WH: Bush to acknowledge mistakes in Iraq

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2007/01/wh-bush-to-acknowledge-mistakes-in.html

WH: Bush to acknowledge mistakes in Iraq

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush will tell the nation Wednesday night he will send more than 20,000 additional American forces to Iraq, acknowledging that it had been a mistake earlier not to have more American and Iraqi troops fighting the war, a senior administration official said.

Seeking support for a retooled strategy to win support for the unpopular war, the president also will acknowledge that the rules of engagement were flawed, White House counselor Dan Bartlett said.

For a little over 20 minutes Wednesday night, Bush is to explain why a gradual buildup of about 20,000 additional U.S. troops, along with other steps expected to include pumping $1 billion into Iraq's economy, is the answer for a more than 31/2-year-old war that has only gotten deadlier with no end in sight.

...

"A vast majority of the American people are not satisfied with the progress in Iraq," Bartlett said. "President Bush is in their camp. He's not satisfied, he's going to say the strategy was not working, he's going to tell them specifically how we're going to fix the strategy."

[w4rma]

1. I'll believe that headline only if I see it. With him the buck *always* stops somewhere else. (nt)

[54anickel]

14. "Mistakes" to redirect from the truth which was a lie about a war waged on lies

[silvermachine]

28. Exactly...

...couldn't have said it better myself. More obfuscation and shifting of blame.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[quispquake]

5. Yup...exactly

and a hearty welcome to DU :)

[unhappycamper]

15. Hi taylorgood24!

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[Mark E. Smith]

3. Yeah, that'll make everything Jim Dandy

Oh, Bush admitted he made mistakes?

Wow, what an incredible sacrifice on his part!

[Arkansas Granny]

4. It will be worth watching tonight if for no other reason than to hear

Bush admit to making a mistake. Although he has said before that mistakes were made, he has never taken the responsibility (to my knowledge) for those mistakes. This should be something to see. I wonder what they had to threaten him with to get him to do this.

[DakotaDemocrat]

6. Don't be foolish...

Bush will never admit HE made a mistake. If he says, "I made a mistake", I'll eat my shorts.

He'll frame it around "mistakes have been made and I'm going to get us out by getting us more in" and leave it at that.

[Arkansas Granny]

21. Well, what was I thinking. I should know better by now.

[antonialee839]

31. You got that right. It's the George W. Bush way. His whole life

has been one screw-up after another, only this time he's going to try to bail himself out with twenty thousand in humans instead of OP's money. How this joke of a human lives with himself is beyond comprehension.

[bluescribbler]

12. Not his mistake

The article doesn't say that he will admit that he made the mistake. My bet is that he'll lay the blame on "Our Great Secretary of the Defensive, Donald Rumfilled."

[Arkansas Granny]

22. You're right. He'll place the blame on someone else.

[coalition_unwilling]

32. * will probably use the past passive construction, i.e., "mistakes were

made" which is a rhetorical way for avoiding taking responsibility or placing responsibility. The past active construction is "I made mistakes."

Read Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language" for more on how bad writing reflects poor or non-existent thinking.

[Solly Mack]

7. Bush committed crimes...not mistakes...in Iraq

The invasion of Iraq was a crime
The occupation of Iraq is criminal
Torture is a crime
Illegally and indefinitely detaining people is a crime

Pretending that what went wrong in Iraq was merely strategic...not sending in enough troops...denies the lies and the crimes.

Pretending all was fine and dandy except for not sending in enough troops denies all the crimes.

Bush isn't admitting to anything of any consequence...he's simply calling his crimes "mistakes" to avoid accountability. He hopes people will think by his calling his crime "mistakes" that that will be enough to silence opposition.

[Rambis]

8. Why not secure millions of tons of explosives?

Kerry was saying it on the campaign trail and this is the biggest thing killing our troops! Fighters picked them up from an ammo dump and are making homemade bombs. If you aren't smart enough to realize that at the get go you need a new job.

[Az_lefty]

9. Oh, shrubby is in our camp now? Bullshit!

the little bastard is providing nothing but lip service. He's going to try and do whatever he pleases.
:grr:

[Captain Hilts]

10. Well la di da....fiddle dee dee! nt

[Benhurst]

11. Yeah, just like Hitler "made a mistake" starting World War II.

Bush is a lying war criminal. Who cares what he says? Bring the troops home!

[yy4me]

13. I bet he says "Mistakes were made", placing the blame on

anyone and anything but himself. And, by the way, this billion dollars in economic aid? Into whose pocket will that go? Just a few more zero's to add to the unaccounted-for dollars in this ungodly war. I can't even stand to look at him, I wonder if I can get up the courage to listen to him lie his way through this speech tonight. Everything about **** puts me in a foul mood.

[slowry]

16. Fool us once... n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. His whole life has been a mistake

Can he just have the grace to resign now that he's finally willing to admit incompetence?

[underpants]

18. Sounds, to me, that they are running this out this morning to see how it tests

see what the feedback is on RW boards to Bush admitting a mistake.

That or they think this will smooth edges in a "Look mistakes were made but just give us another chance" type thing

[gratuitous]

19. "Yes, I was wrong, and now it's a clusterfuck"

"My solution, my fellow Americans, is to cluster more and fuck harder. Thank you and God bless America."

[Norquist Nemesis]

20. He'll blame the mistakes on everyone and anyone but himself, too!

He'll probably start with the Democrats and Bill Clinton to boot!

[Heidi]

23. Kick.

:kick:

[rodeodance]

24. Bush to detail Iraq deficiencies, define fix (will admit mistakes)

http://www.latimes.com/
Bush will admit mistakes, send in 20,000 more GIs

By Joel Havemann and Maura Reynolds | 10:07 a.m
Seeking support for a retooled strategy in Iraq, Bush tonight will tell the nation that rules



so I clicked on the link and this story popped up -diff. headline:


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-ex-usiraq10jan11,0,5830784.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Bush to detail Iraq deficiencies, define fix

By Joel Havemann and Maura Reynolds, Times Staff Writers
10:07 AM PST, January 10, 2007


President Bush will tell the American people tonight that the United States can safely withdraw its troops from Iraq only after it augments those who are already there with about 20,000 more, his aides said today.

Presidential counselor Dan Bartlett said Bush would admit in tonight's speech, which is to be broadcast live at 6 p.m. PST, that after American forces toppled former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, American and Iraqi forces were insufficient to stem the violence that erupted during the ensuing leadership vacuum.

..............

Making the rounds of the morning network news shows, Bartlett said Bush's plan called for the Iraqi government to get the additional U.S. troops only if it adopted and met milestones for taking over from the Americans the responsibility for controlling violence in their own country.

Interviewed this morning on CBS' "The Early Show," Bartlett said Bush would emphasize that "America's commitment is not open-ended, that benchmarks have to be met ... both on the security side but, just as importantly, on the political side and the economic side.

"It'll be unequivocal," Bartlett said, "that the Iraqis have to step up."

[rodeodance]

25. umm. I wonder if there will be WH 'deficiencies"????

[iconoclastic cat]

26. Let's see if he uses the new "Blame the troops!" talking point.

Place your bets!

[grytpype]

27. He'll admit that other people made mistakes.

The generals screwed up, so don't listen to them now, he is taking charge.

[coalition_unwilling]

34. Just like Hitler blamed the generals and utlimately the German

people for failing to defeat the Soviet Union and the allies.

[CJCRANE]

29. The f***er wants a Mulligan.

"Sorry guys, that whole war and occupation thing didn't go too well. I'm gonna have one more try, with a few more troops this time".

[Amonester]

30. The aWoL War Criminal is "going to tell them how" they're

"going to fix the strategy."

Umm... going to fix?? Like in the Downing Street Memo?? (re: "fix the Intelligence around the policy.")

[BigDDem]

33. Someone should brief

him on what the word "mistake" means.

[DeepModem Mom]

35. NYT: Troops Sent in Surge to Have Limited Role, Bush Aide Says

Troops Sent in Surge to Have Limited Role, Bush Aide Says
By JOHN O’NEIL
Published: January 10, 2007

President Bush will announce tonight that the additional American troops he plans to sent to Baghdad will act only in support of Iraqi forces, and that they are being sent only because the Iraqi government has promised a “fundamental” change in policy, a top White House official said this morning.

Dan Bartlett, the White House counselor, said that as a “precondition” for the increase in American forces, the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has agreed to assign more Iraqi troops to the capital and to remove restrictions on their operations that had protected Shiite militias tied to his political allies.

Mr. Bartlett, appearing on several television news programs, said that Mr. Bush will acknowledge in his speech to the nation tonight that the current approach to stemming Iraq’s spiraling violence has not worked.

“A vast majority of the American people are not satisfied with the progress in Iraq,” Mr. Bartlett said. “President Bush is in their camp. He’s not satisfied, he’s going to say the strategy was not working, he’s going to tell them specifically how we’re going to fix the strategy.”

White House officials have said that Mr. Bush will announce the dispatch of as many as 20,000 additional troops to Iraq, along with a $1 billion economic development plan for Iraq and new efforts to overcome the political and sectarian divides there that underlie the violence....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/world/10cnd-prexy.html?hp&ex=1168491600&en=27c0101b6f21fdb4&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Kagemusha]

36. re: Maliki... okay, and you believed him?

This is silly on the face of it...

[rodeodance]

42. well.......Jr did look into his Eyes!

[liberal renegade]

37. Promises Promises

It's a nightmare MF'ER, I promise you that! A little surge for the scourge..... :puke:

[iconoclastic cat]

38. "I know you're mad. I'm kinda mad, too. Let's just say we were both wrong."

"Now, gimmie a hug."

[Roy]

39. That about sums it up beautifully.......

BUSH:
"Now, gimmie a big hug" ......

and.... pass me some more troops to send to slaughter... yeh, 20,000 or so will do.

[acmavm]

40. How many times does this asswipe think he can lie to the

world and get away with it? I mean, does he believe in that vaccuum between his ears that people are really buying this crap? Or is it more he just doesn't give a damn, he just that amoral?

[underpants]

41. This speech is getting weaker by the minute

Earlier today-Bush to acknowledge mistakes have been made.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2682624

[janx]

43. If they're to have a limited role, then it's hardly a surge, no?

The PR strategy changes so often it makes my head spin.