]

Lugar is weak and this is why he was always lauded in the 90's as a Republican "stateman"

I remember that.

[jwalsh07]

Hagel and Lugar are part of the problem, not the solution.

It is them and those like them who made the pacification of Iraq a much more difficult job than it needed to be. They offer no solutions, only criticism and not the constructive kind behind closed doors where it would do the most good.

This is self aggrandizing bullsh6t.

If we leave Iraq tomorrow, we leave a vacuum that will be filled by dead enders, islamofacist pigs and wannah be Ayatollahs like Al Sadr.

Bad idea. A better idea is to have the elections, hope for a strong government and a leader who will use the troops Petraeus is training to crush insurgents. That is the only hope for a good outcome.

We need a base of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in case we have to deal with Iran.

[jwalsh07]

This is reminiscent of Vietnam. Pessimistic documents leaked to the press. Rockefeller republicans weak in the knees. Lefties screaming in the street for peace.

Result: Millions of dead Vietnamese and Cambodians. Pacifists have a love affair with genocide.

[Huck]

I just watched Kerry's speech to the nat'l guard. He's going on about how many killed, about how chaotic it is, how little hope there is. He's up there actually talking about how "emboldened" the enemy is. For pete's sake, why not just put a towel on your head and release a video. Damn! I mean, enough already! This guy has given up! For personal gain.

[jwalsh07]

Let me guess, the Guardsmen were not buying what John Effin was selling.

[Torie]

I agree with your post in its entirety, even though I suspect you may not agree with mine in its entirety. (Hagel at a minimum could have been less incendiary in his choice of words, and posed more questions rather than answers of which as you note, he has none.) It provides a thoughtful and needed balance to mine.

And there you have it. :)

[Torie]

I am sure Kerry outlined his "plan." :)

[jwalsh07]

Actually, I agree with most of your post, almost all. I just don't have any faith in the CIA. Its a rats nest that needs cleaning. They've been screwing up for far too long.

[Huck]

I honestly wondered if cspan had the sound turned down for Kerry's speech. I just rewatched some of Bush's speech, and he had lots of built in applause lines, some we've all heard before, but they worked. And at least one standing ovation.

Kerry was too long with the thank yous and gratitude. He laid it on too thick. Then he predictably pandered to them with promises of more benefits or money or whatever. Then he launched into his usual carping. At one point he stumbled on the word "guilded." Something about "spin guilded with politics" or something. Guilded? What the hell is wrong with this clown?

LOL. Reminds me of what a freeper told me a while back, that they'd seen John Kerry eating a corndog sideways, nibbling on it like a piece of corn! LOL. I know it's petty but I just love that. I wish I had a picture of it!

[Huck]

You know what? Come to think of it, he didn't mention his plan. But then, Imus kind of exposed the fact that he hasn't really got one. Did you catch wind of that?

[jwalsh07]

Huck, this is the guy who asked for swiss cheese on his Philly Cheesesteak. To say the guy is out of touch is to slander the Hale Bopp folks.

[Huck]

LOL! Look what I found:

[Torie]

Catching wind of Kerry is not a high priority for me.

[Torie]

It's "gilded" and Kerry used the word correctly.

[Huck]

Yeah well. He was going on about having a great plan. So the old dumb@ss Imus asked a great question.

Here's an excerpt (redacted to make it more palatable):





IMUS: You know, Senator Kerry, you say you have this plan to get out of Iraq in your first term, which, barring some scandal, would be four years.


IMUS: What is this plan you have?

KERRY: Well, the plan gets more complicated every single day because the president...

IMUS: Try to simplify it for me so I can understand it.

KERRY: I'm going to just tell you why.

IMUS: OK.

KERRY: Because blah blah blah...

But look, I have to look and see what I have on January 20. At the rate the president's going, nobody can predict what will happen on January 20. I'll tell you this: blah blah blah...

I mean, what you ought to be doing and what everybody in America ought to be doing today is not asking me; they ought to be asking the president, What is your plan? blah blah blah...



IMUS: We're asking you because you want to be president.

KERRY: That's correct. But I can't...I can't tell you what I'm going to find on the ground on January 20th.

[Torie]

Well, I have a plan for Iraq, but what precisely it is depends on future events. So there.