General William Odom: Bush Has Gone AWOL

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/28/820/

Bush Has Gone AWOL
by General William Odom

The following is a transcript of the Democratic Radio Address delivered by Lieutenant General William E. Odom, U.S. Army (Ret.) on Saturday April 28, 2007:

“Good morning, this is Lieutenant General William E. Odom, U.S. Army, retired.

“I am not now nor have I ever been a Democrat or a Republican. Thus, I do not speak for the Democratic Party. I speak for myself, as a non-partisan retired military officer who is a former Director of the National Security Agency. I do so because Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, asked me.

“In principle, I do not favor Congressional involvement in the execution of U.S. foreign and military policy. I have seen its perverse effects in many cases. The conflict in Iraq is different. Over the past couple of years, the President has let it proceed on automatic pilot, making no corrections in the face of accumulating evidence that his strategy is failing and cannot be rescued.

“Thus, he lets the United States fly further and further into trouble, squandering its influence, money, and blood, facilitating the gains of our enemies. The Congress is the only mechanism we have to fill this vacuum in command judgment.

“To put this in a simple army metaphor, the Commander-in-Chief seems to have gone AWOL, that is ‘absent without leave.’ He neither acts nor talks as though he is in charge. Rather, he engages in tit-for-tat games.

“Some in Congress on both sides of the aisle have responded with their own tits-for-tats. These kinds of games, however, are no longer helpful, much less amusing. They merely reflect the absence of effective leadership in a crisis. And we are in a crisis.

“Most Americans suspect that something is fundamentally wrong with the President’s management of the conflict in Iraq. And they are right.

“The challenge we face today is not how to win in Iraq; it is how to recover from a strategic mistake: invading Iraq in the first place. The war could never have served American interests.

“But it has served Iran’s interest by revenging Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran in the 1980s and enhancing Iran’s influence within Iraq. It has also served al Qaeda’s interests, providing a much better training ground than did Afghanistan, allowing it to build its ranks far above the levels and competence that otherwise would have been possible.

“We cannot ‘win’ a war that serves our enemies interests and not our own. Thus continuing to pursue the illusion of victory in Iraq makes no sense. We can now see that it never did.

“A wise commander in this situation normally revises his objectives and changes his strategy, not just marginally, but radically. Nothing less today will limit the death and destruction that the invasion of Iraq has unleashed.

“No effective new strategy can be devised for the United States until it begins withdrawing its forces from Iraq. Only that step will break the paralysis that now confronts us. Withdrawal is the pre-condition for winning support from countries in Europe that have stood aside and other major powers including India, China, Japan, Russia.

“It will also shock and change attitudes in Iran, Syria, and other countries on Iraq’s borders, making them far more likely to take seriously new U.S. approaches, not just to Iraq, but to restoring regional stability and heading off the spreading chaos that our war has caused.

“The bill that Congress approved this week, with bipartisan support, setting schedules for withdrawal, provides the President an opportunity to begin this kind of strategic shift, one that defines regional stability as the measure of victory, not some impossible outcome.

“I hope the President seizes this moment for a basic change in course and signs the bill the Congress has sent him. I will respect him greatly for such a rare act of courage, and so too, I suspect, will most Americans.

“This is retired General Odom. Thank you for listening.”

General Odom has served as Director of the National Security Agency and Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence, the Army’s senior intelligence officer. In his address, General Odom will discuss why he believes President Bush should sign the conference report on the Iraq Accountability Act.

[bumblebee1]

1. It's not the first time * has gone AWOL.

So far, it hasn't been the last time.

[tridim]

2. Wouldn't be the first time. nt

[yurbud]

8. that's the face Bush makes when it's time for Pelosi to change his diaper

[NI4NI]

3. I think Odom nailed it on the head ! n/t

[saltpoint]

4. I imagine Dubya hates it when grown-ups speak on his Iraq war.

General Odom lays out the problem succinctly. In the wake of Odom's remarks the president looks like the vacuous chimp we've known him to be from the beginning, with the additional ominous shadow of recalcitrance.

The surge is failing and will continue to fail. Republicans up for re-election will become less loyal to Bush's stubborn foot-stomping, not more. Harris polling has him at 28% as it is. Voters want the troops out of Iraq sooner rather than later.

If Dubya thinks things are politically difficult now, he's in for a rough ride this summer and next fall. One reaps what one sows.

[madrchsod]

5. he`s right

the saudi`s arresting 170+ "al qaeda" members and seizing weapons and 5 million in cash goes to prove that bush has created a new training ground for a new generation of "al qaeda" fighters.

remember bush refused to destroy the "al qaeda" training camp in iraq before/during the war because it would raise another question for the reason to go to war against saddam. i think this is the same area of iraq that has caused a increasing number of us causalities such as the recent deaths of 9 soldiers..

[TheBaldyMan]

12. that 'Al Qaida' camp was in Kurdish controlled territory,

it had nothing to do with Saddam, in fact it wouldn't have lasted five minutes in territory controlled by Hussein's regime. The Ba'athists and Bin Laden couldn't stand the sight of each other.

[pberq]

6. Here we have someone stating what should be obvious to any intelligent adult

“We cannot ‘win’ a war that serves our enemies interests and not our own. Thus continuing to pursue the illusion of victory in Iraq makes no sense. We can now see that it never did."

[applegrove]

7. Well said.

[Babel_17]

9. A very important commentary (K&R) nt

[BigBearJohn]

10. Kicked and Recommended

[loudsue]

11. That was a great speech! Too bad it will fall on deaf ears!

Bush isn't capable of taking good advice, unless it's from Karl Rove. And rove has too much at stake to tell the president to pull out now...he'd likely lose his job. Besides, most of the neocons, rove included, are getting so fucking rich on this war, they don't care what anyone says.

:kick::kick::kick: