[arkfreepdom]

Why not just title the story, "Bush didn't rescue Jessica, personally"?

[Psycho_Bunny]

The White House said the incident illustrated Bush's style as commander in chief. He approved a broad, flexible military plan for the war and is leaving all but the biggest decisions to Franks, the sole exception thus far being the surprise March 19 airstrikes targeting Saddam Hussein.

Um....am I remembering the strike at Iraqi TV incorrectly?  I seem to recall hearing a military spokesman staying that it was a Presidential decision.

Either way, AP still sucks.

 

[absinthe]

What a bunch of Barbra Streisand. So Bush didn't order
Jessica Lynch's rescue? His subordinates did. That's a
problem???

[dead]

Bush plays with crayons while Dick Cheney runs the country at the behest of Israel.

[Pontiac]

The White House said the incident illustrated Bush's style as commander in chief. He approved a broad, flexible military plan for the war and is leaving all but the biggest decisions to Franks

Thank the Lord we don’t have another President like Johnson who thought he was a military genius who had to approve every air strike.

[eureka!]

Clymers, the lot of them. I see it now, "W had little role in stunning victory over Iraq" (not to jinx the progress). Shameless. Trouble for the presstitutes is that the people know differently. Hehehehe....

[PleaseNoMore]

What a stupid title from AP. Of course it implies that he either didn't care about her rescue or didn't want her rescued. I am not the most military literate person in the world but even I understand that Bush is giving Franks the authority to make tactical decisions as he sees fit. One reporter today tried her best to get Ari to say that Bush wasn't "tuned in" to what was going on. Just another pathetic attempt to discredit him.

[Larry Lucido]

Bush Did Not Order Plan to Rescue Troop

And in other news, Bush did not personally select the contents of the MRE's carried by advancing troops.

[Duckdog]

Good, He said "make it happen" and it did. Thats all Washington should do.

[RJL]

"The president had a hint of it earlier the day, but the tactical decisions were made by General (Tommy) Franks and his commanders on the ground about exactly what to do and where to do it," said Ari Fleischer.

This is exactly how it should happen. Only a POS like Clinton would stand up and take credit for the rescue.

[SGCOS]

The previous presidential sack o' shiit was getting lewinskys while these type of decisions were being made.

[NFOShekky]

What a waste of a story!!! Even if someone has no military background, it should be fairly obvious that the President, as CINC, does not make tactical military decisions! Geez, what next, an AP story that the "President Did Not Order PFC Shmuckatelli to Stand Guard Duty Tonight."

[CougarGA7]

Guess what? Gore lost. This President doesn't micro-manage everything. He delegates like all good leaders do.

[Mark]

I heard one conservative yesterday that said you could have one American tank in combat take out 12 Iraqi tanks and one enemy round destroy one of the American tank treads, and you could see a headline in some paper being " Iraqi Forces Disable American Tank ".

[Columbine]

Did any of you see Ari's briefing today?

The focus of most of the pack changed from "we are bogged down" to "when did the President know", "how involved is he" and "what is his state of mind."

I guess they got new talking points from the DNC.

[Right Brother]

If Clinton was still President, he'd be on his way to Germany for a photo-op and likely try to cop a feel once he got there.

[philetus]

SCOTT LINDLAW of AP tries to recue liberals, singlehanded.

[Captain Beyond]

What everybody is missing here is the huge difference between Bush and Clinton in how things are handled. Instead of Bush cashing in on the rescue politically and turning it into a publicity stunt, like Clinton would have done, he is showing class in letting the army make the decisions then having them take credit for it where credit is due. The way it should be.

Had this been Bill Clinton you would have had Dee Dee Meyers, George Stephanopoulos, Mike McCurry, and Joe Lockhart out there giving us inside details of how Slick agonized nightly over the capture of POW's and in his ever waking hour he was working on a plan to rescue them. That he was in touch and guiding the Special Forces as they rescued her. Slick would have had her delivered to the White House lawn to get a Photo-Op of himself helping carry the stretcher while getting her phone number.

[genefromjersey]

I watched as much of the press conference as I could stomach. Fleischer kept saying,yes-the President did have a general knowledge of the plan, but left it in the hands of the field commanders.

The reporters kept whining : " Did the President sign off on this plan ? " in as many ways as they could manage; and
Fleischer kept explaining the NORMAL and CORRECT way to do things was to delegate such decisions to the military commanders.

At this point, I got so disgusted with the inane questions being asked, I decided to go take a Peter Arnett, instead of watching TV...but I could only manage a Geraldo.

[woofie]

I think Bill Clinton rescued Jessica