Lindsey Graham is giving me a raging, throbbing clue!
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.
As much as I didn't want to do it (in some races) I also voted straight Republican this morning. Of course, in S. FL I will probably be disenfranchized anyway... ;)
susie
As we can see from Lindsey Graham's time in office, time in anything is no guarantee for any kind of quality.
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?
And by the way, your dismissal of people who may disagree with you as "bushbots" says a lot about you.
**We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working**
I believe there's a cliff with Lindsey's name on it. I'll be happy to help him off of it.
Oh, when the headline said a GOP Senator, I thought it might be a Republican but I see it is only McLame's sidekick.
I think the press likes to scare people, and make everything out to be worse than it is. I think you are right to be angry and concerned because the press is not behaving honorably and in some ways they are hurting the war effort. I don't think that they will be able to prevent America from doing what we have to do to win. They obviously havn't changed the opinions of you and a lot of other people, so they aren't all-powerful as some people make themout to be.
You know what's really freaking hilarious? You. Stupidity is entertaining.
Lindsey Graham is giving me a raging, throbbing clue!
You know, my attitude probably comes partly from living in S. FL where everyone I know but me is a die hard liberal Bush hater! ;)
susie
"He's not married"
I think we are picking up a butt Pirate on the gaydar Captain.
LLS
Or put another way,
"what idiot would be afraid to attack a weak, zero country that is building nuclear bombs in an attempt to destabalize the middle east, nuke Israel and possibly even nuke the U.S. itself"?
Before you answer about how "dangerous" it would be to attack Iran, bear in mind that the insignificant Saddam Hussein attacked Iran and fought them to a standstill, killing, some estimates say, millions of Iranians. The Iranians could not defeat Saddam, and in fact greatly feared him. The Iranians would love to wipe Israel off the map, but fear them too much to try it. But you say only an "idiot" would attack Iran? You are hiding this Administration's gross mismanagement of the war against radical islam under a silly facade that claims Iran is too "dangerous" to attack. Some 'superpower' we are if we're afraid of Iran.
FACT, today Iran is nothing. But if we wait for somebody else to take care of them for us.... they will soon enough be a nuclear power with ICBMs, and then it will be too late.
That's the rumor.
Don't let em get to you, Susie...
I live in The People's Republic of Massachusetts, and they have been unable to bend me to their will (which up here, means over a barrel, or a chair or something else while playing the theme from "Deliverance"...)
Shut UP Lindsey, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
Last time I looked, Iran is indeed very near Iraq. Chalk one up for Senator Geography.
Every Republican running for office should point out that under President Bush we have not had a terrorist attack in five years. Moreover, they must further point out that under Clinton, we never went five years without a terrorist attack on American soil.
WTC 1993
OKC 1995 Olympics 1996
African Embassies 1998
USS Cole 2000
Graham is unmarried and is often in the company of several younger "batchelors"
WAY ahead of you.
Every time this twit opens his mouth like this, I fell obligated to offer my apologies to the country and to Conservatives everywhere for my vote. I'll correct that mistake in 2008, but I will feel guilt ridden until then.
We will.
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