Bushco says: "Iraq is not a quagmire" AND "We have no exit strategy"

[Sandpiper]

Talk about speaking from both sides of your mouth.

[killbotfactory]

1. no exit strategy

I think he meant we have no strategy. at all.

[ComerPerro]

2. "We cannot set deadlines" and "Elections will be Jan 30"

I heard someone say yesterday that if we set a deadline (along the lines of an exit strategy) then it will encourage the terrorists (somehow).

But this was just after they had finished Bush for setting the Jan 30 deadline for the elections.

And then I heard someone argue that we don't need an exit strategy at all.

Apprently its not necessary, because we have achieved victory twice now (mission accomplished and elections).

[Sandpiper]

3. Nah, 3 times

1) When Baghdad fell

2) When Saddam was caught

3) When the "election" was held


I'm sure there's a fourth victory in our future.

[MNTrueBlue]

4. Bushco doesn't plan to exit

There are plans in the works for building a large, permanent US Military base in central Iraq. Bush isn't advertising it, but he doesn't intend to completely leave Iraq. Ever. It's probably where he wants to move all the troops from England and Germany too.

[leftchick]

5. NO exit strategy because the plan is a permanent presence in Iraq

in the Mid-East....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2281&ncid=742&e=5&u=/thenation/20050118/cm_thenation/132132


Though the media ignored Kerry's statement and failed to do any substantive follow-up research, his comments were well-grounded in reality. On the day of the debate the Christian Science Monitor spotlighted the findings of defense specialist John Pike, whose website, GlobalSecurity.org, located twelve "enduring bases" in Iraq, including satellite photos and names. In March, the Chicago Tribune reported that US engineers were constructing fourteen such long-term encampments--the number Kerry referred to. The New York Times previously placed the number at four.


While the exact figure may change, suspicions of undisclosed US imperial plans--exemplified by permanent military bases--rightfully linger. Before the war, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz suggested moving US troops stationed in Saudi Arabia into Iraq. In October, a survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes found that two-thirds of respondents disapproved of a permanent military presence, even though more than half thought the US would build the bases anyway.


Now comes a report in the New York Sun by Eli Lake revealing that the Pentagon (news - web sites) is building a permanent military communications system in Iraq, a necessary foundation for any lasting troop presence. The new network will comprise twelve communications towers throughout Iraq, linking Camp Victory in Baghdad to other existing (and future) bases across the country, eventually connecting with US bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan (news - web sites).


"People need to get realistic and think in terms of our presence being in Iraq for a generation or until democratic stability in the region is reached," Dewey Clarridge, the CIA (news - web sites)'s former chief of Arab operations (and Iran-contra point man), told the Sun.

[bullimiami]

6. no of course not. they are right where they want to be.

with troops sitting right on top of iraqs oil and within striking distance of the entire middle east.

the rest, the death and destruction, the failures and thievery. its all just part of the sideshow.

[Inland]

7. Not stuck there. We just can't leave. Understand now? nt

[Scurrilous]

8. The Iraqi resistance...

...has already come up with our 'exit strategy' for us. They're enacting it as we speak.