Iraq Progress Could Be Major '08 Factor

(The Politico)  This story was written by Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin.

---

Few audiences listened more attentively to Monday's testimony by Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker than the 2008 presidential field. And few audiences had more riding on what the two men said.

At the end of the day, the men (and woman) who want to be their party's nominee appeared even more polarized on the subject of the war after a call by Petraeus and Crocker to continue President Bush's surge policy, coupled with the promise of modest troop reductions by next summer.

Democrats mirrored the views of their base by joining hands in unified opposition to the Petraeus/Crocker analysis. Republicans - some of whom had been cool to the troop buildup - voiced their support and attacked the tactics of anti-war activists, particularly a full-page ad placed by MoveOn.org in Monday's New York Times, making reference to "General Betray Us."

For Republicans, some of whom had been sidling ever so slightly away from Bush on Iraq, the hint of even incremental progress was occasion to full-throatedly support the surge - a policy that continues to enjoy strong support among the GOP voters most likely to turn out for next year's primaries and caucuses.

"The governor has been clear that he supports the surge and that he thinks that it's working," said Kevin Madden, a spokesman for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who just last week called the war "a mess."

For Democrats, the White House push to continue the surge was unanimously opposed, despite continuing differences over legislative tactics.

"Changing the definition of success to stay the course with the wrong policy is the wrong course for our troops and our national security. The time to end the surge and to start bringing our troops home is now - not six months from now," Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said in a statement. "I can only support a policy that begins an immediate removal of our troops from Iraq's civil war and initiates a sustained drawdown of our military presence."

Senators on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, including Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Obama, will have a chance to confront Petraeus and Crocker at hearings Tuesday. Obama will offer his views on future Iraq policy in Clinton, Iowa, on Wednesday.

There were chinks in the unified front, however. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards continued to press his two chief rivals, and the rest of the Senate, to take a more confrontational stance toward the Bush administration and to block any funding for the war that doesn't come with a timeline for withdrawal.

In a debate televised on the Spanish-language channel Univision on Sunday, Edwards spoke caustically of the Petraeus report, calling it "basically a sales job by the White House."

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd took a similarly hard-edged line. "The fact that there are questions about Gen. Petraeus' report is not surprising, given that it was brought to you by this White House. In contrast, independent report after report indicates that the whack-a-mole strategy has made this the bloodiest summer of the war. And by the general's admission, the so-called surge has not achieved its goal of political progress," Dodd said in a statement Monday.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson used the long-awaited hearing to again try to draw a distinction with his opponents on Iraq. The leading candidates have been loath to detail actual withdrawal plans, and many of their advisers imagine withdrawing American troops over a period of years to attempt to avoid massive Iraqi bloodshed.

"I have challenged the other major Democratic candidates to tell the American people how many troops they will leave in Iraq and for how long," Richardson said in a statement. "The other major candidates have suggested that they will leave some troop behind indefinitely. That idea does not make sense."

• 1
• 2
• Next Page »

[donnie900]

The new democratic nominee should consider working with the UN to get a UN/US sponsored world court going on.. Some kind of a Geneva Convention like Constitutional affair, specifically targeting not so much individuals, but corporations and their international ventures.. their elephant hunts. And especially media conglomerates.. who hide in overly complicated conspiracy the simple fact that everything is ruled by greed. From your toothpaste, all the way to the President.

[donnie900]

The new democratic nominee should consider working with the UN to get a UN/US sponsored world court going on.. Some kind of a Geneva Convention like Constitutional affair, specifically targeting not so much individuals, but corporations and their international ventures.. their elephant hunts. And especially media conglomerates.. who hide in overly complicated conspiracy the simple fact that everything is ruled by greed. From your toothpaste, all the way to the President.

[donnie900]

The new democratic nominee should consider working with the UN to get a UN/US sponsored world court going on.. Some kind of a Geneva Convention like Constitutional affair, specifically targeting not so much individuals, but corporations and their international ventures.. their elephant hunts. And especially media conglomerates.. who hide in overly complicated conspiracy the simple fact that everything is ruled by greed. From your toothpaste, all the way to the President.

[donnie900]

Its a business perfectly suited to the cowboy and the new frontier.. this.. international raping of the land of its resources for foreign interests. And everybody''s in on it! The defense industry? The insurance industry? The banks? Big governments? And stuck under the bullie''s straddle, is the little tiny country like Iraq, and Afghanistan.. who find themselves nationally robbed of national rights afforded only those in charge of the media.

There''s only one thing that can tame international corporations.. and thats a world court.

[donnie900]

Its a business perfectly suited to the cowboy and the new frontier.. this.. international raping of the land of its resources for foreign interests. And everybody''s in on it! The defense industry? The insurance industry? The banks? Big governments? And stuck under the bullie''s straddle, is the little tiny country like Iraq, and Afghanistan.. who find themselves nationally robbed of national rights afforded only those in charge of the media.

There''s only one thing that can tame international corporations.. and thats a world court.

[donnie900]

Well, no doubt about it: The banks find terrorism profitable. I used to work in security (just a guard though), and what was once just a profession for x-cops is now a big lucrative international insurance scheme. Protection for the big international corporations that want to invade foreign territories for their natural resources, and their women. I wouldn''t be surprised if this rich high-ups had a lucrative sexxxx-trade operation going on, on the side. Rich people get weird perversions.. Probably something paralleling the slave trade.. knowing these weirdo toga wearers.

[pepperp1]

17 Republican Senators must vote with the American People and Dems to change the mission without them the same failed course will continue and our soldiers will continued to be killed needlessly, recklessly.


Call your Senator and Representative demand a change in mission for our troops that all but Petraeus and Bush have called for.

[phone] for the Senate, and [phone] for the House




And now we learn of the betrayal that is the Bush dog and pony political stunt


A separate internal report being prepared by a Pentagon working group will %u201Cdiffer substantially%u201D from Petraeus recommendations.


The Pentagon will %u201Crecommend a very rapid reduction in American forces: as much as two-thirds of the existing force very quickly, while keeping the remainder there.%u201D The strategy will involve unwinding the still large U.S. presence in big forward operation bases and putting smaller teams in outposts.


28 Soldiers dead in 6 days since Bush declared we are kicking arse in IRAQ.

But would their deaths be counted in the new Escalation math proabably not......

[ioweign]

%u201CThe governor has been clear that he supports the surge and that he thinks that it%u2019s working,%u201D said Kevin Madden, a spokesman for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who just last week called the war %u201Ca mess.%u201D

Hmmm, then donate a son !!

[lars008-2009]

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill

It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it. Robert E. Lee

A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war. Simone Weil

If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. Thomas Paine

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Winston Churchill

One ought never to turn one''s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Winston Churchill

[lars008-2009]

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. Ben Franklin

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin

We make war that we may live in peace. Aristotle

It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war. John F. Kennedy

There''s a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn''t a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature. Barbara Kingsolver

They have not wanted Peace at all; they have wanted to be spared war -- as though the absence of war was the same as peace. Dorothy Thompson

There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy. George Washington

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. John Adams