Gates goes off message
This week, perhaps more than any in months, the White House its allies have claimed the momentum on the debate. It looks like the Defense Secretary didn't get the memo.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that he was discouraged by the resignation of the Sunnis from Iraq’s cabinet and that the Bush administration might have misjudged the difficulty of achieving reconciliation between Iraq’s sectarian factions.
In one of his bluntest assessments of the progress of the administration’s Iraq strategy, Mr. Gates said, “I think the developments on the political side are somewhat discouraging at the national level.” He said that despite the Sunni withdrawal, “my hope is that it can all be patched back together.”
First, Mr. Secretary, hope is not a plan. Second, so much the administration's "momentum."
Idiots.
FYI, John Gibson on Fox Talk Radio now cherry-picks response posts on C&L and reads them during his show, to dramatic music.
The wacky ones are actually pretty funny when heard on the radio. Just thought you'd all like to know, as the O'Reilly and Gibsons of the world are changing their tactics to try to discredit entire blogs because of the most radical of the posters on the sites.
I just hope the site-owners don't bow to that pressure and start censoring more and more.
I think that we should just give the "surge" a little bit more time so that it has a chance to work. (I'm being facetious here!) Actually, since the second part of the linked story is about how parts of Baghdad now have no running water and no electricity in 120 degree heat, apparently the new "plan" is to just let everyone left alive in Baghdad die of dehydration and/or heatstroke. Although I keep forgetting that it's not like Iraqis are real people (i.e., Christians of European descent) and so inconveniences like no water or electricity don't really bother them.
Yay! @ 2
Anyone wonder how many of those responses are posted by minions of Fox?
Yay! @ 2:
Do they mention commentor's names? Now I have something to shoot for!
Third, step off message again and you'll be replaced. Can't have non-believers in the bush administration...
Yay! @ 2:
Bahm-bahm-bahm BAHHH!!!
John Gibson wears clip-on bow-ties.
Bahm-bahm-bahm BAHHH!!!
Boy, Gates must be a real idiot.
Doesn't he know that we can't talk about Iraq until September?
Check your calendar there Mr. Sec.
CENTCOM is still reading the tea leaves.
"misjudged the difficulty"
That's like saying Custer misjudged the difficulty of taking on the entire Sioux Nation.
Its just too bad that Bush and his cronies wont go lead the troops in Iraq.
Dumbasses.
Do they mention commentor’s names? Now I have something to shoot for!
Race ya.
There certainly are some planted posts made by Fox foot soldiers, but I think we'd all agree that it's not hard to find legitimate "lefties" posting wacky, paranoid and sometimes silly rants. The current popular theory being, "BUSH IS GONNA CANCEL THE 2008 ELECTION AND ENACT MARTIAL LAW! WE'RE ALL DOOMED!!".
Replace "lefties" with whatever term you prefer.
Eventually someone's going to have to put on the waders and start sifting through the crap on freerepublic and some other righty blogs to discredit the discrediting.
I haven't heard much of what Gates has said but what I have heard always seems to be fairly forthright. I'm wondering if Bush by mistake picked a crony who's actually competent. ???
Perhaps we should wait for Obama. He has much better ideas re:invading Paskistan. So different. So innovative.
BOO!!
Is Gates talking about those patches you can iron on? The ones where the bluejeans look darker and they're all stiff around the knee?
Idiots! Patch THIS!
Really??? The Bushies could have mis-judged something? Hard to believe.
SECDEF GATES ASSUMES ‘THE WEIGHT’ (TAKE A LOAD OFF RUMMY)
Dems’ 'Real Big Problem'
The Iraq debate that we’ve been watching this year has been about two bets.
After false starts and misplaced hopes in 2004, and 2005, and 2006, George W. Bush is betting his surge strategy will facilitate the political progress that could bring a semblance of stability to Iraq.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are betting the surge will fail.
It’s as simple as that. If Bush wins his bet, Iraq will be a better place, the Middle East will be a better place, and America will be a safer place.
But Reid and Pelosi lose if Bush wins...................
They might be wrong; in the fifth year of this war, anyone who is not deeply skeptical about reports of progress just isn’t being realistic. And even if the surge is working, war supporters can be rightly furious at Bush for not doing it years ago.
But at least they aren’t betting on — haven’t staked their hopes on — American failure.
I'm surprised Secretary Gates hasn't left to "spend more time with his family." He's cried over fallen soldiers (not an Administration plus) and he's said some plain and honest things about the state of the war (NEVER done in this Administration). I give him 3 more months and he'll be replaced with Karl Rove's secretary, you know, from the front desk.
Gates will probably attack Democrats to get "street cred" back with the moonshine drinkers
Hope is not a strategy.
Despair is not a method.
Love is a battlefield.
Life is a highway.
strife :(
1. Heated, often violent dissension; bitter conflict. See Synonyms at discord.
2. A struggle, fight, or quarrel.
3. Contention or competition between rivals.
Just want to tell you---America loves strife--saves them amo in killing both.
Just go back 5 years ago--any bets that the bombing of the UN and killings were--USA /UK/Israel doings . It sure worked !
Gates is a Poppyista. Shrubby has lost the Poppyistas. Gates also admitted (to HRC, no less) that we're deep into exit strategy planning, and stuck his finger in Cheney's eye.
At this rate, Gates is either gonna get some buckshot in the face, or Cheney's gonna leave prematurely.
What's the "war czar" got to say about this? He seems to be off somewhere in an undisclosed location. Probably thinking what an ass he was to take the job.
Yay! @ 2:
Here's one for John Gibson from StirFry with love, "Sit on it, bucko! "
Patched back together..? What are they thinking about......... a quilt?........."Not really going as expected".....These clowns thought they could just waltz in there and every thing would be all roses.......now there dealing with the thorns....hmmmph.
So, who would expect that a war built on lies & monumental incompetence could go so well?
It's FUBAR.
Bring our troops home!
Watch out Gates! You will have a Bush speech writer assigned to you. He will take out anything negative from your speeches and put Bush's name three times on each page. He will also add words and phrases such as "democracy," "freedom," "cut and run," "Osama bin Laden," "terrorists," "fight them over there... "etc.
dennis @ 18:
No One Wins......except the defense contractors...and we all know who's pocket their in...
Or maybe that should read Offense Contractors...
CafeenMan @ 12:
I think, or at least hope, Gates is(for a change) an individual who is willing to "buck"
the propoganda speewed forth from most of bush-lites's admin. concerning progress
being made in Iraq. Gates has, in the past, proven himself to be an person of the
highest integrity, honesty and telling it like it is. Making statements as quoted above
are not surprising for Mr. Gates since his "record" in the past with other organizations/
institutions has been straight forward, therefore perhaps there is some hope that at least
one person is willing to furnish WE THE PEOPLE with factual and accurate accounts of
the situtation in Iraq.
[...] Court Contact the Webmaster Link to Article white house Gates goes off message » Posted at Crooks and Liars on Friday, August [...]
For now, I think the administration has slowed the pace and volume of their disinformation efforts. But, it's summer, to be expected, typically a slow news period.
Once Petraeus issues his expected "stay the course" assessment in September, Gates and the rest will be back in full disinformation mode.
The so called momentum has all been rhetorical and in a war, the rhetorical momentum can't hold up unless it's matched by physical success. We can make Iraq peaceful by posting American soldiers in every doorway and an American tank on every block, but we don't have that many soldiers or that many tanks. Even if we did, that would just make Iraq one giant prison camp. In order to maintain the illusion of peace we would have to keep those soldiers in place for a generation, and we know that we can't do that.
Hello Yay:
Perhaps you might remember this from 2004:
Officials discuss how to delay Election Day
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/11/election.day.delay/
The fact is they have already tried to delay elections by using the terrorism bogeyman.
Exactly what makes you think it's whacko to think they'll try it again? As for Bush imposing martial law, you might recall that the recently penned national Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) 51 gives him the power to do exactly that in the event of a "catastrophic emergency" (such as a major terrorist attack).
NSPD 51:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html
and the closest thing to a discussion of it we saw in the press (um, where was the NYT and WaPo on this?):
Bush Anoints Himself as the Insurer of Constitutional Government in Emergency
http://www.progressive.org/mag_wx051807
So how convenient would a fall 2008 terrorist attack be? Remember also that the Project for a New American Century discusses the concept of a "new Pearl Harbor" as providing opportunity to pass needed legislation for the PNAC agenda.
You know, one of the best ways to pull off an outrageous crime is to do it in broad daylight, right in front of the people. The cover is provided by the fact that it is unbelievable that anyone would do such a thing.
Historical precendent? Hitler's Reichstag fire:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire
http://idid.essortment.com/nazireichstag_rghx.htm
You can drive up a construction truck and clean out a house in broad daylight. No neighbors want to believe that such a thing will happen in their neighborhood.
Americans suffer from a similar "it can't happen here, this is America" attitude. The fact is they can legislate away our rights. They can lock up people and throw away the key. They can drop nuclear bombs on people. They can lock down the press.
The fact that people don't want believe they'll do it provides the very cover they need.
Simon White-Thatch Potentloins @ 5:
I think, at some point, they have to rein Gates.
He's really from Bush ONES era, more of a real world guy, not a kool-aid drinker like Bush TWO likes to surround himself with.
It's almost too late to replace him, but if this was earlier in Bush's terms, they would find a way to push Gates out.
"Hope" is what started this war in the first place. Bush & Cheney HOPED to find WMDs. They hoped to liberate the Iraqi people from a despot they helpted create. They hoped they would find a justification for attacking a sovereign nation. They hoped their misdeeds would go unnoticed.
They hope. Shit, they believe in god... that should tell you a lot right there.
Hope. It's not just for breakfast anymore.
John Gibson is such a waste of oxygen.
The #1 reason why they suddenly needed to create a War Czar position in the cabinet is the fact that Gates won't heel every time he's told to.
Gates is the only person in the upper levels of the administration who is truly competent and honorable. He's so completely out of place, and stands out in all the best and worst ways (a tribute to both himself and the depths of everyone else).
Comments are closed on this entry