WP: U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq (Page A01)

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081300853.html

U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq
Administration Is Shedding 'Unreality' That Dominated Invasion, Official Says

By Robin Wright and Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 14, 2005; Page A01

The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society where the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.

"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."

Administration officials still emphasize how much they have achieved despite the postwar chaos and escalating insurgency. "Iraqis are taking control of their country, building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself. And we're helping Iraqis succeed," President Bush said yesterday in his radio address.

[madeline_con]

1. "... shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."

Is that "unreality" Rummy or Dick? Who gets shed?

[Roland99]

6. What??? Admitting a.....Mistake in judgement????

[madeline_con]

10. It's a move for the WH....

Cheney will blame DUHbya for everything that went wrong. He'll run on the idea of a "new and improved war".

The "WAR PROFIT PRESIDENT"

[Pirate Smile]

23. Grrr.

"U.S. officials say no turning point forced a reassessment. "It happened rather gradually," said the senior official, triggered by everything from the insurgency to shifting budgets to U.S. personnel changes in Baghdad."

Too bad it wasn't before the election, those lying sacks of shit!

No surprise but it still pisses me off.

[bribri16]

27. Remember, the neocons brag about making their own reality.

Well, they have made one hell of a messed up reality.

[emdee]

2. If only he'd read Daddy's book. n/t

n/t

[madeline_con]

11. He's at that rebellious teenage stage....

Kids today!

[emdee]

15. Haha How true. n/t

n/t

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. Just lowering the bar again - nt

[rodeodance]

72. yes, like bush did with his comment on Rovegate.

[FightingIrish]

4. No WMD. No democracy.

Pack up we're going to Iran.

[Lexingtonian]

9. um, no freedom.

That remains the final selling point, doesn't it.

They're obviously trying to lower the bar under that. Let's see whether moderate Republicans go along with that....

[Olney Blue]

53. WMD= weapons of mass democracy?

:shrug:

[Junkdrawer]

5. ..."now all we want is the oil and some military bases, and if...

a few hundred thousand more have to die, well, we don't give two shits."

My kingdom for some truth serum...

[Barrett808]

7. Impeach. Then prosecute. n/t

[Barrett808]

8. What these stories never discuss is the reversion to torture and murder

There's always talk of the Iraqis' new-found "freedom." But Saddam's Mukhabarat are firmly ensconced in the new bureaucracy, and death squads have taken up the old Salvador model, complete with torture and extra-judicial executions.

[madeline_con]

12. Let's not forget the Iraqi Constitution, a roadmap to Theocracy...

Regime change, indeed!

[Disturbed]

13. Screwups and no one will be held accountable.

In fact, the ones that screwed up have been either promoted, got medals or both.

[randomelement]

14. Just setting expectations

for that "oh what a surprise!" withdrawal just before the 2006 elections. They know as well as we do that if they lose one or both houses of Congress that impeachment will be right around the corner (as well it should)

[Beetwasher]

16. Translated To Reality Speak: Later Suckers! Time To Cut'n'Run! Onto Iran!

"Thanks for the land for the permanent military bases we'll use to protect our oil interests, the rest of your country can go to hell for all we care. Look out Iran, here we come!"

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq

August 14, 2005

The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society where the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.

"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."

Administration officials still emphasize how much they have achieved despite the postwar chaos and escalating insurgency. "Iraqis are taking control of their country, building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself. And we're helping Iraqis succeed," President Bush said yesterday in his radio address.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081300853.html


So now they tell us. Give me a break.

[madeline_con]

18. DUPE, go here:

:hi:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1699844&mesg_id=1699844

[Solly Mack]

19. I'd laugh but for the spilling of blood

[nookiemonster]

45. Yep. That's the rub.

:mad:

eom

[Zenlitened]

20. "What we expected to achieve was never realistic..."

And everything WE liberals warned about has turned out to be 100% dead-on accurate. All of it.

And for our troubles, we were call "un-American." The fucking asshole republi-bots are still calling us that, at this very moment.

But here's a FACT: We were right. They were wrong.

[pokercat999]

43. I guess now is the time.

Republicans GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY, NOW! YOU ARE ALL EITHER TOO STUPID TO LIVE OR ARE TRAITORS TO YOUR COUNTRY. Dinos who voted for the war....go with the repugs you stupid bastards. It's time for the democratic grass roots to demand any dino going along with this continued lunacy resign....now is not too soon.

[Zenlitened]

70. I agree. These republi-bots are a dangerous, festering cancer...

... that needs to be eradicated, one way or another.

[sintax]

21. It's Hard Work

"The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society where the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say." Of course not in that order.


"We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning." Classic Catch-22 Speak. I think I'll frame that one.

[ryanmuegge]

74. Corporations don't want the Republicans to lose congress and/or the WH...

So they are exercising their power and telling Bush to cut our losses and stop the bleeding. Politicians are, well, politicians and the Republicans certainly want to keep their positions.

[marions ghost]

77. OOPS in other words

"We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated in the beginning."

that sentence would make a good t-shirt.

*I'm going to memorize it so I can say it whenever I might want to not take responsibility for something.

[Faygo Kid]

22. Impeachment

If this is true (and I am sure it is), impeach the bastards.

[struggle4progress]

24. Maybe a photo-op with an Iraqi crowd throwing flowers is doable?

Halliburton could airlift in some cheap florals, and Fox News will keep the cameras tight so nobody can really judge the size of the crowd. And if we can't get any real Iraqis to do it, we could always film in the Green Zone using some of Ahnold's buddies as extras ...

[Miss Chybil]

25. Senior officials may be shedding unreality, but Bush is still soaked in it

:crazy:

[The_Casual_Observer]

26. This is the reality part of the Neocon/rw agenda.

The shit that they rant about on rw radio never actually works in practice.

[indie_voter]

28. Paging MSM to white courtesy phone....

"We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."

Translation: Reality is encroaching on our lies.

[Porcupine]

29. Happiness is lowering your expectations below your reality..

and the * administration just wants us all to be happy.

[Nothing Without Hope]

30. See also these THREE RELATED THREADS to get the full picture:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4343213
thread title: Frank Rich to Bush, in the NYTimes: "This war is over"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x141281
Thread title: Juan Cole (Salon): The Iraq war is over, and the winner is... Iran

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4323053
Thread title: JESUS! We Have Lost Baghdad And It Was Barely Reported! WTF???

[cliss]

31. OK, that's it - I'm going to cuss.

These Neo-Cons are now ratcheting down their expectations for Iraq? No longer sees a model democracy there. "we are in the process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality..." Those fuckers. They destroyed a country, just for their Intern or Tutoring experience in Nation-building? Fuck them.

They were so out of touch with reality to begin with. And now I'm supposed to believe they're getting with the program, because almost 2,000 US troops are dead and over 125,000 Iraqis are dead? Fuck them to hell.

God damn it, I'm going to stand by those words.

[complain jane]

32. MSNBC has it on their site too. Link.

So let me get this straight.

1800+ American soldiers killed, millions of innocent Iraqis killed for what? For no WMD's. No nuclear program. Now, no "model new democracy" either, and no protection from the insurgency, no electricity for the Iraqis, no water, religious extremists police the country, violence is at an all-time high, children are being kidnapped, billions is missing in Iraqi oil revenues and now...

Buh-bye!

What, we're off to plunder Iran now? Are these people fucking for real?

U.S. Lowers Expectations for Iraq
White House shedding ‘unreality’ of pre-war goals, official says

The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society where the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8942482

[Carolab]

33. Bush's new excuse: "we don't want the U.S. to look weak"

If we leave, it sends the wrong message to the insurgents--that the U.S. can be intimidated; that we are weak.

This is what he said when he talked about Cindy on Thursday.

[demzilla]

39. Anyone remember Nixon's "Peace with Honor"?

And how many thousands had to die for that delusion to be achieved?

How many more will die so Bush doesn't look bad to the freeptards?

[VegasWolf]

34. Bush is already lookin for ANY strategy that let's him keep the oil, how

much lower can the bar go.

[complain jane]

35. But Cindy Sheehan shouldn't have questions? n/t

[VolcanoJen]

36. Excuse me.... but isn't this earth-shattering?

No idea how this story is sourced, but it was probably better vetted by the Post than most newspapers.

Isn't this article pretty significant? On the website, it's the top story, and the lede is "White House Lowers Expectations for Iraq."

Now, that's some nice, clean English.

This quote is mindblowing:

"We set out to establish a democracy, but we're slowly realizing we will have some form of Islamic republic," said another U.S. official familiar with policymaking from the beginning, who like some others interviewed would speak candidly only on the condition of anonymity. "That process is being repeated all over."

Is this story a leak, or is this being floated by the White House to cushion the blow and begin retreat?

I think this is pretty significant stuff.

[demzilla]

40. Yes, absolutely

It's an admission that they were wrong. Now let's see if anyone notices amid all the Natalie Halloway coverage.

[complain jane]

61. I say cushion the blow, begin retreat.

MSNBC.com also has a story on how wonderful and tearful Bush is when he greets the parents of deceased soldiers.

Odd, the timing. Eh?

Do with that what you will.

[marions ghost]

78. Duh yeah Marge...

"we set out to give em a Democracy but gollee--NOW we've got some kinda Islamic Republic or somethin..."

Have you ever read anything so lame? :thumbsdown:

I agree --it's significant. With all that doublespeak you got to be suspicious.

[ninkasi]

37. You know what's really, truly, the most pathetic of all?

Before long, the Kool-Aid Klown Korps, the Bush loving freeper hardcores, will start believing that from the very beginning, our mission was to free Muslims from a secular Saddam,and to let them practice their own (godless, heathen) religion since that's what they wanted.

They will talk of how magnificent their simian leader is, to allow these heathens to practice their own perverted religion, even though they are going to hell, but since it's what they want, the demi-god Bush will grant them their desires. They will congratulate themselves on how Christ-like he is, to allow them to have their own heathen religion, denied to them by the murderous Saddam.

They will elevate the Crawford Coward to godlike status, rather than admit the massive fuck up this whole thing has been. They truly are that deluded, at least his hardcore base is.

[VolcanoJen]

41. By then, they'll have found a new Deity, most of them.

A good 20% will hang their hat on Bush forever and ever, and we'll end up with cities full of George W Bush Memorial Circle Freeways and George W Bush Junior High Schools and George W Bush Airports and Civic Centers and what-not. 5% of those people will be the very, very wealthy who push upon us this kind of revisionist monument God-making crap.

The other 15% will be the die-hards.

By late 2007, the rest of them will have to annoint a new prince, though, and it makes me shudder a little.

[Voltaire99]

38. Halliburton, however, raises its sights.

One person's screwed-up war is another corporation's nirvana. And there's plenty of opportunity on the horizon!

Perhaps Halliburton should give each US service member one share of stock (non-voting, of course) as a little thank-you, its way of saying, "Couldn't have made all this cash without ya!"

[complain jane]

60. Halliburton

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12266

[Voltaire99]

64. I'll be surprised...

...if they pay fines totaling more than 1% of their take.

[Make7]

42. "Unreality?" - call it what it is - FANTASY. ( n/t )

[rodeodance]

71. unreality--quite the word!!

[wishlist]

44. This is also lead story (three page story) on MSM home page today also!

Here is link to MSM for anyone who wants to vote it up

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8942482/

"The most thoroughly dashed expectation was the ability to build a robust self-sustaining economy. We're nowhere near that. State industries, electricity are all below what they were before we got there," said Wayne White, former head of the State Department's Iraq intelligence team who is now at the Middle East Institute"


Bush was right about only one thing- it's been a catastrophic failure.

[smoogatz]

46. So, with all these lowered expectations

what's Bushco's current public rationale for the war? Are we back to "Saddam was a bad guy"?

Jesus. What a clusterfuck. The whole pack of them should be in jail.

[laststeamtrain]

47. U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq- WASH. POST

Administration Is Shedding 'Unreality' That Dominated Invasion, Official Says

By Robin Wright and Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 14, 2005; Page A01

The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.
http://tinyurl.com/dwybp

sorry it's a dupe

[ananda]

48. just as unreality based as ever..

.. because they haven't yet admitted that the war-occupation is a complete failure because of them. It's their fault and they should pay for it... but they won't cuz they're Reeps.

One law for Dems, no law for Reeps.

Sue

[wellst0nev0ter]

49. FerChrissakes STOP USING ANONYMOUS SOURCES

"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."

That dude is obviously Paul Wolfowitz so quit with the pretenses.

[arewenotdemo]

83. Why do you think that?

Wolfowitz ran to the World Bank, but he's as guilty as any of the other war criminals, maybe more.

Could be wrong but I doubt that he would offer such an incriminating statement.

[readmylips]

50. Americans just don't understand world cultures....

Iraqis honor their culture/religion above all, and will fight to the bitter end to protect their homeland. I'm sure many hate Saddam Hussein but he's their flesh and blood. Now that their country has been so severely destroyed by the US, Saddam will have more power and comes out as the good guy. Dah!

GingisKhan invaded Iraq and did he win? No. So what makes little bush think that he's better than Khan? His bombs? He's gonna have to wipe out all the Iraqis.

[Olney Blue]

51. Like a deer caught in the headlights.....

the Bush administration is "stunned."

This is the part of the article that sent chills down my spine:

U.S. officials now acknowledge that they misread the strength of the sentiment among Kurds and Shiites to create a special status. The Shiites' request this month for autonomy to be guaranteed in the constitution stunned the Bush administration, even after more than two years of intense intervention in Iraq's political process, they said.

"We didn't calculate the depths of feeling in both the Kurdish and Shiite communities for a winner-take-all attitude," said Judith S. Yaphe, a former CIA Iraq analyst at the National Defense University.

[Mari333]

52. Im a 54 year old mother and even I knew the outcome of this occupation

these so called experts must be dumb as a box of hammers.

[complain jane]

59. Didn't people lose jobs for warning that this would happen?

[Mari333]

63. Yep, they did..and we were called a focus group

bittersweet, saying "we told you so".

[MrTriumph]

65. This may be the story of the year. MSM gives it the soft-sell

This made the front page of the Sunday paper, but was not hyped in any way. MSM gives Bush another walk for another failure.

[grytpype]

54. Read Dear Leader's daily thought about this article...

... here.

http://dearleadersdailythought.blogspot.com/

[uppityperson]

55. US scales down goals in Iraq

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1753749,00.html
Offshoot citing WaPost article (don't want to register @ WaPo)

The administration of President George W Bush is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognising that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

Citing unnamed officials in Washington and Baghdad, the newspaper said Washington no longer expected to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society, in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges.

"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," the report quotes one senior official as saying. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."
<clip>

"We set out to establish a democracy, but we're slowly realising we will have some form of Islamic republic," The Post quotes another US official as saying. According to the paper, US officials now acknowledge that they misread the strength of the sentiment among Kurds and Shiites to create a special status for their communities.

A little more @ site

[ClassWarrior]

56. And those goals would be?...

:rofl:

NGU.

[Gregorian]

57. They're slowly realizing that Democrats live here too.

No, you cannot just steal their oil. And no, you cannot fool us with the talk about WMD and democracy. And there's that little detail of the Iraqi people. They put up a fight. No flowers for George. No oil for Cheney. Now go to your rooms.

[complain jane]

58. When Cheney said the insurgency was in it's "last throes", did he mean us?

[0007]

62. I don't believe these jokers are admitting that there is no end in sight.

Didn't everyone try to them?

Is this the victory dance, 'eh?...

Is this the first course of the "Swan Song"? And on page A01

Holy Smoke
Holy Cow
Holy Mackeral
When will the burning bush speak to us?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

66. U.S. lowers expectations for Iraq

U.S. lowers expectations for Iraq
White House shedding ‘unreality’ of pre-war goals, official says

By Robin Wright and Ellen Knickmeyer

Updated: 11:32 p.m. ET Aug. 13, 2005

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8942482/

The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society where the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.

"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."

Administration officials still emphasize how much they have achieved despite the postwar chaos and escalating insurgency. "Iraqis are taking control of their country, building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself. And we're helping Iraqis succeed," President Bush said yesterday in his radio address.

[BrklynLiberal]

67. SAH-PRAHZ! SAH-PRAHZ! SAH-PRAHZ!

[mike_c]

68. of course, this utterly ignores...

...that Iraqis were in control of their nation already, before the invasion, and they governed, sustained, and defended Iraq just fine. They were also secular, and although Saddam Hussein was certainly despotic, he was installed by the U.S. and did a MUCH better job of running the country than either the coalition or the interim government has done. Exactly what has the U.S. REALLY achieved in Iraq-- or more to the point, have there been ANY positive achievements that aren't just empty posturing?

one edit-- well, they did find productive work for all those exiles, or at least a much more lucrative tax funded well to tap.... :puke:

[Barrett808]

76. And beyond this, the torture, extra-judicial executions, and state terror

...are still features of the Iraqi political landscape. Bush couldn't even achieve the low bar of replacing Saddam-era brutality with a less brutal government.

[Podface]

69. Really

I've lowered my expectations for America during the next three years.

[second edition]

73. So what now? We pull out soon leaving the Iraq's to fend for

themselves and we go start another war without for thought or concern.

[VegasWolf]

75. How many trillions have we spent on thic circus that could have gone to

schools, firehouses, police, roads, and other infrastructure?

[sakabatou]

79. OMG, they might actually be telling the truth for the first time!

Or not... their track record has been crummy.

[No Blood for Hubris]

80. This is Rumsfeld admitting that he's LOST this un-splendid little WAR,

without actually saying so, because the buck never stops at Dirty Bush, nor at Rummy, nor at Condi, nor at any of the un-reality addicted neo-cons.

Thanks, Rummy. I guess you got to go to war with the president and defense secretary you got, not the ones you'd rather have, or the ones you actually elected, the ones who could actually be effective and get the job done against Al Qaeda.

[DisgustedTX]

81. Smoke & Mirrors - next stop: IRAN

Clever little ploy by the Bushbots to "redeploy" troops & resources to the new THREAT: the Iranians.

To be preceded by another "attack" orchestrated by the Junta on US soil.

Coming to a blue "theater" near you!

[batmansmom]

82. next stop: IRAN

I'm afraid I agree. This doesn't pass the smell test.

I can't celebrate. It's like the Mad Hatter's tea party. When you soil your place at the table, you just move on to the next clean place setting and start on the next course.

Leave a trail of death and destruction with ramifications that will impact millions for decades to come and then just excuse yourself by lowering the bar?

Oops, clumsy us. We had unrealistic expectations and we made a little boo-boo so now we're going to make nice and take our toys elsewhere.

Beyond evil. I ain't buyin' this shit. Iraq was only the beginning.

Would that it were not so, but...

We are in deep, deep trouble.

[mom cat]

84. Sounds like big fancy words that just mean FAILURE!