Post: Surge Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting At Highest Levels Of Bush Administration

Washington Post:

For two hours, President Bush listened to contrasting visions of the U.S. future in Iraq. Gen. David H. Petraeus dominated the conversation by video link from Baghdad, making the case to keep as many troops as long as possible to cement any security progress. Adm. William J. Fallon, his superior, argued instead for accepting more risks in Iraq, officials said, in order to have enough forces available to confront other potential threats in the region.

The polite discussion in the White House Situation Room a week ago masked a sharper clash over the U.S. venture in Iraq, one that has been building since Fallon, chief of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations, sent a rear admiral to Baghdad this summer to gather information. Soon afterward, officials said, Fallon began developing plans to redefine the U.S. mission and radically draw down troops.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[MikeDu]

11:06 AM on 09/10/2007

This topic's headline gave me pause. Would the Bushies be craven enough to try to goad & taunt Al Qaeda into some sort of an attack before the election, in the hope reaping of a political benefit?

[GhostintheMachine]

12:16 AM on 09/10/2007

STUTTGART, GERMANY -- -- A U.S. intelligence intercept of suspicious communications between Pakistan and Stuttgart was the initial break that ultimately led to the arrest this week of three suspected Muslim militants accused of plotting massive car bomb attacks here against Americans, U.S. and German officials said Thursday.

The communications detected last year referred to apparent terrorist activity, the German and U.S. officials said in interviews. The German officials characterized the communications as specific and alarming. All the officials asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

[BuzzingAlong]

10:55 PM on 09/09/2007

Will be be seeing the military elegible mbmbers of the Bush family signing up to do their patriotic duty to fight for our freedom in Iraq?
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/185

None of them have seen fit to place their behinds in harm's way. But I guess that is for the peons of this country.

[godlessclif]

10:22 PM on 09/09/2007

The war in Iraq has achieved one thing. It has burned the money needed to install national health
insurance; guaranteeing windfall profits for drug companies, hospitals and HMOs for years to come.
With the added bonus of doubling Haliburton stock.

[RogueCowboy]

09:09 PM on 09/09/2007

According to the Bush Administration and THE GENERALS ON THE GROUND:
June 24, 2003, President Bush declared al-Qaeda's leadership largely defunct
2003 Mission Accomplished
2004 We are making PROGRESS
2005 We are in the LAST THROES
2006 We should be able to draw down troops starting in Sept 2006
2007 January: A Surge of 22,500 will show significant results by July 2007
2007 July: We are making progress, wait until September
2007 September: We are making progress, wait until September 2008. We have only had the "SURGE" for 3 months.

If we STAY THE COURSE for one more year only 1000 more American Troops will die, 6000 more American Troops will be Wounded, 2500 Iraqi Security Forces will be killed, 10,000 Iraqi Security Forces will be Wounded, 15,000 more Iraqi Civilians will be KILLED, 40,000 more Iraqi Civilians will be wounded, 750,000 more Iraqis will be displaced from their homes, the Iraqi Parliament will meet 3 more of the 2007 benchmarks, still less than 50% of the 18 benchmarks and The GENERALS on the GROUND will report they are making progress and ask for 1 more year. The Bush Administration will ask for anther $200 Billion for 2009.
WAKE UP AMERICA! We should not have our Military trying to referee a CIVIL WAR in a country where democracy is a FOREIGN WORD and may NEVER be achieved.

[oddjob1993]

06:12 PM on 09/09/2007

John McCain wants us to leave with honor?

WTF?

You have to IN with honor to depart with honor.

10-4, over and out!

[Evmaggie36]

05:53 PM on 09/09/2007

Admiral Fallon or nuke em Fallon....The real target is China. As soon as they react to the bombing of Iran, and the cutting off of their oil...well that is why the nukes were flown to Louisiana. China cannot reallty damage us with missles or airpower yet, and hey what is a few billion lives...it is for their own good you know

[IMPRISONBUSH]

03:41 PM on 09/09/2007

FOR as stupid as it may sound every one seems to have a PLAN, REPORT AND A THOUGHT OF HOW TO RUN THIS ARE AND SO FAR NONE HAVE WORKED.
BUT it seems every one has realy forgot the main people who fight this war Face to Face with the ENEMY DAILY yes the TROOPS.
WE again refuss to see that the MEN AND WOMAN who are on the FRONT LINE EVERY DAY ALL VOLUNTEERED, and lets face it they did not join to be WASTED each day because of POOR LEADERSHIP FROM THE TOP AND THE PECTAGONE.
ITS seems that the leadership enjoys PRASING the TROOPS OF the JOB THEY ARE DOING, AND ON THE OTHER HAND CONTINUES TO REDEPLOY THEM TOUR AFTER TOUR AFTER TOUR AND ILL EQUIPED FOR THE PAST FIVE (5) YEARS.
3,700 PLUS U.S. DEAG
27,000 PLUS U.S. WOUNDED
JUST NOW AFTER FIVE YEARS THE ARMOR MAY GET THERE
AFTER FIVE YEARS ONLY ONE AREA SECURE ONLY BECAUSE OF THE MASS OF TROOPS THERE AND THE PEOPLE TIRED OF THE KILLINGS
BUT IN REALITY WHERE WILL THE TROOPS COME FROM MORE REDEPLOYMENTS OF THE SAME TROOPS TILL THEY ARE PART OF THE DEATH TOLL. ?
BUSH
CHENEY
FALLON
AND OTHERS MUT STAND ASIDE AND LET THE IRAQES STAND ( WIN OE LOSE.

[poppycock]

02:53 PM on 09/09/2007

The neocon gameplan is only to start wars NOT finish them.

"Creative chaos" - how soon we forget

[speakingtruth2power]

05:14 PM on 09/09/2007

There are nearly unlimited war profiteering opportunities in chaos.

[bluesnot]

10:19 AM on 09/10/2007

http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/index.php/2007/08/30/the-great-iraq-swindle/

[thegreatgiginthesky]

02:32 PM on 09/09/2007

The Bush administration is coughing and wheezing its way to the finish line. They are in serious trouble. On one hand you have domestic and economic policies that were touted as great ideas but now are being slowly revealed as horrible ideas that were implemented in hopes that things would fall apart after the end of the Bush presidency. Then they could blame the next president for the failure. But it appears those policies have started falling apart earlier than expected. On the other hand you have the absolute disaster of fighting two wars. War and hubris are never a good mix. I still remember the smug look on Rummy's face when he said that the USA could fight two wars at the same time. The absolute lack of intelligence or logic in statements like, "The war [Iraq] would only last 6 months", "The war [Iraq] will pay for itself", "Mission Accomplished". They are desperately trying to finish up the term and somehow hand all this crap to the next President.

[TLV]

02:23 PM on 09/09/2007

Krauthammer's column was so predictable. NOW he agrees that the war has divided Iraq and that it will split. Damn! That was the same warning Cheney gave as a reason not to STAY in 1991!

Of course, as the true Bushie he is, Krauthammer had to polish the old chestnut by repeating that we must retain a presence in Iraq for years to come or the violence will escalate and the sectarian killings will ruin any hope of a democractic Iraq.

That possibility - ya old Kraut - ended long ago. March 2003, to be exact.

[caril]

02:09 PM on 09/09/2007

Awww, I feel so sorry for the Bush admin... gosh darnit, can't ya'll see that they've been working their little hearts out trying to bring "success" to Iraq? Doesn't that just warm your heart?

Lookit how Condi has even had a meeting with Iran and Syria...(that unfortunately didn't lead to anything).

Lookit how Petraeus has his PowerPoint demonstrations showing that "secrity" has increased in Iraq, and by golly, he even convinced the NIE authors to give him a gold star for increasing "security." (For whom, Americans in the Green Zone?)

And that stubborn ol' Maliki... he's really the cause of failure in Iraq.... ooops, not allowed to say failure. But anyway, he's the one who's causing all the problems. If only he would get the INC to sign the oil legislation, we could end this thing and go home. But for some reason, he's resisting turning over Iraq's oil reserves to foreign interests... I jus' don't understand.

But we can all breath a sigh of relief cus Gates now says: "he's come to the conclusion that what Petraeus is doing is actually more effective than what he thought."

Excuse me.... more effective than what he thought? That's the friggin best thing he can say about the "surge"????

What about the metrics that track increasing violence in 2007 over 2006? What about the numbers of Iraqis who have fled the country? What about the rampant lawlessness in and around Baghdad and increasing civilian deaths? What about increasing US deaths this year over last?

Excuse the fuck out of me... can't anyone in corp media stand up and call a spade a spade or do they all bow to King George/Dick?

This is a ridiculous soft-peddle piece of journalism... with a few minor zings at Bush et al thrown in to confuse everyone.

I fucking hate this administration and everyone who is involved with it.

[speakingtruth2power]

02:27 PM on 09/09/2007

The MIC started buying the MSM at the urging of GHWB after the lessons learned from Vietnam. GHWB also worked hard at placing the right judges for the last 27 years so now when I hear the dual phrase, liberal press and activist judges, I puke!

[osage]

02:00 PM on 09/09/2007

AL QAEDA'S NUMBERS ARE ONLY 3% TO 5% OF THE TOTAL SUNNI INSURGENCY!

IF WE'RE IN IRAQ TO FIGHT "AL QAEDA", THE TERRORISTS RESPONSIBLE FOR 9/11, WHY DO WE NEED 160,000 AMERICAN SOLIDIERS TO THWART A FORCE ESTIMATED TO BE AT BEST 3,000?

IS "AL QAEDA'S" FORCE OF 3000 SO MUCH BETTER ORGANIZED, ARMED AND EQUIPPED THAT THEY'VE BEEN ABLE TO DEFEAT 160,000 AMERICAN SOLDIERS?

IS "AL QAEDA'S" FORCE OF 3000 SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NEARLY 4000 AMERICAN DEATHS THUS FAR?

HOW MANY AMERICAN’S WERE KILLED BY SUNNIS OR SHITES? HOW MANY AL QAEDA HAVE BEEN KILLED BY AMERICAN TROOPS IN IRAQ?

WHO IS DOING THE KILLING OF THE HUNDREDS OF THOSANDS OF IRAQI CIVILIANS?

AL QAEDA ISN’T THE REASON FOR ALL THE KILLING THAT’S GOING ON IN IRAQ. GEORGE W. BUSH IS!

"[I]t is estimated that foreigners make up at least 70 percent of al Qaeda's 1,000 to several thousand fighters. Other estimates suggest al Qaeda's numbers around 850, about 3 to 5 percent of the Sunni insurgency."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda_in_Iraq

[speakingtruth2power]

02:23 PM on 09/09/2007

Dear osage,
Great post but you'll get more readers with your caps off.
You'll also get more fans if you are a fan of good posters.

[osage]

02:50 PM on 09/09/2007

Thanks for your feedback.

[bikerdude]

06:08 PM on 09/09/2007

I am definitely a fan. Your writing is clear and concise and always on point. Losing the "all caps" would be a plus, but I admire your logic and passion. It would be interesting to hear how those
"back the troops" neocons would explain how it takes over 160,000 American troops to still be losing ground to less than 5,000 Al Qaeda...Armed conflict is to be the last resort of politics, not the first option.

[Issak]

12:55 PM on 09/09/2007

HEY! no fighting in the war room!

Dr, Strangelove

[Frankly Speaking]

12:33 PM on 09/09/2007

Lets all start being honest. It is not a surge. International troops have left Iraq and Americans have taken their place. When the secondary players come in to replace the tired and injured primary first string, it's not a surge. Iraq has had the same number of occupying troops for three years. As with everything else the bushit administration has told us for six years, its a lie. Let's start telling the truth. bush is lying.