President Bush chose a bold plan for Iraq that was at odds with what many of his advisers initially recommended.
When President Bush speaks to the Republican convention on Monday, he is expected to tout the “surge” of forces in Iraq as one of his proudest achievements. But that decision, one of his most consequential as commander in chief, was made only after months of tumultuous debate within the administration, according to still-secret memorandums and interviews with a broad range of current and former officials…
Republican Mythology follows a predictable pattern. When the Iron Curtain was ripped down by the people of the Communnist Bloc, the Republicans claimed it was a result of Ronald Reagan’s tough policies and rampant military spending. Much more likely, the Iron Curtain was torn down by people who saw that they were living under a failed government – it died a "natural death." But the Republican Myth persists, and was even used in justifying our invasion of Iraq.
Now, there’s a new Myth that we’ll surely hear Monday Night at the Republican Convention. What actually happened in Iraq was quite different. The Military recommended 400,000 Troops for the Iraq Invasion, echoed by Secretary of State Colin Powell. Rumsfeld wanted to use 55,000. They finally compromised at 130,000. Every time they made a dent in the violence, they tried to quickly lower troop levels:
The graphs above [thru 08/2007] tell the story. They started with too few troops. They kept thinking that their initial plan was working, and so they kept lowering troop levels. Every time they did, violence returned, so they’d send more troops. Finally, after four years, when the country and the Iraq Study Group screamed get out of Iraq, they uped the troop levels and finally achieved limited success. Why didn’t they do that before? They didn’t want a draft, so they fought the war by destroying our National Guard, sending the same troops back to Iraq over and over – troops that were for our Homeland protection and emergencies.
So to call Bush "bold" is Mythology. More accurately, they invaded Iraq on false pretenses with an inadequate force. They set out to plan a long termed occupation. The Iraqis fought back. Bush kept trying to bring the troop levels down for their endless occupation. Americans and Iraqi civilians kept dying. Our Money, borrowed from China, kept disappearing. The so-called "Surge" was nothing more than Bush doing what he should have done years before. And after all of that, his dreamed-of occupation of Iraq melted before his eyes because the Iraqis wanted absolutely no part of it.
Bold my ass!
Hmm. This isn’t in my local paper:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1050919/David-Kellys-closest-female-confidante-COULDNT-killed-himself.html
dc
Here’s something I didn’t know about Darvon [Co-Proxamol]: