Normally I would never post anything by this mealy mouthed neocon

[whistle]

....yet I really need to share this for a sanity check:

<snip>
The GOP in a Quagmire

By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, January 18, 2007; Page A23

The sense of impending political doom that clutches Republican hearts one week after President Bush presented his new strategy on Iraq to the nation is stoked by the alarming intelligence brought back from Baghdad by Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota and passed around Capitol Hill.

In a pre-Christmas visit to Iraq, Coleman and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida met with Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the Iraqi government's national security adviser. Coleman described their astounding encounter in a Dec. 19 blog entry: Dr. Rubaie "maintains that the major challenge facing Iraq is not a sectarian conflict, but rather al-Qaeda and disgruntled Baathists seeking to regain power. Both Senator Nelson and I react with incredulity to that assessment. Rubaie cautions against more troops in Baghdad."

Rubaie denied the overriding reality of sectarian violence in Baghdad because his government is tied to the Shiite belligerents in that conflict. While Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pays lip service to Bush's demand that he crack down on Mahdi Army commander Moqtada al-Sadr, U.S. officials recognize that Maliki's political support depends on the Shiite militia leader. Thus, Maliki's government is in denial about sectarian conflict. Maliki did not show up for a news conference in which he was scheduled to comment on Bush's new strategy, and he personally remains silent about the plan at this writing.

This hastens the desire of Republicans, who once cheered the Bush Doctrine in the Middle East, to remove U.S. forces from a politically deteriorating condition as soon as possible. "Iraq is a black hole for the Republican Party," a prominent party strategist told me this week. What makes his comments so important is that he is not a maverick Republican in Congress but one of Bush's principal political advisers.

As they adjust to the 2006 election returns, Republicans recognize that this was no isolated bump in the road. The loss of about 320 state legislative seats across the country to the Democrats classifies last year's election as a midrange electoral disaster.

The internal Republican debate concerns how much Iraq contributed to this outcome. The White House and Republican members of Congress who voted for intervention in Iraq contend that many issues led to their defeat: incompetent management of the Hurricane Katrina crisis, widespread cases of corruption and abandonment of spending restraint. But Republicans at the grass roots tell me that Iraq was the central problem and must be erased as an issue.


More at link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/17/AR2007011701711.html?referrer=emailarticle

Pretty amazing stuff considering the source!

-------------------------------------------
EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE
PER DU RULES.

[Little Wing]

1. Sometimes the truth is just the truth, no matter what the source

I like this sentence:

At last week's hearing, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's second-ranking Republican -- Chuck Hagel -- called Bush's new strategy "the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam."

I wish I didn't have to like it in the first place, but Bush just HAD to have his big war.

[Cleita]

2. Novak was never in favor of the Iraq invasion, but once it was

in the fire he didn't mind doing his part to confuse ordinary Americans into tying 9-11 with Saddam. So now he tells the truth now and then. Screw him.

On edit: It's well known that he has some prime sources for his information and shouldn't be discounted.

[Erika]

3. Bush is a little man

Who the bushbots enabled. Damn them all.

[whistle]

5. That is correct and those prime sources just may be pulling Novak's

...strings

[timtom]

4. Good God!

Did we all notice the phrase "as soon as possible"?

From a Republican?

Meanwhile, there's this whole Nancy Pelosi thing...

[progressoid]

6. While I don't doubt the sentiment, I really dislike the "inside sources" crap.

"a prominent party strategist told me ..." sounds too National Enquirer to me.

[maine_raptor]

7. Wow, just Wow!!!!

Look at the last paragraph in the OP:

The WH is saying, don't bother with Iraq, look at all the OTHER things we screwed up too.

Amazing, isn't it? I mean, someone having to use many little fubars in order to distract from one big FUBAR is just something you don't see all that often.

Simply amazing. :insertfallingoversmiliehere: