It’s hard to keep up with the latest dysfunctional moves of the Bushco war planning. But, here’s what I’ve gleaned from this morning’s posts and news about the newly minted Bush troop reduction plan, a copyright violation if there ever was one.
As talex comments in Pat Lang’s story below:
Yes and the campaign has already (4.00 / 2)
begun. Check out this article where the WH is co-opting Biden’s speech and op-ed.
“The White House has for the first time claimed ownership of an Iraq withdrawal plan, arguing that a troop pullout blueprint unveiled this past week by a Democratic senator was “remarkably similar” to its own.
…
Even though President George W. Bush has never publicly issued his own withdrawal plan and criticized calls for an early exit, the White House said many of the ideas expressed by the senator were its own. ..
If I had a dime and his phone number, I’d love to call Joe Biden and get his impressions of this new story. (By the way, we discussed Biden’s op-ed yesterday in Pat Lang’s analysis.)
Then there’s last night’s news from the LA Times, via Crooks & Liars, that:
President Bush will give a major speech Wednesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., in which aides say he is expected to herald the improved readiness of Iraqi troops, which he has identified as the key condition for pulling out U.S. forces…read on
Let’s add up these shape-shifting plans so far:
#1: We’ve got Bush’s co-optation of Joe Biden’s troop pullout plan +
#2: We’re got an Annapolis setting for a PR campaign to tout the abilities of the Iraqi troops.
But we know that the Iraqi troops aren’t ready yet (or so everyone says). So, what will fill the void of U.S. troops on the ground in order to keep the insurgents at bay? Why, good ol’-fashioned American Air Power! Seymour Hersh, on Wolf Blitzer’s CNN program this morning, said:
SEYMOUR HERSH: Well, you know, what I was writing about in The New Yorker this week is our plan is to pull out American troops if we start to do that. And I think the president probably will next year. But the war is not going to slow down. We’re going to increase the pace of air operations. There’s going to be more bombing in direct support of Iraqi units now.
Then Hersh exposes how this shell game plan will probably fail, and it’s not a pretty picture:
WOLF BLITZER: ,,, Your concern, specifically, is that American air power, which can be decisive, clearly, is going to be used for untoward, for bad purposes.
HERSH: It’s not my concern. It’s the concern of many senior generals in the air business, you know, in the Air Force. And planners, because they say, this is, you know, the power of American air is enormous. And the idea, it’s, and it’s, this is a skill.
People talk in terms, to me, the Air Force planners, of the exquisite nature of air bombing. The idea that you’re going to turn over this control, this kind of force, to Iraqi units who can be penetrated by the insurgency, that have a lot of internal battles, as I say, many are militias. And they have problems that other people and other militias — who knows what will motivate them?
BLITZER: So your concern is the spotters on the ground, the people who are going to be targeting, finding targets are going to be Iraqis as owe opposed to Americans.HERSH: It’s the concern of a lot of people in the Pentagon. They’ll tell you no, that they’re going to be joint units. The Pentagon will officially say there’s going to be joint units, Iraqi and Americans together. But eventually we know it will evolve into Iraqis calling in targets.
And it’s not just spotting. We use a lot of sophisticated laser guided weapons and you have to have somebody on the ground to actually do a strike or illuminate a target with a laser beam for the plane to come in. And as I’ve had people in the Air Force say to me, what are we going to be bombing? Barracks? Hospitals? You know, who knows who’s going to be telling us what to do?
BLITZER: So what you’re hearing is that the U.S. air power, the U.S. Air Force, they’re getting jittery even thinking about the fact that they may be called in to launch air strikes based on what they’re getting from Iraqis on the ground.
HERSH: It is good to know there is a lot of ethics in the Air Force. There’s a lot of guys that are, that drop the, they know the force of the weapons they have, and they don’t want to be responsible for bombing the wrong targets. They don’t want non-Americans telling them what to do. This is a real doctrinal issue that’s being fought right now in the Pentagon. …
Oy. And this next part will chill you to the bone.
Hersh reported what a confidential source, and former top defense official, told him — and Wolf Blitzer quotes him on air:
‘[Bush] doesn’t feel any pain. Bush is a believer in the adage, ‘People may suffer and die, but the Church advances’.”
Isn’t a definition of a sociopath?
Continued below:
BLITZER: In this new article you have in The New Yorker, you also write this about the president: ” ‘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.”
Could you be more specific on this former defense official?
HERSH: Sure, in this day and age, Wolf. No. I mean, that’s — we’re having a war over sourcing right now.
BLITZER: But this is someone who had day to day or contact, direct contact with the president?
HERSH: Suffice to say this, that this president in private, at Camp David with his friends, the people that I’m sure call him George, is very serene about the war. He’s upbeat. He thinks that he’s going to be judged, maybe not in five years or ten years, maybe in 20 years. He’s committed to the course. He believes in democracy.
HERSH: He believes that he’s doing the right thing, and he’s not going to stop until he gets — either until he’s out of office, or he falls apart, or he wins.
BLITZER: But this has become, your suggesting, a religious thing for him?HERSH: Some people think it is. Other people think he’s absolutely committed, as I say, to the idea of democracy. He’s been sold on this notion.
He’s a utopian, you could say, in a world where maybe he doesn’t have all the facts and all the information he needs and isn’t able to change.
I’ll tell you, the people that talk to me now are essentially frightened because they’re not sure how you get to this guy.
We have generals that do not like — anymore — they’re worried about speaking truth to power. You know that. I mean that’s — Murtha in fact, John Murtha, the congressman from Pennsylvania, which most people don’t know, has tremendous contacts with the senior generals of the armies. He’s a ranking old war horse in Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. The generals know him and like him. His message to the White House was much more worrisome than maybe to the average person in the public. They know that generals are privately telling him things that they’re not saying to them.
And if you’re a general and you have a disagreement with this war, you cannot get that message into the White House. And that gets people unnerved. …
I know it’s crazy, but some days I almost wish we’d have a military coup. Something! Anything! To put a stop to this! (Well, not “anything” — that’s as crazy as Bush.) But this must all stop. Now.
Joe Biden’s best political talent seems to be able to exploit the principles and courage of others in his own party to advance his own ambition, and clearly he has done this now in refusing to stand in support of Murtha’s plans while capitalizing on Murtha’s forthrightness for his own (Biden’s) personal gain. If ever there was a slug, he’s it.
This is not to say that I disagree with some of what he said, both on MTP and in his op-ed, but his political cowardice and his apparent willingness to be generally supportive of the Bush regime’s rationale in Iraq makes me wonder if he might even be considering changing his party affiliation before 2008. (I don’t actually believe this, but I did think about it.)
It’s never even occurred to me that Bush the imbecile has any real understanding of what the deal is with Iraq, (or an understanding about any other major issues either, for that matter). The only reason he’s not already just thrown up his hands and walked away from Iraq is because Cheney and the rest of the psychopaths won’t let him.
Not only is he self-serving – his plan handed the WH just what they needed to be able to say the Dems are on their side of this. That was also their MO in the faux Murtha vote in the House.
Biden just wrapped it up and put a bow on it for them.
Maybe military enforcement of the 25th Amendment, which provides:
Amendment XXV
Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
******
Under Sec. 3, lots of deck chair shuffling might be necessary, but appropriate force could replace the president with anyone. Such as Trent Lott. Which would be a huge improvement over the current insanity.
Great post. And thanks for quoting the amendment…. it’s good to review it. Maybe we should link it permanently on the site.
I think a nice permanent link on the front page would be a bold (and welcome) statement.
I wonder if at this point we can’t sell impeachment to the kool-aide drinkers, too.
After all, if they really believe in what Cheney wants to do, why wouldn’t they want him sitting in the Command Chair. Bush is an embarrassment. No one really supports him, they support his policies, or his position, but the man himself is useless to everyone.
So let Cheney proudly run the country, and get all the conservative credit he’s due, without that bumbler bush around to embarrass the movement. If Cheney’s vision is going to lead to a better America, why shouldn’t President Cheney get the credit, not that simpleton Bush.
(one can dream, right?)
Yeah, let Cheney run the country, then impeach him due to all the Haliburton mess!
impeach Cheney first, then Bush, so we so not have to endure either one of them.
In order to do that we need to take the House in ’06 so we can vote for impeachment and then we would need a very strong case and public support in order to get a 2/3’s vote necessary in the Senate.
At that point the Speaker of the House becomes president – which in this scenario would be a Democrat.
Better yet
I don’t know about Trent Lott. And that raises the whole issue–as long as you’re in succession to office within the Republican party, you’re going to have to go awhile before you reach somebody that’s much of an improvement over Bushman.
Seymour Hersh: “People talk in terms, to me, the Air Force planners, of the exquisite nature of air bombing.”
The “…exquisite nature of air bombing.” ????????
blink
There is something not quite right in the head of these people.
blink twice!
Caught that one right away and I’m the one w/the tbi!
You’re not the only one. But to write it is blasphemy, right?
Wasn’t part of the fall of the Soviet Union essentially a coup? Didn’t the troops just say ‘fire on our own people? heck no!’, and ignore orders from their dear leaders.
The above quotes prove why G W Bush has made a most excellent puppet. He’s not a president, he’s a pitchman. He’s a zealot.
Its ironic that the big idea is to let Iraqi military call targets for air force. If the air force is merely shooting where they’re told, how is this effectively different than letting the Iraqi’s command our air force?
Wasn’t there a big stink about letting the UN command our forces? Where’s the sense of irony on the right?
Not that I’d bring that up. If the Iraqi’s are to pretend its their country, they do kinda need to be in charge. We had our opportunity to let the UN be their peacekeepers, but we chose to be foreign occupiers instead.
Bush is a nutcase. If the Republicans rip the band-aid off and expose this infected pusbag, it’ll hurt. But it’ll give them a chance to heal prior to the 2006 elections. I wonder just how tempted they are, at this point.
Yes! Clearly Bush is both mentally and emotionally incompetent for the job of president. It’s the absence of this competence that has made him the perfect foil for the neocons, the evangelical fascists, and the norquist looters.
Grounds for impeachment???
Grounds, yes, but he’s insulated from public disclosure of any examination that would disclose clinical evidence of such massive problems, and the congress is still a Repub majority, so I don’t see formal impeachment as a viable possibility.
I think it’s much more likely Bush will have a complete mental or emotional breakdown hishandlers won’t be able to conceal than it is that he’ll be impeached.
You’re right about that–anything med stuff could be claimed as dr/patient confidentiality!
re: metal/emotional breakdown–seems logical to me!
has existed since Hitler. Is it any wonder that so many of us work night and day doing all that we can to bring out the truth?
We did this before, pulled out troops and made up the difference in manpower by bombing the countryside. Can you say “Cambodia”?
But the idea of letting an Iraqi force sure to be full of assorted infiltrators direct where U.S. planes are going to put those bombs is truly insane. We seem to be living in Dr. Stangelovian times, or “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb.”
Short version: Bush, no less than Cheney and Rumsfeld, is totally batshit crazy.
Remember college history prof saying/quoting (?) : “Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana (1863-1952).
A good one to keep in your arsenal.
Thanks!!!!!!
No prob.
It’s one you get to use over and over and over and over and over…
Once read a book review that stated a sort of corollary, that those who do remember the past are equally doomed to repeat it. (The book was fiction, IIRC, so I hope that’s not true.)
really!
If GW comes out for a pull out plan this week, is it ok for us to say Flip-Flopper!?
No.
I looked in the dictionary, and it says that’s a term that only Republicans can use about Democrats.
I read an article in this month’s Vanity Fair that gave me nightmares: Jerry Falwell was interviewed and Tim LaHaye. These nutcases want the friggin’ end of the world! And they think Bush is one of Them! Maybe he is, maybe he is…
He doesn’t care about the national debt or damage to the environment or homeless Katrina victims or dead Iraqi children because Jeezus is gonna come just as soon as they can provoke that Final Battle. Jeezus will come out of the clouds and turn all those heathen A-rabs into a boiling sea of blood. Bush is paving the way for the comin’ of da Lawd! Maybe he thinks it doesn’t matter if people die now, ’cause we’re all gonna die before the history of these times can be written. He’s been “saved” so he’s serene; he thinks he’s got his place in the New Jerusalem up in the middle of the air.
These people are insane and I feel like I’m living in a doomsday SF scenario.
Every time I read the phrase “national debt,” I shudder.
Jack Murtha mentioned it prominently when he spoke in the House on that infamous night. It’s a horror show. Murtha quoted some Treasury Dept. official … it was awful … wish I knew where the transcript was for that night.
We’ve always had these idiot ‘end-times’ faux-religious types involved in govt.
It says something about today’s citizens that this is seen as new. Something very very sad.
There should be a stock interview we can give to these nuts:
but never before in scary control of it! Never before in the WH! Never before did they set the agenda of the Republican party! I’ve seen them on school boards, in governor’s mansion, ranting and froathing in Congress. But everyone used to know that these people were batshit crazy. Now they’re treated seriously, pandered to, catered to, considered part of mainstream discourse! You have to admit that’s new.
The open display of power and influence is certainly new to me.
I believe they’ve always tried. Its only in recent times with mass media and the idiotic application of Political Correctness and Balance to protect inanity and hate that this has gotten so bad.
If people knew their history, they’d see that the stem-cell haters of today are no different than the organ-transplant haters of yesteryear.
They’d see the end-timers are preaching the same idiotic sermons with the same idiotic supporting evidence that has been discredited in every generation. Before, they were laughed off the political stage. Or they were believed temporarily, and support faded as their predictions failed to bear fruit.
If we knew our history, or had a functioning media, this wouldn’t be a threat.
But we’re in the perfect world for this nonsense now. Academics opened the door to studying every inane belief. Corporations forced the govt to remove equal time requirement, so that inane idiots could speak unopposed. Religion found it can wield more worldly power by flogging psuedo-religious beliefs. Govt found it can manipulate the press with money and access. All of them latched onto ‘perception is reality’. And the American public feels more connected now that it has multiple 24 hour cable news networks to choose from, and assured they are receiving the truth because they never hear anything contradictory.
Pretty sad that only something as big as Katrina can break the media-controlled-chokehold on the American people.
Bush is disturbed. He speaks to God.
People have to start calling him crazy. He is crazy. That should or ought to be the approach…..
Start questioning his sanity in the press.
He’s got a very simple MO. He hates his father and wants to destroy everything his father believed in. Then he wants to destroy himself. I am sorry…he’s all about self destruction.
From my blog on this topic:
“This Administration, in particular, had no and still has no intention of withdrawing substantial numbers of troops from Iraq. They are still building 14 permanent bases on Iraq’s sandy soil, and a permanent presence in Iraq — to replace the airmen and other soldiers we pulled out of Saudi Arabia in capitulation to Osama bin Laden’s demands and to secure a backup oil source in the event the Saudi royal family is overthrown — is a key part of the neocon foreign policy and energy strategy. They will, of necessity, rotate exhausted, three-tour units home, but they will not willingly do more. If they do do more, it will be a capitulation to Congressional Republicans worried about their seats, and is not likely to last past next Novemeber.
Once again, this is not a partisan issue. Although more Congressional Democrats than Republicans have been pulling in this direction, there are Republicans on the same side as Murtha, and an embarassing number of Vichy Democrats, too cowardly to take a stand that might get them labeled cowards, who have waffled on the war.”
NeoProgBlog
“How could it be that they were wrong, and you were right?”
Easy: “They were misled by Satan. I, on the other hand, have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”
(Boy, how I wish the “I told you so” that we’ll all be able to claim very soon could bring back all the kids killed in Iraq!)
The comment “[Bush] doesn’t feel any pain, Bush is a believer in the adage, ‘People may suffer and die, but the Church advances'” reminds me of the french word, ‘l’orgueil’ used to describe one who desires to play God, seldom wrong and never regretful or admits mistakes.
That we are in deep trouble is an understatement. Perhaps we can be rescued by the grown-ups given we have lost the one remaining big power ally, the Brits. A read of all the leading London Sunday papers-the Guardian/Observer, the Sunday Times (Murdock property) and the conservative London Telegraph confirm the distancing is on.
Bush is certainly looking for a way out of the mess of the Iraq war. The Dems will know the gist of his speech by Tuesday. They could (and should) bookend his speech with speeches of their own on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The rules used to be that the Congress didn’t speak out about how the President ran a war, but those rules are out and the gloves need to come off.
Susan, as always, terrific work and analysis.
I have been thinking, wishing for a military coup in the US, too. I really do beleive in our soldiers and the generals who can’t speak to Bush now…are they the only ones who can save us?
If they steal the election next year impeachment is out. If Bush breaks, that’s perfect for Cheney. They will never impeach Cheney even as a scapegoat–he will annihilate anyone who does.
Isn’t it horrible when you have to think in terms of a military coup being preferable to a faux democracy.
I have thought the same things. And I have come to understand why popular support of military take overs sometimes occurs. It’s because the politicians have become so corrupt their is no other alternative.
But a military coup would set a precedent and the nation is moving toward a security state anyway. It really wouldn’t interrupt anything it would speed things along to a security state.
Stop electing politicians who are rich….is that possible?
How about this requirement–in order to be eligible to run for the senate or house, you have to make under $180,000 per year. Anyone over that is not qualified. MOney keeps these guys going, democrat or republican.
This idea of using air power and withdrawing the troops is just what Juan Cole has called for. He’s an academic out of touch with reality and Bush is a madman, period.
Air power will only kill. It won’t don’t anything politically.
This nation needs to pullout period. We are incompetent.