Radio Free Europe: Bush Huddles With Aides On Iraq As Poll Numbers Drop

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

U.S.: Bush Huddles With Aides On Iraq As His Poll Numbers Drop
By Andrew Tully
Friday, 12 August 2005

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/8/EFF879E2-903B-413D-92DD-83B34CA4B6BB.html

U.S. President George W. Bush met yesterday with his top foreign-policy staffers at his vacation home in Crawford, Texas. Those attending included Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Vice President Dick Cheney. Their talks came at a time when polls show Bush's standing among the American people at an all-time low. One survey, conducted at the beginning of the month for the AP news agency, shows his overall approval rating at 42 percent. Fully 52 percent of those polled disapprove of his performance. Worse, the survey shows that 59 percent specifically disapproved of his handling of the Iraq war, with only 38 percent approving.

Washington, 12 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- If Bush intends to improve his standing with the American people -- especially on Iraq -- he made it clear yesterday that he's not going to do it by changing his war strategy.

Some military critics say he has committed too few forces to fighting the insurgency. There are currently 139,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. More than 1,800 American military personnel have died since the war began.

Peace activists say it is time for Bush to begin withdrawing troops now. But as he has many times before, Bush vowed to maintain the current course of his Iraq policy, and he rejected any idea of a withdrawal of U.S. forces until the Iraqis can defend themselves against the insurgency, led at least in part by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. "Pulling the troops out would send a terrible signal to the enemy," Bush said. "Immediate withdrawal would say to the Zarqawis of the world and the terrorists of the world and the bombers who take innocent life around the world, 'The United States is weak, and all we've got to do is intimidate and they'll leave.' Pulling troops out prematurely will betray the Iraqis."

[Kikosexy2]

1. Planning another...

9/11 attack so support can be boosted. Hey Dickie! call the House of Sauds to dispatch some terra-ists over to Kansas to scare the shit out of them, would ya'.

[Talismom]

2. They have crises on so many fronts at this point--I can't imagine

where they're gonna start! Plamegate,Iraq/Cindy,9/11,....

Hope the bastards are sweating bullets! Should all be sitting in jail cells...

[niceypoo]

3. Rock, meet hardplace

[asjr]

4. I wonder who is calling the plays in that huddle. But

we know it is not the Shrub. He is clueless.

[opihimoimoi]

5. From the scoreboard: THEY ARE ALL CLUELESS

Want the whole cake and eat it too

Continue the war....

But want poll numbers to improve?

Do they not see a correlation?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

6. The one sentence that sums up the whole article:

"If Bush intends to improve his standing with the American people -- especially on Iraq -- he made it clear yesterday that he's not going to do it by changing his war strategy."

[opihimoimoi]

7. Bush does Not participate in CHESS, a war strategy exercise....

He and his minions are clueless....reduced to guessing...

Their minds are Flawed