Gates: "Failure in Iraq at this juncture would be a calamity that would haunt our nation"

[madfloridian]

Who can share with me how this is any different than Rumsfeld's policyz? :shrug:

Our Democrats overwhelmingly approved him, Reid is saying more troops ok for a while.

I doubt we are leaving.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/4410636.html

"The former CIA chief pledged to give President Bush his honest advice on the costly and unpopular war, and said he would go to Iraq soon to see what U.S. commanders believe should be done to quell the growing violence.

"All of us want to find a way to bring America's sons and daughters home again," Gates, 63, said after taking the oath of office as defense secretary from Vice President Dick Cheney at a Pentagon ceremony. "But as the president has made clear, we simply cannot afford to fail in the Middle East. Failure in Iraq at this juncture would be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility, and endanger Americans for decades to come."

He takes office as Bush conducts a wide-ranging review of his approach to the 3 1/2 year-old Iraq conflict. The fighting, teetering on the edge of a civil war between sects, has seen more than 2,940 Americans die at a cost to U.S. taxpayers exceeding $300 billion.

Officials say the options Bush is studying run from a short-term buildup of thousands of more troops to a pullback of U.S. combat units so they can focus on training Iraqis and hunting terrorists. Bush said last week that he would wait until January to announce his new strategy, to give Gates a chance to offer advice."

We are not going to leave, I fear.

[villager]

1. um, no Gates, *that* calamity was the 2000 "election"

n/t

[Redstone]

2. It's a fucking calamity already! What part otf THAT doesn't he get?

Redstone

[LisaM]

3. I think we have already failed in Iraq

The question is, can we repair that failure?

[90-percent]

6. this is a wussy failure

It wont become a real MAN'S FAILURE until we achieve about 30,000 dead. That would convince even the most cretinous among us (like our prezdent) that to continue is folly.

Hopefully, if we maintain the present proportions, that will mean taking out about 6 MILLION innocent Iraqi citizens along the way. Apologies in advance about all those millions lost in collateral damage, but, hey, y'know, War sure is hell.

-85% jimmy

[stillcool]

11. Repair?

This administration has 'lost' billions, killed hundreds of thousands...How can that be 'repaired'? These people will not walk away without oil contracts. How they can apply pressure to whatever government they prop up is the question. And, because they were too greedy and didn't play nice, they are not the only game in town.

[LisaM]

12. Oh, I don't disagree

it was kind of a rhetorical question.

[stillcool]

14. I didn't mean to pitch a bitch...

at you. I'm sorry. I really dislike that behavior when I see it in others, so...thank you for responding and pointing it out to me.

[mike_c]

4. dammit, it SHOULD haunt our nation for a good long time....

That's the only thing that will keep the neocons and other fascists from trying it again anytime soon!

[Imagevision]

13. Bush kills 655,000 Iraqi civilians using fabricated intel... WMD's used as cover

[tridim]

5. This guy is going to be just as bad as Rummy

I had a slight bit of hope he would change things, but that quickly faded. He's a fascist fuck just like the rest of the Republicans.

[RDANGELO]

7. This is BS, and here is the way to know it.

None of the politicians in Washington, telling us that failure in Iraq would be disastrous, is saying we need a draft. Anybody with any connection to reality knows that we don't have enough troops in Iraq for a military victory, if one is possible, and that our military is being ruined because of a lack of replacement of personnel and equipment. The only way they could get the required troops is with a draft.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. anyone who expected change from this insider, well,

I have this bridge in Florida for sale.

He is as much an insider and beholden to CHeney as anyone. Why else did Cheney provide the oath today? Why did he get pushed forward as a great choice by Bush and Co? Because he was vetted and knows whose orders to follow.

One more point, in six years, name one time that a replacement nominee was an improvement over the person he was replacing. Christie Todd Witman was tossed because she saw that global warming was a fact. Others were tossed for telling other truths. Gates will be just like Gonzales, offering some temporary relief because he is not Rummy, but actually sneakier, nastier and more convinced of Bush's path.

[maxsolomon]

9. funny, i already hear the ghostly moans & chains rattling

there's no juncture - when iraq wasn't stabilized with a year - when the sunni insurgency became permanent, when the upper & middle class fled - it was lost. we offered no jobs, no services. we played right into saddams' strategy.

either be an empire or don't - and be willing to brutalize the populace into submission. we're not.

[Imagevision]

10. This war is Bush's blunder, The US. would be praised for righting Bush wrong ASAP!! instead

of spending trillions more righting a wrong, killing countless of hindreds of thousands since the pentagon already has budgeted the Iraq war thru 2015!!!!!!

Admit it, we went to war with fabricated intel and the new dense secretary already states we must have victory, the war was phoney, a lie!