WP: Backup Strategy Missing For Iraq

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/04/AR2007030401321_pf.html

During a White House meeting last week, a group of governors asked President Bush and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about their backup plan for Iraq. What would the administration do if its new strategy didn't work?

The conclusion they took away, the governors later said, was that there is no Plan B. "I'm a Marine," Pace told them, "and Marines don't talk about failure. They talk about victory."

Pace had a simple way of summarizing the administration's position, Gov. Philip N. Bredesen (D-Tenn.) recalled. "Plan B was to make Plan A work."

In the weeks since Bush announced the new plan for Iraq -- including an increase of 21,500 U.S. combat troops, additional reconstruction assistance and stepped-up pressure on the Iraqi government -- senior officials have rebuffed questions about other options in the event of failure. Eager to appear resolute and reluctant to provide fodder for skeptics, they have responded with a mix of optimism and evasion.

Even if the administration is not talking about Plan B, the subject is on a lot of minds inside and outside the government. "I would be irresponsible if I weren't thinking about what the alternatives might be," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates acknowledged last month to Congress, where many favor gradual or immediate withdrawal.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. A backup plan is unnecessary, they are cock sure that this will work.

If it doesn't it will just be more of the same, they were careful not to commit to a "time line".

[wake.up.america]

3. They will lie and say it is working.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. Plan B is to make plan A work. It's the standard bankruptcy plan.

[uppityperson]

2. Only thing new is someone is admitting it.

[grytpype]

4. Wow are we in trouble.

Holy living sh*t.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Bush bet the farm on his surge, and the farm will be lost

Perhaps we will get a sequel, like Surge II.

[nealmhughes]

6. This is because the idealogues that gave us Iraq are the intellectual

equilavents of "perpetual motion devotees," and they are building their machine out of popcicle sticks. They refuse to use any other materials, much less admit that perpetual motion is an ideal and not a thing ever realized in practice.

This is what one gets when quacks fast talk their way into positions of responsibility.

(My spelling is atrocious tonight, as I am typing one-handed and my eyes are bloodshot, so please do not repay me in kind for having mocked anyone before for misspellings!. I am frankly too tired to care right now to proofread, much less care.)

[truthisfreedom]

7. Intellectual midgets at the helm.

What did we do to deserve this administration?

[carla]

11. I don't believe in retribution,

that said, the * maladministration is the price for American complacency about governance and politics.
If the nation promoted political particpation the way it promotes consumption and entertainment, this would not have happened. You don't deserve this crap, but it is the consequence of being asleep at the wheel. The "leadership" saw that you didn't care, so they schemed and plotted to take your democracy away from you, knowing full well you wouldn't fight to get it back. Sorry, but political indifference leads to political alienation, and it allows for a major dose of political Peter Principle effect as witnessed in the failures of neo-conservative designs.
"As they sow, so shall they reap"...

[grytpype]

8. K&R -- this is a must read article, your blood will run cold

There is no Plan B if the surge fails.

Gen Petreus has said there's about a 25% chance of the surge succeeding (corrected on edit: succeeding not failing!)

The Plan Bs being tossed around Washington -- not within the administration, no Plan B talk in the White House -- is to pull back to the borders and let the Iraqis have the civil war, and our job will be to contain it to Iraq.

And that is probably what is going to wind up happening.

[IndianaGreen]

9. "Marines don't talk about failure. They talk about victory."

Tell that to the French Foreign Legion that found itself trapped at Dien Bien Phu, they also lacked a Plan B.

[AndyTiedye]

12. Plan B is to Send In 50,000 Troops

Plan C is another 100,000 troops and start up the draft.

[IChing]

13. It is called contingency plans everyone does them

except nobody expected the levees to break. (Right.............LOL )





“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
Dwight David Eisenhower

Even he had a contingency plan if D-day failed and how to deal with withdrawal..

[Heidi]

14. Kick.

:kick:

[Clarkie1]

15. Administration's "plan B" revealed...

It's called "plan A."

Backup strategy missing for Iraq
Outside experts, not the White House, are discussing options
By Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks
Updated: 2 hours, 32 minutes ago

During a White House meeting last week, a group of governors asked President Bush and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about their backup plan for Iraq. What would the administration do if its new strategy didn't work?

The conclusion they took away, the governors later said, was that there is no Plan B. "I'm a Marine," Pace told them, "and Marines don't talk about failure. They talk about victory."

Pace had a simple way of summarizing the administration's position, Gov. Philip N. Bredesen (D-Tenn.) recalled. "Plan B was to make Plan A work.

<big snip>

Bush has warned that the U.S. commitment to Iraq is not open-ended and will require increased effort from Iraqis. Pressed to specify U.S. limits, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that there would be ample opportunity "to see whether or not in fact the Iraqis are living up to the assurances they gave us."

"And what if they don't?" Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) asked.

"I don't think you go to Plan B," Rice replied. "You work with Plan A."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17458428/

[IChing]

16. Marines and the navy in a Desert

discussing strategy for the army.

[HuffleClaw]

17. they didn't have a plan when they invaded

so why should they have a 'backup plan' now?

[silverweb]

18. Plan A

Is, was, and always has been permanent occupation of Iraq and control of the ME.

The neocons will not give that plan up. Ever.

[radfringe]

19. more like plan "W"

as in Worst mess ever

or plan "D"ump it on the next president

[merwin]

20. Plan A: Throw gas on the fire. Plan B: If Plan A fails, see Plan A

[w4rma]

21. Strategy Missing For Iraq (nt)

[tanyev]

22. Plan B:

Unleash secret weapon Lt. Bush. He'll kill all them terra-ists with his bare hands and wrap it up just in time for the elections in Nov. 08. USA!USA!USA!

[babylonsister]

23. Plan A should have been 'GET OUT NOW'. nt