Bush's (Possible) Five-Point Iraq Exit Strategy

[babylonsister]

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/40444/

By Rick Gell, AlterNet. Posted August 17, 2006.

Edit for clarity.

The only way Bush and the Republicans are going to save their sagging poll numbers is to withdraw from Iraq. Here's how they might go about it.

For the time being, as Dick Cheney derides Ned Lamont voters as terror enablers and Karl Rove claims that Democrats "ignore the difficulties and walk away," the "stay the course" Iraq War/Election-2006 strategy will hold.

And while many are convinced the Green Zone Disneywarland in Baghdad is proof positive the Bush brain trust is in Iraq to stay, we should not discount the recent events in Lebanon and the deteriorating situation on the ground in Iraq, and their effects on the strategists deep inside the Pentagon and White House.

With Reagan's Beirut exit, Clinton's Somalia retreat and U.S. helicopter airlifts in Saigon still vivid memories for many a neocon, a defeat in Iraq would be a crushing blow. With a virtual lock on every branch of government -- who's to blame? So when they see 10,000 Iranian manufactured and delivered rockets raining on Israel at will, they have to wonder.

How easy would it be for the Iraq insurgents to import rockets from neighboring Iran? How hard would it be to hide those rockets in a wild and chaotic Baghdad? And what are the chances that insurgents could launch 30 to 40 rockets directly into the Green Zone in one day? The headlines around the world reading "500 U.S. Dead -- Last Safe Haven Under Siege?" The result? Game over.

So one has to assume discussions are taking place on an exit strategy. And since this is the Bush administration, where reality is irrelevant, truth is secondary and public relations victories are all-important, let's play exit strategy, Bush style.

People forget that people forget.

more...

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. They wont order an exit

until they have sucked every last red cent out of Iraq.

[Alpharetta]

2. 3 more years of not dying in vain

As Trudeau said in his cartoon Sunday when informed Bush said he'd leave exit strategy to his successor.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. Or a generation.

Trudeau is an optimist.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. Huh - wow I just learned something.

It hadn't occurred to me that Iran and Syria have just finished demonstrating that they have a strong hand. What a massive fuckup the Lebanon Incursion is turning out to be.

[babylonsister]

5. And getting worse:

Syrians demand military action to reclaim Golan Heights

Pressure is mounting on Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, to follow Hizbollah's example and consider force to eject Israel from Syrian land that it has occupied for nearly 40 years.

The public appetite for action is just one of the uncomfortable consequences regional rulers are facing, as Arabs compare their leaders' performances over Israel with the Lebanese "resistance".

Mr Assad, who supports Hizbollah, was quick to praise the militia's "victory" in a post-conflict speech and to bathe in its reflected glory.

Their deeds, he said, had "shattered the myth of an invincible army". But his rhetoric has turned public attention once again to the problem of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967 and annexed in 1981.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/20...

[welshTerrier2]

6. i've been watching this scenario for some time ...

i think there must be a huge war going on inside the administration and in the republican party ...

your article does a great job laying out the case ... the republican Holy Grail is military competence ... it's going to be almost impossible for them to sell a major escalation in Iraq ... the alternative might really be a crushing military defeat ...

what i'm really worried about is a scenario where, to save face, bush says we've done all we could for the Iraqis, and then moves to attack Iran ... it seems absolutely insane but that's exactly why i'm worried about ... i wouldn't put anything past these neonuts ...

how sad would it be, even for bogus political reasons, if the republicans and the neocons actually moved left of the Democrats on Iraq ... the mere thought is appalling ... it really might happen ...

[Stinky The Clown]

7. So .... we 'cut and run' while they 'shaving nick and walk'?

Lying motherfuckers .......

[babylonsister]

8. Yep. Sad. nt

[babylonsister]

9. Kick because I can....

[opihimoimoi]

10. A Hawaiian Kick

:kick: