The President’s Plan For Iraq

  •  November 30, 2005

I didn’t watch the President’s speech last night, but the White House website has up the details for the President’s plan in Iraq.
Its, well, pretty detailed. Near as I can tell its exactly what the Democrats have been demanding: A detailed set of strategies for victory in Iraq. What we want to achieve, and how we’re going to achieve it. There’s no timetable or a specific pull-out date, but I think most of us with common sense know why picking a date for troop withdrawal out of a hat is foolish. There is, however, a detailed set of objectives the attainment of which will trigger troop withdrawal.
So what will the Democrat response be? I expect that most of them will nit-pick some items in the report just for the sake of sticking it to Bush a little bit, then turn around and largely take credit for “pressuring” the President into releasing this plan. This despite the fact that the “America will stand down as Iraqis stand up” plan for Iraq has been in place since the beginning of the occupation.
But hey, at least Democrats will finally (hopefully) be on the bandwagon for victory in Iraq, something I think we can credit to the recent House vote on immediate withdrawal. That forced Democrats to get off the fence on Iraq. Now that they’ve had to come down on the side of victory, they’re getting with the program.

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  • http://Array MikeAdamson

    Good idea…thanks lik!

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/2005/12/05/house-democrats-against-withdrawal-da Say Anything – North Dakota&#8

    &heellip; Sound familiar? &heellip;

  • Don Myers

    Probably a step in the right direction, but at first glance it looks like Dubya’s standard stump speech given in front of yet another hand-picked audience.

    If he was willing to spell it out in front of people who had even the faintest of good-faith disagreements with the president and were given a chance to respond, I might take it more seriously. But Dubya is clearly unwilling to step foot outside the green zone of his own ideological fantasy world.

    I’ve printed it out for a close reading, but based on the lies and incompentence that have defined the Bush regime so far….well, you’ll forgive me if my hopes are not high.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/2005/11/30/media-reaction-to-bushs-iraq-speech/ Say Anything – North Dakota&#8

    &heellip; The President lays out a plan, complete with goals, for Iraq. &heellip;

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

    I’m away from my home computer so I can’t give you any links…

    What I do is save my favorites into a web based e-mail service. Gmail works great for this because it is uncluttered and opens the links within the browser.

    Just a tip…

  • MikeAdamson

    It’s nice to see the plan written down in one spot. It looks good on paper and if they can pull it off then hats off to the Administration. There is a certain detachment from reality that I find a little unnerving but America is in there now so it’s obligated to try to find a way out of its mess.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/2005/11/30/democrats-remain-unconvinced-on-iraq- Say Anything – North Dakota&#8

    &heellip; Now the President comes out with an in-depth plan that sets out, explicitly, what must be achieved and how we’re going to achieve it, something which should satisfy their demands for a “detailed strategy” for Iraq, and they’re still not happy. &heellip;

  • http://igotthisblog.blogspot.com/ Seth Williams

    What kind of detachment from reality? I honestly don’t understand what your criticism is of with that comment.

  • MikeAdamson

    Seth…I think that the idea of performance based criteria is more appropriate than criteria based on the calendar so I have no problems with the structure of the statement. An example of something that puzzles me is the readiness of the Iraqi forces to assume more of the front line responsibility. I’m away from my home computer so I can’t give you any links but I recall statements made to the effect that the insurgency is almost defeated and that 3 battalions of Iraqi forces are ready but then months later the number is down to 1. The short,medium and long term goals in the document lead me to believe that the insurgency still has legs and so I guess I question how able the Administration is to accurately and even adequately assess progress in this area.

    I’ve written documents similar in intent to this in the private and public sector and I know there is a tendency to speak in terms of ideals rather than practicalities. It’s not a bad plan as far as it goes…at least we see a commitment in writing to stay until the unrest is quelled. I suppose I don’t have as much confidence in the coming victory over the insurgents and the flowering of Iraqi democracy as you lads do.

  • http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

    Probably a step in the right direction, but at first glance it looks like Dubya’s standard stump speech given in front of yet another hand-picked audience.

    Do you have any comment about the substance of the speech by chance?

    If he was willing to spell it out in front of people who had even the faintest of good-faith disagreements with the president and were given a chance to respond, I might take it more seriously.

    Yeahwhatever. Do you have any comment about the substance of the speech by chance? Do you disagree with anything in the speech by chance? Something worth discussing?

    But Dubya is clearly unwilling to step foot outside the green zone of his own ideological fantasy world.

    You have gotta get those digs in.

    I’ve printed it out for a close reading, but based on the lies and incompentence that have defined the Bush regime so far…

    What “lies”?

    …well, you’ll forgive me if my hopes are not high.

    You’ll have to forgive me for not having high hopes of getting a straight answer out of you.

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