Sy Hersh exposes the Bush admins mishandling of the war...again!

[canis582]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article...e=&order=0

The article is a bit long and complex for Freepers.

The great patriot Sy Hersh has uncovered George Bush's exit strategy for Iraq: put Iraqis in control of the American air force...BRILLIANT! Just as long as it happens before the mid-term elections.

Here we are, with insurgent attacks 467 percent more frequent today than when GWB declared "mission accomplished" in his military costume, and our plan for ending the attacks is to let Iraqis bomb each other at will, causing more civilian casuallties (women and children), creating more insurgents from the distraught kin of innocent corpses.

Im not saying I have all the answers for this, but I do know a disasterous military strategy when I see one.

[bobman0330]

It is amusing how dumb people are always the ones touting their own supposed intellectual superiority.

[canis582]

When the information is solid, attack the source. Just like Rove and co.

[Cyrus]

Melvin Laird was US Secretary of Defense during the latter stages of the Vietnam War. He was a hawk.

Laird supports the war in Iraq effort and he supports president Bush in his "war on terror". He would support anything in uninform.

In the latest issue of Goreign Affairs, Laird is diplomatically but sharply critical of the way the war in Iraq is being handled by Washington, in practically everything, from the military strategy to the PR front. Laird recommends a clear, robust plan of "Iraqization" that has a specific time table.

Maybe the White House will listen. Or maybe the Bush folks will strike Laird's name off the list of White House invitees. Take a guess.

link

[mrmazoo]

There's a great interview with Sy Hersh by Amy Goodman on today's program of Democracy Now.

www.democracynow.org.

[andyfox]

To me, the following excerpts are among the most frightening.


Current and former military and intelligence officials have told me that the President remains convinced that it is his personal mission to bring democracy to Iraq, and that he is impervious to political pressure, even from fellow Republicans. They also say that he disparages any information that conflicts with his view of how the war is proceeding.

Bush's closest advisers have long been aware of the religious nature of his policy commitments. In recent interviews, one former senior official, who served in Bush's first term, spoke extensively about the connection between the President's religious faith and his view of the war in Iraq. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the former official said, he was told that Bush felt that "God put me here" to deal with the war on terror. The President's belief was fortified by the Republican sweep in the 2002 congressional elections; Bush saw the victory as a purposeful message from God that "he's the man," the former official said. Publicly, Bush depicted his reelection as a referendum on the war; privately, he spoke of it as another manifestation of divine purpose.

The former senior official said that after the election he made a lengthy inspection visit to Iraq and reported his findings to Bush in the White House: "I said to the President, 'We're not winning the war.' And he asked, 'Are we losing?' I said, 'Not yet.' " The President, he said, "appeared displeased" with that answer.

"The President is more determined than ever to stay the course," the former defense official said. "He doesn't feel any pain. Bush is a believer in the adage 'People may suffer and die, but the Church advances.' " He said that the President had become more detached, leaving more issues to Karl Rove and Vice-President Cheney. "They keep him in the gray world of religious idealism, where he wants to be anyway," the former defense official said. Bush's public appearances, for example, are generally scheduled in front of friendly audiences, most often at military bases.

[T]he covert war in Iraq has expanded in recent months to Syria. A composite American Special Forces team, known as an S.M.U., for "special-mission unit," has been ordered, under stringent cover, to target suspected supporters of the Iraqi insurgency across the border. (The Pentagon had no comment.)