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.
I never, EVER thought I'd ever say this, but sometimes, I really do wonder if Dick Harpootlian was right when he called ol' Lindsay "light in the loafers." I remember the crapstorm that remark caused when he let it slip...but now? Eh.
Like most of y'all SC FReepers, I voted for the guy when I lived down there. Now I can only wish y'all luck on sending him home in the primary when he runs next.
}:-)4
AAAAAARRRRRRRG! Do these people not understand THEY ARE NOT HELPING! Their whining/weak kneed pandering only emboldens the enemy and makes the situation WORSE???
What does it take to make people understand the psychological importance of being confident and keeping your eye on the ball? Being calm under pressure? Walking on the sunny side? These pansies seriously tick me off. I'm a girl and I have a stronger spine than these weenies for Pete's sake. Grrrrr.
That said, I'm still voted straight R because the alternative is only worse.
Lindsay is light in the loafers?? THAT wil be another October Surprise!!
I don't really remember politics pre-vietnam, but I distinctly remember that, especially since my Dad was retired Air Force and was stationed in Vietnam early on. I probably would not have paid much attention, or understood what the press etc was doing except that my parents talked about it, and our family had lots of discussions about politics and what was going on in the world.
susie
I understand what you're saying, but the problem is that any pol with half a brain--especially a GOP Senator that the media automatically runs to for a "dissenting Republican viewpoint"--has GOT to know that all he's doing is undercutting his own country's war effort when he says something like this. Yeah, we've made mistakes in Iraq, there's no doubt, but my God, Lindsay, do you have to keep pimpslapping your own party's President upside the head again and again and again on it? And keep giving the anti-war, anti-American, anti-victory drive-by media even more ammo?
}:-)4
The rabid gay activists hinted at Graham's sexuality during the impeachment trials, since then Graham has moved to the McCain camp, where he can get cover for his stand on gay marriage. I think that there must be one other Senator that McCain is providing cover, but I am not sure who that is. There are indications that it could be Chaffee. They said that the guy was married.
You can't blame poor Lindsay, he's got sand in his vagina again.
No surprise to me.
I think that as long as the senators do not support Bush, they are left off the list, thus the attraction to John McCain.
That's gotta hurt...
susie
Lyndsey Graham. NEXT MARK FOLEY!!!!!!!!!!!
Im not against ever attacking Iran, just not until its most advantageous.
Hell lets attack NK and Syria since it seemd so easy for you arm chair generals .
Tell me how you would have run the Iraq war so efficiently? Whats your experience at it...Battleship...King of the Hill...movies?
You make me sick. Cut and run...point fingers. Sheesh
Because he can't talk to much without giving away his hand.
Watch out for cluegoo though, that's just nasty.
Well does the little twit have a steady boy friend that could beat the crap out of him?
You South Carolina voters have a lot of explaining to do about why the majority of you elected this guy to the U.S. Senate.
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