Posted on 12/09/2006 9:01:36 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Steady condemnation from conservatives for the Iraq Study Group report may be providing some cover to the Bush administration as it completes its own review of strategy in Iraq, apparently with little enthusiasm for the panel's prescription of U.S. troop withdrawal and dialogue with Syria and Iran.
The criticism of the panel, co-chaired by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former representative Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), has burst forth from the leading institutions of the right: the National Review, the Wall Street Journal editorial page and the Weekly Standard; conservative talk radio; and scholars at some of Washington's top think tanks.
President Bush has spoken favorably of the panel's work as an opportunity to bring the country together, but he has been noncommittal on its key recommendations. Comments from the hawkish right, meanwhile, have often been an accurate gauge of the beliefs of key figures inside the Bush administration, especially Vice President Cheney.
Many Republican and Democratic lawmakers have embraced the panel's report, but the almost uniformly negative reaction from some of Bush's strongest conservative supporters means the president may have some political flexibility to depart from the group's major recommendations, according to some GOP operatives.
Notably fueling the skepticism has been Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has raised pointed questions about the Baker-Hamilton panel's unwillingness to prescribe more troops, as McCain has urged, and its embrace of a regional conference with Syria and Iran.
"It's sort of hard to suddenly say everyone agrees Baker is the way to go when the leading Republican candidate for '08 is saying no," said William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Pro forma thanks, heartfelt FOAD.
Translation of the spin: stick a fork in the ISG's report, it's dead, Jim.
For varying reasons, no one agrees with it .... but, mean old conservatives are the scape goat.
Well, duh, appeasement doesnt work. Remember the Sudetenland?
And many Republican conservatives will laugh, pass their ammunition, and wait for the towel heads to rise here.
Either way, we are going to have to get it on with them.
The SOONER the Better.
Anyone with half a brain would have 'little enthusiasm' for these two things - at least at this point.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
It's a panel of old go along, get-a-longers whose carrers are notable for their lack of imagination or vision.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
bipartisan = bifartisan
Eliot A. Cohen, a Johns Hopkins University professor of military strategy, said the Baker-Hamilton recommendations reflect "preoccupations that go back to when [Baker] was secretary of state and are completely detached from today's reality. The idea that Sunni are putting power drills in the heads of Shia and vice versa because of the Arab-Israeli conflict is bizarre."The idea that we would expect anything substantive from Baker and Hamilton in the first place is bizarre.
"If that happens, the soft underbelly of Europe will feel the Islamofascist scourge"
Who cares? They certainly don't. Why should we?
"If that happens, the soft underbelly of Europe will feel the Islamofascist scourge"
Who cares? They certainly don't. Why should we?
Bush is weak.
Dems will pull the plug on the money,
if Bush doesn't obey.
Mistakes are being made in Iraq. Political concerns are ruling initiatives. The U.S. military is thus being hamstrung and should be turned loose to wreak havoc and destruction on those creating the troubles.
If not we should get out and let them kill each other.
As for the surrender monkeys? Screw em.
Oh, no. I read on DU all the time how we can just negotiate with the Muslims and all will be well. OK, I can't actually stand to lurk over at DU any more, but I'm sure they feel that way. I mean, I feel that they feel that way, and how I feel is important, right?
Seriously, I quoted you in order to agree with you.
The findings of the Iraq Surrender Group should be filed away where they belong; in some dusty file cabinet in an obscure location.
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