The genteel revolt that is remaking US policy on Iraq

[spindrifter]

Julian Borger in Washington
Saturday October 21, 2006
The Guardian

A "polite rebellion" is under way among previously loyal allies of President Bush aimed at persuading him to change course in Iraq and quietly abandon the foreign policy doctrine he had hoped would be the centrepiece of his legacy.

Many senior Republicans believe the "Bush Doctrine" has hit a wall in Iraq and lies in ruins. The rebels, including many foreign policy veterans close to the president's father, see it as an obstacle to stabilising Iraq and extricating US forces. But they have decided that earlier, head-on challenges have only deepened the president's resolve, and a less confrontational approach was needed that avoided blame for past mistakes if there was to be any hope of a fundamental rethink.

"It's a polite rebellion by moderate and military-minded Republicans," said Steven Clemons, a Washington analyst. "Any walk-away from the Bush line is going to be covered with a lot of cosmetics to make it look like it's not really a big change."

The focus of the new approach is the Iraq Study Group (ISG), a bipartisan commission co-chaired by the first President Bush's secretary of state, James Baker, which will present its recommendations after the November elections.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1928058,00.html

[tularetom]

1. They're just trying to spare the punk's tender feelings

To me a better, quicker and more effective way would be to impeach his sorry ass, remove him from office and send him off to the Hague to face the consequences of his actions for the first time in his miserable wasted life.

[Gman]

3. They're actually trying to salvage what little pulverized pieces of

Bush's legacy that they possibly can. Everyone except for that 30% or maybe less knows history will say that Bush completely bungled the response to 9/11 and destroyed foreign policy in the mideast for many years to come.

[patrice]

2. Or - it's "going to be covered by a lot of cosmetics" to make it look like

real change when it isn't, i.e. we'll "leave" without leaving or redeploy without changing tactics or strategy.

[pinto]

4. Not a bad take, imo. The Baker group (ISG) will soft soap their

assessments, which may essentially be a condemnation of the whole Iraq fiasco, if accurate and honest. Don't know where the group's impetus originated, whether in State or the military command at the Pentagon, or outside the government proper, but the agenda seems clear. Avoid outright confrontation/condemnation, fix this mess for Busboy and his inept coterie of blind believers, and find a way out, without actually saying we're leaving.

Events may be beyond their reach, though, and the Cheney/Rumsfeld wing of this Administration may not give a shit for their recommendations.

[spindrifter]

5. I think the Cheney/Rummy wing has been mortally wounded.

We have the military guys racing to retire so they can speak out against the current administration. Even Condi is trying to walk away from the original Iraq War template. Senior repug pols. are anxious to cut and run from the disaster. I don't think the Chimp and his two ring masters can hold out, even if they have KKKarl in their corner. And the voters have yet to speak.

[pinto]

6. Your take may be right. It's getting harder and harder for them

to put a smiley face on the dissolution/violence in Iraq. We're apt to have the largest number of personnel fatalities this month since the occupation, Iraqis are getting killed at a brutal rate, and the civil war that shall not be named seems to be escalating...argggh. It's all breaking through the media cushion of silence here at home, as well.

[spindrifter]

7. I'm waiting for someone to get to the bottom

of the Forward Operating Base Falcon incident. Just how many casualties were there? It is not credible that explosions of the magnitude captured on film left none.

[jazzjunkysue]

8. And so the 3000 US troops died for, what? Tens of thousands injured for

what?

What do the military families make of this.

"Here's your coffin and flag. Figure out the rest for yourself."