"Sid9" <sid9@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:B9Djf.29122$i7.16386@bignews2.bellsouth.net...

December 1, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist
Bush Hits Rewind
By BOB HERBERT
It's weird. It's like watching a computerized model of a president.
Somebody programs George W. Bush, carefully embedding the information to
be dispensed over the next several hours, and then he goes out and
addresses the nation - as a computerized bundle of administration talking
points.

"We will never back down," said Mr. Bush in his speech at the U.S. Naval
Academy yesterday. "We will never give in. And we will never accept
anything less than complete victory."

I don't think there were many people who believed him. Members of Mr.
Bush's own party are nervously eyeing next year's Congressional
elections. They would abandon Iraq in a heartbeat if it meant the
difference between getting re-elected or having to hunt for a real job.

This war (which has already cost the lives of more than 2,100 Americans
and tens of thousands of Iraqis) was cynically launched (it was never
about Sept. 11) and incompetently fought (we have never sent enough
troops or sufficient equipment), and will be brought to a close by people
obsessed not with the security of the United States and the welfare of
the troops, but with the political calendar.

"I will settle for nothing less than complete victory," said Mr. Bush. He
then dutifully defined victory as follows:

"Victory will come when the terrorists and Saddamists can no longer
threaten Iraq's democracy, when the Iraqi security forces can provide for
the safety of their own citizens, and when Iraq is not a safe haven for
terrorists to plot new attacks on our nation."

Those were some of yesterday's talking points.

Actually Bush's position has not waivered ONE IOTA since he announced the
mission "Iraqi Freedom." I know liberals keep saying so much, but then
again for all that pot smoking libs do, it's surprising they remember
yesterday!

LN

Here's today's reality: the $6-billion-a-month U.S. military mission in
Iraq is unsustainable, as is the political support for the war. There is
now a virtual consensus that a significant American troop withdrawal will
get under way in 2006.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi security forces are ill equipped, understaffed and
widely infiltrated by private militia members and insurgents. In many
ways, it's an amateurish operation.

As Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who served in the 82nd
Airborne, told reporters this week:

"Without an effective ministry that can keep track of soldiers and
police, pay those soldiers and police, apply those soldiers and police
and essentially provide the foundation, then you're going to have some
tactically trained units, but they're not going to be a coherent or
effective force."

Despite the rosy scenarios offered by President Bush, American-style
democracy is nowhere in sight in Iraq. Among other things, the evidence
of horrific human rights abuses by Iraqi forces allied with us -
including kidnappings, torture and murders - is increasing.

In short, the picture in Iraq is not a pretty one, and there is no
indication that substantial improvements are coming soon.

If the president gets any of this, you couldn't tell it by his appearance
yesterday. He stuck to his talking points. "To all who wear the uniform,"
he said, "I make you this pledge: America will not run in the face of car
bombers and assassins so long as I am your commander in chief."

We may not cut and run in Iraq, but with the G.O.P. sweating out next
year's elections, the plans are already under way for American forces by
the tens of thousands to cut and speed-walk toward the exits. Mr. Bush
could have been honest about this yesterday, but he chose not to be.

If the administration does not address this inevitable pullout, or
pullback, seriously, it will be conducted as incompetently as the
post-invasion operation.

The inevitable drawdown of U.S. forces is hardly a secret. In addition to
the political pressures coming from the G.O.P., there's the fact that we
don't have enough people in the military - and can't entice enough people
into the military - to back up the president's blithe promises.

Senator Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, said in an op-ed article in
The Washington Post that it was likely that 50,000 troops would be
redeployed out of Iraq by the end of next year and "a significant number"
of the remainder in 2007.

A president who's little more than a bundle of talking points cannot
possibly maintain the long-term trust and confidence of the public.
There's a disturbing remoteness to President Bush that seems especially
odd in a politician who was selected by his party because of his supposed
ability to project warmth and the kind of fundamental authenticity that
his Democratic opponents lacked.



--
Rep.Murtha:
Our military has done everything that has been asked of them.
It is time to bring them home