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T H U R S D A Y , A U G U S T 0 4 , 2 0 0 5Bush Admits Defeat In War On Terrorby Michael in New York on
8/04/2005 11:15:00 AM"The New Yorker" nails it: Bush's "rebranding" of the war onterror isn't just silly Orwellian wordplay. Bush is admittingdefeat. Per George Packer:The Administration is admitting that its strategy sinceSeptember 11th has failed, without really admitting it. Thesingle-minded emphasis on hunting down terrorists hasfailed ("Hearts and minds are more important thancapturing and killing people," Gregson said). The use ofmilitary force as the country's primary and, at times, onlyresponse has failed, and has stretched the Army and theMarines to the breaking point. Unilateralism has failed. "It'snot a military project alone, and the United States cannotdo it by itself alone," Douglas Feith, the Under-Secretary ofDefense for Policy and a leading advocate of going it alonewith military force, said on his way out the Pentagon doorand into private life (good luck, fellas!). Theoverwhelmingly American character of the war has failed,isolating moderate Muslims -- who, in the end, are the onlyhope for political change -- or driving them closer to theradicals. Loading the entire burden of the war onto thebacks of American soldiers, while telling the rest of thecitizenry to go about its business, has failed, even as publicrelations: in a recent Gallup poll, only thirty-four per cent ofAmericans said that we are winning the war on terrorism.The phrase has outlived its enormous political usefulness.They credit numerous groups for making the case for a broader, lesswar-based war on ideology, but don't mention one obvious person:John Kerry. But enough of that.Bush has already floated the trial balloon of pulling out troops nextspring and no one blinked an eye. How can they possibly justifysetting a deadline? The insurgency is stronger than ever. More peopleare being killed this year than last. The Iraqi defense ministry isutterly unprepared to take over the security of the country. And Bushhas repeatedly misled the American people about the number of Iraqitroops who can provide defense on their own, without our help. Iraqis not even close to stable. Don't get me wrong, even if we failcompletely in making anything positive out of a bad situation, nosoldier who dies for their country while following orders and behavinghonorably has ever died in vain. But it will be a tragic loss of life ifBush abandons Iraq to boost midterm elections and allows abeleaguered country to sink into civil war and despair."The New Yorker" says Bush is right to finally recognize the "reality-based" common sense worldview endorsed by Kerry, the 9-11Commission and others.The Administration is right to reconsider its strategy,starting with the language. Will anything else follow? Theglobal struggle against violent extremism would inspiremore confidence if, for example, the Administration hadn'tfailed to include funding for democracy programs in Iraqbeyond the next round of elections there; or if KarenHughes, the President's choice as Under-Secretary of Statefor Public Diplomacy, hadn't left the job empty for fivemonths while waiting for her son to graduate from highschool; or if the White House weren't resisting attempts byCongress to regulate the treatment of prisoners; or if KarlRove would stop using 9/11 to raise money and smearDemocrats. No one really knows how American influencecan be used to disinfect Islamist politics of violent ideas.This is the first problem. The second is that the Bush teamhas shown such bad faith, arrogance, and incompetencesince September 11th that it seems unlikely to figure it out.According to the last numbers of the Pentagon circa Sen. Joe Biden(numbers no one in the Bush Administration has questioned andwhich Bush is careful to allude to in his public comments):Iraq has 2000 troops capable of fighting on their own. 2000.
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© 2009 - John Aravosis | Design maintenance by Jason RosenbaumSend me your tips: americablog@starpower.netAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Bush...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/bush-admits-defeat-in-wa...
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8/04/2005 11:15:00 AM"The New Yorker" nails it: Bush's "rebranding" of the war onterror isn't just silly Orwellian wordplay. Bush is admittingdefeat. Per George Packer:The Administration is admitting that its strategy sinceSeptember 11th has failed, without really admitting it. Thesingle-minded emphasis on hunting down terrorists hasfailed ("Hearts and minds are more important thancapturing and killing people," Gregson said). The use ofmilitary force as the country's primary and, at times, onlyresponse has failed, and has stretched the Army and theMarines to the breaking point. Unilateralism has failed. "It'snot a military project alone, and the United States cannotdo it by itself alone," Douglas Feith, the Under-Secretary ofDefense for Policy and a leading advocate of going it alonewith military force, said on his way out the Pentagon doorand into private life (good luck, fellas!). Theoverwhelmingly American character of the war has failed,isolating moderate Muslims -- who, in the end, are the onlyhope for political change -- or driving them closer to theradicals. Loading the entire burden of the war onto thebacks of American soldiers, while telling the rest of thecitizenry to go about its business, has failed, even as publicrelations: in a recent Gallup poll, only thirty-four per cent ofAmericans said that we are winning the war on terrorism.The phrase has outlived its enormous political usefulness.They credit numerous groups for making the case for a broader, lesswar-based war on ideology, but don't mention one obvious person:John Kerry. But enough of that.Bush has already floated the trial balloon of pulling out troops nextspring and no one blinked an eye. How can they possibly justifysetting a deadline? The insurgency is stronger than ever. More peopleare being killed this year than last. The Iraqi defense ministry isutterly unprepared to take over the security of the country. And Bushhas repeatedly misled the American people about the number of Iraqitroops who can provide defense on their own, without our help. Iraqis not even close to stable. Don't get me wrong, even if we failcompletely in making anything positive out of a bad situation, nosoldier who dies for their country while following orders and behavinghonorably has ever died in vain. But it will be a tragic loss of life ifBush abandons Iraq to boost midterm elections and allows abeleaguered country to sink into civil war and despair."The New Yorker" says Bush is right to finally recognize the "reality-based" common sense worldview endorsed by Kerry, the 9-11Commission and others.The Administration is right to reconsider its strategy,starting with the language. Will anything else follow? Theglobal struggle against violent extremism would inspiremore confidence if, for example, the Administration hadn'tfailed to include funding for democracy programs in Iraqbeyond the next round of elections there; or if KarenHughes, the President's choice as Under-Secretary of Statefor Public Diplomacy, hadn't left the job empty for fivemonths while waiting for her son to graduate from highschool; or if the White House weren't resisting attempts byCongress to regulate the treatment of prisoners; or if KarlRove would stop using 9/11 to raise money and smearDemocrats. No one really knows how American influencecan be used to disinfect Islamist politics of violent ideas.This is the first problem. The second is that the Bush teamhas shown such bad faith, arrogance, and incompetencesince September 11th that it seems unlikely to figure it out.According to the last numbers of the Pentagon circa Sen. Joe Biden(numbers no one in the Bush Administration has questioned andwhich Bush is careful to allude to in his public comments):Iraq has 2000 troops capable of fighting on their own. 2000.
HuffPost PoliticsMichael Shaw: Reading the Pictures: As If This PutsBirthers To Bedt - click for full size Seeing isbelieving? via RJ Eskow. Stewart escalates....26 minutes ago
FiredoglakeLate Late Night FDL: Holiday Road - LindsayBuckingham - Holiday Road. I'm not headed toWallyworld but I am on the road tonight, headeddown to the San Francisco Bay Area for themeetup this...1 hour ago
Daily KosOpen Thread and Diary Rescue - *Tonight's RescueRangers are noddem, Elise, jlms qkw, taylormattd,Shayera, and joyful with vcmvo2 editing.* Thediaries up for rescue are: - *Vikin...2 hours ago
Crooks and LiarsOpen Thread - Just a little something re the birtherthing. Open thread below...2 hours ago
EschatonLate Night - Go Electric.2 hours agoJ O H N ' S P H OT O S
Show AllA M E R I C A B L O G T V
Next 6AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Bush...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/bush-admits-defeat-in-wa...
1 of 57/24/09 11:18 AM
Visit ourAMERICAblog TV site.see all 326 videos >I collect with
vodpod
Massive brawl in SouthKorean parliament
Mormons may havesecretly baptized
Medieval helpdesk withEnglish subtitles
The Taco Bell dog hasdied
In honor of SenatorDeMintAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Bush...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/bush-admits-defeat-in-wa...
2 of 57/24/09 11:18 AM
Walker ReportSimple Test ToDetermine If Conrad'sCo-ops Are Worthless2 hours agoEzra KleinTab Dump7 hours agoWonk RoomNewt Gingrich’s ‘JobsFirst’ Plan Puts TheWealthy AndCorporations First9 hours agoHealth BeatIf We’re Able to StopObama On This . . . . ItWill Break Him9 hours agoDaily DoseObama Talks HealthCare With Post's Hiatt10 hours agoG AY P O L I T I C S
Visit our new gay politicssection, AMERICAblog Gay.F E E D S
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Donations are nottax-deductible.L A B E L S
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A B O U TA M E R I C A B L O GWhy AMERICAblog?Because a great nationdeserves the truth.What issues do youcover?US politics overall with aparticular focus on theObama Administration, theradical right, and civilrights.Who are you?John AravosisEditorWashington, DCJoe SudbayDeputy EditorWashington, DCChris RyanAssociate EditorParis, FranceRobert ArenaContributing EditorBaltimore, MarylandJacki SchechnerContributing EditorWashington, DCAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Bush...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/bush-admits-defeat-in-wa...
4 of 57/24/09 11:18 AM
© 2009 - John Aravosis | Design maintenance by Jason RosenbaumSend me your tips: americablog@starpower.netAMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Bush...http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/bush-admits-defeat-in-wa...
5 of 57/24/09 11:18 AM