|
Preface On Tuesday I wrote that 14 Americans had been killed in Iraq so far this month, well now that number had risen to 29!
79 Recommendations Are About 78 Too Many
by James Glaser
James Baker's Iraq Study Group has been working for months trying to figure out what we should do with George Bush's war. It took them months to come up with, The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. I think the American people figured that out about a year ago. For sure they did before last month's election. George Bush is not about to spend time looking at a hundred pages of a report that says his way of fighting this war is wrong. The real heart break about this report is that it gives President Bush another excuse to prolong the war, which will add to the killing and maiming of both American troops and innocent Iraqi civilians. The report is 100 pages long and there are 79 separate recommendations. George Bush has said he would take, "every proposal seriously and we will act in a timely fashion." With 79 different recommendations in just this one study, George could be pondering these ideas for months, and this is just one study. The Joint Chiefs of Staff are doing one and so is the White House. Remember, George Bush has said that the next president would have to decide if the troops will come home. As of today, George Bush still claims that we are winning in Iraq and still talks about victory. James Baker's Iraq Study Group was just a waste of precious time. Waiting for this report, was used for months as an excuse to stay the course. George Bush isn't going to sit down and spend the time to study a report that says we are losing, or that his tactics are wrong. If Baker could have come up with two or three points, Bush would have had to say something about each one, but with 79, the few major points get lost with all the little ones. If Baker would have come out with just one. . . . Bring the troops home now. Americans would have rallied around it. George Bush would have had to face that one idea with no where to hide. Now he has 100 pages to hide behind. |
BACK to the 2006 Politics Columns.