We're all getting raging, throbbing clues!
Posted on 10/23/2006 3:14:21 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Under election-year pressure to change course in Iraq, the Bush administration said Monday there are no plans for dramatic shifts in policy or for ultimatums to Baghdad to force progress.
Just two weeks before the Nov. 7 elections that will determine whether Republicans retain control of Congress, the White House tried to calm political anxieties about deteriorating security in Iraq. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers are calling on President Bush to change his war plan.
"We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an Associated Press interview. U.S. and Iraqi officials should be held accountable for the lack of progress, said Graham, a Republican who is a frequent critic of the administration's policies.
Asked who in particular should be held accountable _ Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, perhaps, or the generals leading the war _ Graham said: "All of them. It's their job to come up with a game plan" to end the violence
Rumsfeld, in remarks at the Pentagon, said U.S. government and military officials were working with Iraq to set broad time frames for when Iraqis can take over 16 provinces that are still under the control of U.S. troops. He said officials were not talking about penalizing the Iraqis if they don't hit certain benchmarks.
The Iraqis have taken control of two southern provinces but have been slow to take the lead in others, particularly those around Baghdad and in the volatile regions north and west of the capital city. Rumsfeld said specific target dates probably will not be set. Instead, he said there might be a broader time frame _ such as a one- to three-month window _ for the Iraqis to take control of certain provinces.
Rumsfeld visited the White House early Monday with Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Rumsfeld said the United States was looking at when the Iraqis would move close to setting up a reconciliation process to help quell worsening sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites.
Frustration with the war is eroding support in Republican as well as Democratic camps.
Joseph Biden, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said two Republicans have told him they will demand a new policy in Iraq after the election. Biden declined to name the GOP lawmakers. He said Republicans have been told not to make waves before the election because it could cost the party seats. Yet some prominent GOP lawmakers have expressed doubts about Bush's policy.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said the United States was continually adjusting its strategy in Iraq.
"In that sense there are new things going on. But are there dramatic shifts in policy? The answer is no," Snow said.
"There is still a very large to-do list before Iraq is in a position to sustain, govern and defend itself," he said.
"Are we issuing ultimatums? No."
He acknowledged, however, that Bush no longer is saying that the United States will "stay the course" in Iraq.
"He stopped using it," Snow said of that phrase, adding that it left the impression that the administration was not adjusting its strategy to realities in Baghdad.
Showing progress in Iraq is critical with the approaching elections, which are widely viewed as a referendum on public support of the war. In Baghdad on Tuesday, Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander there, are scheduled to hold a rare joint news conference.
Facing growing impatience with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's failure to stem the carnage, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said international forces must not abandon Iraq while the situation there remains volatile.
"I do believe there is no option for the international community to cut and run," he told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Tony Blair in London. He said Iraqis and the international community need to be realistic, "but not defeatist."
"We need to understand that there is a need of utmost urgency to deal with many of the problems of Iraq but we must not give in to panic," he said.
Yes, but they may have certain other things in common. Not that that's a bad thing.
LOL!
He welcomes a warm "log cabin" as much as any (cough) man.
What is Graham's expertise in foreign and military matters?
Oh, but he is! -- He's Mrs. John McCainiac
""We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an Associated Press interview. U.S. and Iraqi officials should be held accountable for the lack of progress, said Graham, a Republican who is a frequent critic of the administration's policies."
Some conservative Republican on the hill should take him outside, and literally kick his A$$ !
sw
My son, who lives in SC, says that the best possible candidate against Lindsey...Ravenel...has said he is not planning to run. Big disappointment because he would have been excellent and have a very good chance of unseating Graham.
So this is how McCain exerts control and obediance from his fellow "Dwarfs." He has received from certain questionable operatives compromising information with which he can pull strings.
LOL -- that's right!!!
guffaw, chuckle, lol.
He was a House impeachment manager. Used to have a clue until he got to the Senate and let the club mentality (and not having to run for re-election every two years) go to his head.
You can fool some of the people some of the time. I will only blame the good people of South Carolina if the pubbies don't trounce his sorry arse in next primary he's in.
Goober Graham burps again!
"Do you think it is a mere coincidence that there has been a major uptick in violence in the weeks leading up to the mid-term election, or do you agree that it "might" be an actual tactic at this point in time, and that the terrorists hope to have certain people play directly into their hands?"
I think the major uptick in violence could well be a tactic based on our upcoming elections. It also could be to pressure us to leave Iraq, an attempt to take over the Iraqi government or to stop putting pressure on Iran so they can enrich uranium, or all of the above.
I don't believe that the uptick in violence is because we created more enemies by entering into this war, the way we have fought this war, the way we have treated prisoners or our foreign policy.
If there are any other possible reasons for the uptick in violence I can not think of them at the moment.
Oh good. This reminds me to call Wagner Tools.
NOTHING is ever in control during war. To assume that it should be is folly.
Iran as the instigator is trying to get us to leave Iraq because it is stated in their Holy book that the capital of their caliphate must be ancient Babylon (Iraq, for those of you in San Francisco). Bush understands that and won't leave despite the pressure from dems and the media. He is to be credited for that. This is also the reason why we have surrounded Iran via Iraq and Afghanistan.
The fact that things are heating up before an election isn't a coincidence. The question you should ask yourself is why the insurgents would try to sway people away from Republicans and toward Democrats if not for the hope that it will help their side to defeat us.
"Do you agree that the chaos on our streets here in the US is greater than the chaos in Iraq?"
Yes, the only difference is that one makes our national news and the other doesn't.
"Do you consider those setting off IED's in Iraq terrorists, or enemy combatants?"
I consider Iraq to be Iraqi soil, not US soil.
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