Forgotten - Why I'm not willing to give "the surge" a chance.
The Republicans are gaining some traction with their "give 'the surge' a chance to succeed" talking point, but for this to work, they have had to disconnect the current Iraq debate from the actions of President Bush just six months ago.
Has everyone already forgotten that Rumsfeld was kept on the job for months because President Bush didn't want to upset the 2006 elections?
Has it already been forgotten that a strategy that wasn't working was kept in place out of a concern for Republican political fortunes?
I'm not willing to grant the administration six more months, because they've already had them.
In the summer of 2006, recognizing that the Iraq strategy was failing, this White House put political concerns ahead of changing personnel and strategy.
By the White House's own admission, this administration delayed changes in strategy because they thought even discussing changes would impact the 2006 midterm elections.
In those months of delay in the fall of 2006, hundreds of US soldiers died and a thousand were wounded.
They forfeited all rights to "patience" with that decision. They've already had their six months.
But it seems everyone's forgotten.
Has everyone already forgotten that Rumsfeld was kept on the job for months because President Bush didn't want to upset the 2006 elections?
Has it already been forgotten that a strategy that wasn't working was kept in place out of a concern for Republican political fortunes?
I'm not willing to grant the administration six more months, because they've already had them.
In the summer of 2006, recognizing that the Iraq strategy was failing, this White House put political concerns ahead of changing personnel and strategy.
By the White House's own admission, this administration delayed changes in strategy because they thought even discussing changes would impact the 2006 midterm elections.
In those months of delay in the fall of 2006, hundreds of US soldiers died and a thousand were wounded.
They forfeited all rights to "patience" with that decision. They've already had their six months.
But it seems everyone's forgotten.
posted by mikevotes at
9:51 AM
11 Comments:
Are they gaining traction w/ "Let the surge work"?
They keep repeating that mantra, but events on the ground, like always, are overtaking them.
45 dead Americans this month (it's the fucking 10th of a 30 day month), 6 dead Brits, Sadr's calling for the militias to directly take on the Americans, there are demonstrations against the American occupation, car bombs continue to go off and the violence has spread outward from Baghdad.
The good thing is, all the above is being reported by the major news organizations. Unlike w/ the Pelosi flap, they're actually not just reporting RNC spin as news.
So in the long run, how effective will it be for Repubs to say "Give the surge the chance to work" when the evidence becomes clear that it cannot work because it is too little, too late?
By
Reality-Based Educator, at 9:18 AM
Yeah - the surge is working, the surge of American deaths, that is...
By
Ptelea, at 9:25 AM
When Bush first announced the escalation of military occupation he was asked why this time would be different. His response was "Because this time we mean it." He admitted to taking a half-assed commitment for the past 3+ years, but now he was gettin' serious.
Lindsey Graham, on his recent stroll through a Baghdad marketplace, commented how great the increased US muscle was working to pacify the nation. He said "we should have done this three years ago."
I'm sure I could cite the specific quotes, give the time to dig them up.
It must be repeated like a relentless drumbeat that this administration has been criminally derelict in it's duty and has no standing in the arena of credibility when it comes to national security and foreign policy. They are irrelevant in the discussion of moving our country forward.
By
-epm, at 9:37 AM
Reality, Just observation, but I think they kind of aregaining traction, at least from the media.
It's certainly not a "winning" talking point, but it seems to be getting accepted by interviewers as a delaying talking point. The interviewers tend to stop there.
(And, it's definitely more effective than the "happy talk.")
Also: if you haven't guessed by now, I don't expect this strategy to work. Beyond just the death totals, the anecdotal evidence of sectarian tensions is growing again.
Maybe, just maybe, there was a brief window for some sort of progress. In the first weeks after US troops started going out, it did create something of a shock to the Iraqi system. If Maliki had made just one concession, maybe it could have turned the inertia, but now, the political side seems to have settled back on it's previous course.
....
PTelea, Let me point out the real horror of this. The militants are just beginning to adapt to the new US tactics.It will likely get worse.
....
EPM, You don't have to dig up the quotes, I remember.
I should have included that in my post, but the memory of the political nature of the Rumsfeld firing just overwhelmed me this morning.
And, if I remember right, the reacent "we mean it" was within an answer about benchmarks. And, none of those are being met.
The "breathing space" for benchmarks is what US soldiers are dying for.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 10:16 AM
"..."we mean it" was within an answer about benchmarks."
You're right. But the whole gist was that for three + years we deferred to the Iraqi's (thus blaming them for our failed strategy), but now we were taking the bull by the horns and weren't going to take any shit anymore. Blah, blah, blah
By
-epm, at 11:13 AM
Fully agreed.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 11:21 AM
It is not just the six months leading up to the election, but the last 4 years that have been wasted. Now we are supposed to have patience? From the beginning I've contested that 5 years is the outside limit of American patience for this war that was supposed to be "cakewalk".
By
Praguetwin, at 12:55 PM
I don't mean to ignore the surging Iraqi deaths either. They are just as tragic.
By
Ptelea, at 12:55 PM
Praguetwin, yeah.
As EPM pointed out, the President himself came out and said, "this time we mean it."
That's why we're expected to have patience, because they weren't really trying before.
....
Ptelea, frankly, it's difficult not to ignore the Iraqi plight. There is so very little coverage of the dead Iraqis. Numbers are printed scattershot 29 in this bombing, 12 bodies found, 3 in a roadside bomb.
There is no real effort at collection and presentation of the Iraqi deaths.
They are merely a metric.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 1:08 PM
The talking point is a moot one (yeah, like that would prevent it from getting traction in today's politics). We can hold the civil war at bay with tens of thousands of soldiers in Baghdad for probably quite a while...but it means nothing until the government gets its act together. And that's just not going to happen.
The only thing to consider regarding whether the Iraqi government collapses now or later is the loss of life.
By
Nonplussed2, at 2:39 AM
Yeah, definitely , but we're running out of fingers for the dike.
By
mikevotes, at 7:11 AM
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