by Col. Patrick Lang (Ret.) (bio below)
I listened to President Bush’s speech at Annapolis.
The thing with the Midshipmen and the Academy Band and a predictably warm reception is amusing. If he really wanted to hear them cheer, he should have given them “amnesty” for any disciplinary penalties they may be “enjoying.” There is nothing like a general release from confinement to barracks to “pump” cadets, midshipmen, or OCS candidates.
What was said that was of interest?
We “learned” today that Zarqawi is not the commander of the revolt in Iraq. This is great since the administration and its “claque” has been insisting that the war is between foreign terrorists under Zarqawi and the forces of the coalition on the other side. Everyone seriously involved in other than propaganda and manipulation of public opinion has long known that to be untrue, but the Bushies seem to have felt compelled to “stick” with that in order to maintain the fiction of the supposed Iraq-Jihadi alliance.
Now, someone has gotten the prez. to say that there are three, THREE, parts to the insurgents population:
- The “Rejectionists.” Read “ordinary Iraqis” for that “Mostly Sunni Arabs,” (his words) He says that these are people who want to restore their previously dominant role in Iraqi society. Absolutely.
- Baathist hold-outs for a Restoration. (This would be nothing like Charles the 2nd’s return from France, trust me.) Presumably, these guys have the money.
- Jihadi religious fanatics, some local, some foreign. Not more than 10% of total but responsible for most suicidal activity. No problem there, either.
He did not mention the awkward implication of (1) above that there are a hell of a lot of supporters maintaining this force in existence, but based on the speed with which the administration acknowledges the truth, we should see an admission of that in a year or so.
Is this important? You bet it is! Up until this morning, the “Zarqawi Madness” insisted on by the government was a straitjacket within which the intelligence people and the command in the field had to operate.
This changes a lot in both the operating environment and the political parameters within which a solution must be found.
Pat Lang
Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann (interview), CNN and Wolf Blitzer’s Situation Room (interview), PBS’s Newshour, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” (interview), and more .
Personal Blog: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2005 || Bio || CV
Recommended Books || More BooTrib Posts
Novel: The Butcher’s Cleaver (download free by chapter, PDF format)
“Drinking the Kool-Aid,” Middle East Policy Council Journal, Vol. XI, Summer 2004, No. 2
If he really wanted to hear them cheer, he should have given them “amnesty” for any disciplinary penalties they may be “enjoying.”
This is something that other presidents or dignitaries have done?
It just occurred to me that, if that’s so, it’s amusing that Bush’s people didn’t think to add that.
Thanks for the thumbnail sketch, helpful and much appreciated!!
As for me, I can’t stand to listen to the Gwib, can’t even stand to look at his monkey face. However, as I channel-surfed past this eyesore on 5 different channels, it occurred to me that “the American people” must be getting heartily sick of a preznit who only speaks to the military. How about the other 99% of the country?
Obviously he does this for two reasons: 1) he’s guaranteed a well-behaved audience with no anti-bush signs, t-shirts, or bumper stickers, and 2) he’s clinging to the shreds of his “war president” image as he plummets in ratings free-fall.
It also occured to me how out of touch he must look, even to the Nascar Moms and Soccer Dads (LOL) who elected him. Since most of the country now knows that he lied us into war, want the troops home now, and have heard ominous anti-war rumblings coming from even as far afield as the US Congress, they must be wondering whether Bush ever watches the news, reads a newspaper, or talks to anyone who isn’t a Bushite sycophant.
(He doesn’t.)
Any sense what role Rice is playing in this shift? or Hadley? Whose voice(s) is being articulated here?
whose voice is being articulated? Maybe Lynne Cheney!
Laura Rozen over at War and Piece cited an interview Lynne Cheney did on NPR’s Dianne Rehme. Laura quoted Lynne Cheney as saying that “there’s no connection between Iraq and 9/11” and “it isn’t true” that her hubby or the prez ever made such a connection. Can’t make it up. Go read the little blurb: http://warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003173.html
file under Truth Revision. I’ve speed of light travel fatigue, just landed from Saturn.
Halliburton stockholders!
This is a change, actually identifying the insurrection as having an Iraqi base and being of the people. While I approve of removing the straightjacket from the intellegence people, I’m concerned that now the entire Iraqi populace will be more openly regarded as “the enemy.” It has the potential to lead to the Torquemada solution: “Kill them all, God will know his own.”
Scary as hell! Probably what those nutcases in DC wanted to do all along.
Looks to me as though GW is just recognizing that we are setting in the middle of a civil war, that we jump started. Looks also like the Sunni’s are in for a long hard winter.