Posted on 06/21/2005 8:54:28 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
...Bush planted the seeds of the destruction of his Iraq policy before the war started. Salvaging the venture will require an unprecedented degree of candor and realism from a White House that was never willing to admit --even to itself-- how large an undertaking it was asking the American people to buy into.
The notion that the president led the country into war through indirection or dishonesty is not the most damaging criticism of the administration. The worst possibility is that the president and his advisers believed their own propaganda. They did not prepare the American people for an arduous struggle because they honestly didn't expect one.
How else to explain the fact that the president and his lieutenants consistently played down the costs of the endeavor, the number of troops required, the difficulties of overcoming tensions among the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Kurds? Were they lying? The more logical explanation is that they didn't know what they were talking about.
Because the White House failed to prepare Americans for what was to come, the administration now faces a backlash. Over the weekend Bush said that the terrorists in Iraq were seeking to "weaken our nation's resolve." But the rising impatience about which Bush complains is a direct result of the administration's blithe dismissal of those who warned just how tough the going could get.
The assertion of the "Downing Street Memo" that "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" of invasion has understandably become a rallying point for the war's opponents. But in some ways more devastating are other recently disclosed documents in which British officials warned that "there was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action." The British worried at the time that "U.S. military plans are virtually silent"...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It was both. I remember them vividly. What keeps ringing in my ears are his words that stated this struggle would not be quick or easy. It would be a long difficult job but it needs to be done. Completely.
Everyone was on board back then...so soon after Sept. 11th. It's amazing how the weak of heart and the gutless have turned against him.
Too bad for the left that there is no original copy of the their precious memo, just something that someone typed.
Any war with less than 20,000 dead is a win to me! Less than 2000 is insignificant to the end goal.
Michael Smith an Associate producter for CBS working with Mary Mapes?
True. Sadly, it seems that too many people seem to need constant reminders of what actually happened, in order to remember.
Is anyone familiar with the term, "object permeance?" When you flash an object to a baby and hide it, in his mind that object never existed. After a certain age they develop OP and will look for the rattle. Well. we have seen Saddam use Wmds, both Dems and repubs(including Clinton and Gore) believed he had them, the whole world said he had them. We go into iraq and don't find them.Hence to dems, Bush lied. But we knew they existed at least at one time. Any baby who does not develop object permeance grows up to become a democrat
Memories on the left appear to be willfully shortened. It isn't as if Bush and Blair woke up one morning and said "let's start a war in Iraq!" We'd been shooting at them, and them at us, since 1991.
Your keyboard to G_d's eyes...
**bitter laughter**
I agree. There's no credibility with this reporter who "duplicates" information. He could change the info at will depending upon his biases and the general public is to take his word? Forget it!
It's been a long time since I've heard any mention of Saddam's goons firing on our pilots. Before we went in, it seemed we heard about that quite a bit.
As Sonny Bono would say, "the beat goes on."
What is this about adding a "seal"?
5.56mm
Michael smith was very careful with his language, especially after questions like "what does the DSM prove", to which he responds "they SHOW" blah blah blah.
Even Smith himself will not say the DSM proves anything.
Hey E. J.! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............
Well, that's because it was made up in the first place.
Clue - the WMDs were taken to Syria ...
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