Posted on 12/01/2006 10:20:21 AM PST by SmithL
"This business about graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all,'' Bush said at a news conference Thursday morning in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Yet some experts say it would be foolhardy to assume, just because Bush said it, that the statement is true.
There is mounting evidence that the world of public Bush-speak -- from his vigorous support for al-Maliki and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to his rejection of direct diplomacy with Syria and Iran -- bears little relation to what goes on behind the scenes.
Senior White House officials even tangled this week with reporters who suggested that al-Maliki had snubbed Bush at a dinner with Jordan's King Abdullah. A three-way dinner had never been planned, the officials insisted -- until the reporters forcefully pointed out that it had been on the president's public schedule for nearly a week.
At a time when Bush is under increasing pressure to significantly modify his Iraq strategy, it is difficult to know whether his public rigidity is a sign he is ignoring calls for change or simply putting a resolute -- some would say stubborn -- face on a policy about to undergo significant alterations.
"It does seem from his rhetoric, if he's true to it, that he's not going to bend. That he's going to continue down the road toward further disaster," said historian Robert Dallek, who has written biographies of such wartime presidents as Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Since when has Bush not been open about what he's doing or going to do? He's been perfectly clear- even on issues that drive me crazy like immigration- on where he stands.
He is the ONLY President besides Reagan that says what he means and means what he says. This article is a leftist's delusion!
LLS
But this does seem to be how Bush operates.
You guys do remember how Bush swore up and down Rumsfield was going to stay on as Defense Secretary, right up until the day he was replaced.
Yeah, that is a good point.
What a crock!
"I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people."
- President Bush, 9-20-01
"We will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail.
- President Bush, 2001
"And for America, there will be no going back to the era before September the 11th, 2001 - to false comfort in a dangerous world. We have learned that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength; they are invited by the perception of weakness. And the surest way to avoid attacks on our own people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans.
We are fighting that enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan today so that we do not meet him again on our own streets, in our own cities."
-President George W. Bush, 9-7-03
"...so long as I'm the President, we're never going to back down, we're never going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total victory. It's important for you to know that;"
-President George W. Bush, October 13, 2005
"Yet there is no peace, there's no honor, and there's no security in retreat."
-President George W. Bush, March 18, 2006
We will never back down, we will never give in and we will never accept anything less than complete victory."
- President and Commander in Chief, George W. Bush July Fourth, 2006
"There's one thing I'm not going to do, I'm not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete,"
President George W. Bush, November 28, 2006
Exactly.
It is only a "reasonable conclusion" for those with tofu for brains.
Regarding Rumsfeld why "you people" are not getting yet. Rumsfeld resigned because the traitors now control Congress and he does not want to be paraded like a criminal from one investigation to another and will not be able to do his job as Defense Secretary in times of war.
Consider what he did to Rumsfeld.
And if the election had gone differently, as W thought, that's exactly what would have happened.
I think there are those that just don't get it or don't want to get it.
Either way, the result is the same.
We have done many things to hurt iran. He also said, "Some things you will see, some things you will hear about long after they are done and some you will never hear about."
You just don't listen to him well enough.
LLS
You will concede that Rumsfeld *might* have had a say in it, right?
It is my opinion that President Bush would keep Rumsfeld on board as long as he wanted to be there.
I believe that Rumsfeld, being the team player and big picture guy that he is, offered his resignation again...
Agree. Some are so blinded by hate toward President Bush that they do not want to get and some are too stupid to get it.
My point is this: if Bush does decide circumstances have changed and a new policy is called for, he will adopt one and act.
He won't moon around, or ask anyone's permission. He will make an anouncement, and that will be it.
He did the best thing for Rumsfeld.
This would allow the enemy to sit back and wait until forces were decreased.
The President may have a deadline in his head, but the media is whining because he won't let them in on it. Whining as usual.
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