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| Fifth Column |
| White House Postponing Loss of Iraq, Biden Says |
| 2007-01-05 |
| Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said yesterday that he believes top officials in the Bush administration have privately concluded they have lost Iraq and are simply trying to postpone disaster so the next president will "be the guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the roof," in a chaotic withdrawal reminiscent of Vietnam. "I have reached the tentative conclusion that a significant portion of this administration, maybe even including the vice president, believes Iraq is lost," Biden said. "They have no answer to deal with how badly they have screwed it up. I am not being facetious now. Therefore, the best thing to do is keep it from totally collapsing on your watch and hand it off to the next guy -- literally, not figuratively." Biden gave the comments in an interview as he outlined an ambitious agenda for the committee, including holding four weeks of hearings focused on every aspect of U.S. policy in Iraq. The hearings will call top political, economic and intelligence experts; foreign diplomats; and former and current senior U.S. officials to examine the situation in Iraq and possible plans for dealing with it. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will probably testify next Thursday to defend the president's new plan, but at least eight other plans will be examined over several sessions of the committee. Other witnesses invited for at least 10 days of hearings include former national security advisers and secretaries of state, including Brent Scowcroft, Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Henry A. Kissinger, Madeleine K. Albright and George P. Shultz. Biden expressed opposition to the president's plan for a "surge" of additional U.S. troops and said he has grave doubts about whether the Iraqi government has the will or the capacity to help implement a new approach. He said he hopes to use the hearings to "illuminate the alternatives available to this president" and to provide a platform for influencing Americans, especially Republican lawmakers. "There is nothing a United States Senate can do to stop a president from conducting his war," Biden said. "The only thing that is going to change the president's mind, if he continues on a course that is counterproductive, is having his party walk away from his position." Biden said that Vice President Cheney and former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld "are really smart guys who made a very, very, very, very bad bet, and it blew up in their faces. Now, what do they do with it? I think they have concluded they can't fix it, so how do you keep it stitched together without it completely unraveling?" |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #23 Whatever mistakes the Bush administration has made in Iraq, the effects of those mistakes pale beside the enormous damage to our war effort that has been inflicted-- knowingly, cynically and with malicious intent-- by the Democratic Party and its paid propagandists in the media. You think that Iraqi insurgents (or Iranian infiltrators) are deciding to kill Americans or other Iraqis because of what they hear Democrats talk about in American media? That's certainly indicative of the levels of delusional scapegoating that Rantburg has sunk to. With Republican complete control of both the executive and legislative branch, it's still the Democrats to blame for your having lost your war in Iraq. Ah, Republicans. The party of *personal responsibility*. If we leave before the mission is done, we will lose. Before the mission is done? And what mission is that? Because it seems to me that your mission has changed from "finding WMDs and establishing democracy in Iraq" to "trying to prop up the death-squads of a murderous Shiite government obedient to Tehran, against the death-squads of Sunni insurrectionists" So, I'd say that *even* if you succeed in your current mission, you'll still have lost the war. The goalposts having moved so far from what they once were, that they're now where *Iran* is shooting for, as well. Or do you think there's any scenario in which you're victorious against Sadr or the SCIRI agents of Iran? Are you even *fighting* Sadr or Iran's agents right now? Ofcourse you're not. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2007-01-05 20:42 |
| #22 Aris must still be banned. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-01-05 23:50 |
| #21 You think that Iraqi insurgents (or Iranian infiltrators) are deciding to kill Americans or other Iraqis because of what they hear Democrats talk about in American media? Why YES Aris, I do. Worked in Vietnam, Mogadisu, and Beirut, and the Islamists positivelty REJOICED when the democrats took House and Senate. I find it interesting that you leave out the role of the Left-leaning media. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2007-01-05 21:24 |
| #20 I prefer decemation. Line the sunnis up and take out 10 percent. Tell them it's necessary for world peace. If things don't improve, well, everything is worth a second chance. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-01-05 21:22 |
| #19 If Iraq is part of the war against radical Islam, then it's already won. It just remains to be seen whether mostly radical Sunni Islamicists and their Baathist and other allies get killed, or there is a wholesale slaughter of Sunnis in general. The Americans are trying to restrict the conflict to the former, without them we will have the later. I'd prefer the latter, because it is the faster route to stage II of ME transformation involving Iran (and a few other things beside). |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-01-05 21:10 |
| #18 "I have reached the tentative conclusion that a significant portion of this administration, maybe even including the vice president, believes Iraq is lost," Biden said. I have reached the rock-solid conclusion that Joe Biden is a two-bit wannabe with delusions of international expertise. About the only things he says that are worth listening to are plagiarised. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-01-05 20:04 |
| #17 and Dave reflect back to what it was like before like minded folks such as ourselves [proto Rantburgers] had the Power of the internet. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-01-05 19:41 |
| #16 keep your power dry Dave, our enemies will blunder while we prepare. Even though it looks a little shaky now keep gathering intel, because we know the stakes, keep the faith spread the word. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-01-05 19:01 |
| #15 "I have reached the tentative conclusion that a significant portion of this administration, maybe even including the vice president, believes Iraq is lost," Biden said. "They have no answer to deal with how badly they have screwed it up..." Joe Biden is either stupid, or a liar, or insane. Probably all three. Whatever mistakes the Bush administration has made in Iraq, the effects of those mistakes pale beside the enormous damage to our war effort that has been inflicted-- knowingly, cynically and with malicious intent-- by the Democratic Party and its paid propagandists in the media. This war is not a contest of arms; it is a contest of wills. Are we going to stay in Iraq and do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to prevail against the forces of radical Islam? Or is the enemy going to succeed in wearing us down and eventually forcing us to give up, pack up, and go home with our tails between our legs? Since Day One of the Iraq war, the Democratic Party has done everything imaginable, everything humanly possible, to convince the enemy that, once again, it will be the latter. They have worked tirelessly to convince the world that Osama bin Laden was absolutely right about us: that Americans lack staying power, and just as in Vietnam, and later in Lebanon, and yet again in Mogadishu, if you bleed the Americans long enough-- even if only a little-- eventually they *WILL* give up and go home. Everything the Democrats have done, every word they've uttered, throughout the entire war, has been focussed on driving home one consistent message to enemies and allies alike: "We're tired. We're frightened. This is too hard. It's too messy. It's costing too much. It's taking too long. There's no guarantee of success. We want to go home now. We'd rather watch sitcoms on TV and surf the net for pictures of Britney's snatch. We're afraid others won't like us anymore because we're being too rough with the enemy. We want to go home now. And we're especially afraid Muslims won't like us anymore, and people will call us racists. We want to go home now. And we're soooooooo ashamed of Abu Ghraib. And Haditha. We're such bad people. We want to go home now. We want to talk about IMPORTANT stuff like gender equity and racial diversity and civil rights and universal health care and free college tuition and those eeeeeevil corporations and the poor helpless undocumented immigrants and how the government should make everything fair for everybody (except those nasty evil rich people) in every way all the time, not this silly war. We want to go home now." And on, and on, and on. THAT is the message this country's Liberal Establishment has been sending since the very beginning of this conflict. Is it any wonder the enemy keeps fighting???? They've got to be convinced, beyond any doubt, that we're on the verge of quitting any minute now; they'd be stupid not to be. Frankly, I've given up all hope. We have precisely ZERO chance of prevailing in Iraq or anywhere else, and convincing the Islamic world to quit fucking with us, so long as people like Joe Biden are allowed to continue doing their dirty work. In exactly 746 days, when the next President takes the oath of office, the Bush Doctrine will breathe its last. The troops will come home, and we will leave Iraq the same way we left Vietnam. And then the REAL nightmare will begin. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-01-05 18:40 |
| #14 Frank G nails it again. Look ashamed Z. |
| Posted by: Phineter Thraviger 2007-01-05 17:02 |
| #13 I blame Mark Z |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-01-05 16:32 |
| #12 Sadly it's my children and grandchildren and great grandchildren that will have to "pay the check". There won't be anything for them to pay the check with. |
| Posted by: Chuck Darwin 2007-01-05 15:38 |
| #11 Is there any Democrat with the will to lead the USA to victory? Except for Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman, I can't think of one off hand. The Republicans are not much better, I know. Speaking as someone born in 1953, I'm part of the Baby Boomer Generation (BBG). We (the BBG) have failed our country. We have provied little or no leadership. We're a disgrace to all that came before us. Sadly it's my children and grandchildren and great grandchildren that will have to "pay the check". We need a Churchill. Instead we get the likes of Joe Biden. God help us because we sure as hell need Him now. |
| Posted by: Mark Z 2007-01-05 15:09 |
| #10 GIT OUT OF IRAK NOW screw the Kurds and Kurdistan let every Iraqi who can afford to fill our coffers with $50,000 and promise to vote for us emigrate to America!! |
| Posted by: DemoCrap 2007-01-05 14:39 |
| #9 Because bigjim-ky, as I said elsewhere, the West Wing has beome too PC and "Speaker" San Fran Nan has 'em scared... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2007-01-05 14:32 |
| #8 So why don't we send 50,000, 70,000, 100,000 more troops and win this damned thing? Squash the trouble makers into the ground and quit screwing around with the 20,000 more troop maybe bullshit. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2007-01-05 13:37 |
| #7 Methinks the hair trasnsplant plugs of ol' Delaware Joe got infected, and, the bacteria ate through the skull into his brain... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2007-01-05 13:06 |
| #6 The list of witlessnesses wouldn't be complete without a guest appearance by C. Sheehan. At least the 10 days of hearings/babblings for Biden will cement his reputation as non-presidential. |
| Posted by: Phineter Thraviger 2007-01-05 12:57 |
| #5 If we leave ebfore the mission is done, we will lose. Defeat is assured. All we have to do is to make it happen. Victory is sometimes uncertain and always arduous. |
| Posted by: badanov 2007-01-05 12:53 |
| #4 We've lost Biden! We are all screwed!! |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-01-05 12:33 |
| #3 If Joe gets even within a sniff of picking up that check, we're all screwed. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-05 11:48 |
| #2 ...And since IIRC Senator Biden is planning on running for President, HE doesn't want to be the one stuck with the check. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-01-05 11:42 |
| #1 When do you think we lost Delaware, Joe? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-05 11:27 |