President Bush will address the nation next week about Iraq and U.S. efforts to get that country "well on the path" to stability by the end of his term, White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten said Wednesday.
Bolten, who predicted a sizable presence of U.S. troops would remain in Iraq after Bush leaves office, spoke days before the administration delivers a crucial progress report Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are scheduled to testify on Monday and Tuesday.
In an interview with the USA TODAY editorial board, Bolten said the president plans to talk later next week about what his aides recommend and how he plans to proceed.
Bush wants to make "it possible for his successor — whichever party that successor is from — to have a sustained presence in the Middle East," Bolten said. "And have America continue to be a respected and influential power in the Middle East."
That will likely require some kind of U.S. presence in Iraq beyond Jan. 20, 2009, Bolten said. But no one knows how many troops and how they might be deployed, he said.
You know what? This is actually getting close to the truth, the truth since the very beginning. Whatever their motives – oil, power, National Defense – this whole Iraq Invasion has been about putting an American presence in the Middle East from the very start. The trumphed up reasons for invading Iraq – WMD’s, Chemical-Biological weapons, al Qaeda alliances – were premeditated lies. The choice of Iraq was because they knew it would be a pushover – they’d learned that in the First Gulf War. The reason for smoldering along, never really instituting the draft and sending enough troops to actually win, was that they didn’t particularly want to win and come home. They wanted to "have America continue to be a respected and influential power in the Middle East" in perpetuity – to have something like a foothold in the Middle East. Now, the excuses are all used up. Their reason for the Surge was to get around the Iraq Study Group. So, it’s a success. They got around the Iraq Study Group. Now, it’s as clear as a bell that having General Petraeus and Ambassador Cocker tell us that the Surge is a real success isn’t going to work. We all know it’s not true. Bush’s only choice is to tell the truth for a change. If anything, the sectarian violence in Iraq is supporting what he wants. Knowing that there will be an outright Civil War if we pull out, he’s got Congress over a barrel. If we pull out, there will be a bloodbath, so, it’s hard for our Congressmen to vote for just coming home.
The Neoconservatives wanted us to have a military presence in the Middle East – and that’s what we’ve got. And they wanted us to stay there, thinking that our presence there will keep us [and Israel] safe [and next to the oil fields]. I expect that they and the Bush Administration insiders feel pretty smug about the whole thing. What about all the lies and deception that made it happen? "The ends justify the means," as Michael Ledeen’s hero, Machiavelli, said long ago. What about the costs – lives, reputation, money, lost freedoms? Again, "the ends justify the means." They knew what they wanted from the outset. They knew we would never just do it. So they opportunized on 9/11 and their control of the Intelligence Agencies to make it all happen, using reasons that we would all buy.
Given the way all of this has played out, I think that what I used to consider my paranoid fantasy was in fact the truth. They ignored al Qaeda and the warnings about al Qaeda – actually hoping for a provocation to do exactly what they did – invade Iraq. 9/11 was worse than they expected, but I now believe that al Qaeda provocation was in their minds early on. They wanted another Embassy bombing, or a U.S. Cole instead of what they got, but still I think all of that totally ignoring the clear warnings had a reason. 9/11 was collateral damage, just like the other losses.
What do we do now? I guess the first order of business is obvious. We make it extremely clear what Bush did. I like what Madeleine Albright said today, "That leaves coordinated international assistance as the only option. President Bush could do his part by admitting what the world knows — that many prewar criticisms of the invasion were on target. Such an admission would be just the shock a serious diplomatic project would need."
Democrats and Republicans should go before the cameras today and every day till the so-called Patreaus report and announce that Bush doesn’t need a report from anyone because he has already told us what he wants to hear we’re “kicking ass”. Powell, anybody please step in before it’s too late.