News & Politics - Bush: We've never been 'Stay the Course'

TokyoNiGHTS · 10-23-2006, 05:52 AM

Quote:

During an interview today on ABC’s This Week, President Bush tried to distance himself from what has been his core strategy in Iraq for the last three years. George Stephanopoulos asked about James Baker’s plan to develop a strategy for Iraq that is “between ’stay the course’ and ‘cut and run.’”

STEPHANOPOULOS: James Baker says that he’s looking for something between “cut and run” and “stay the course.”

BUSH: Well, hey, listen, we’ve never been “stay the course,” George. We have been — we will complete the mission, we will do our job, and help achieve the goal, but we’re constantly adjusting to tactics. Constantly.

Think Progress � Bush: ‘We’ve Never Been Stay The Course’

If you ever stopped to wonder why this war will never be won or why its such a complete disaster, that's your answer. The president and the leading force behind it can't even make up his mind as to what we're doing.

vc318 · 10-23-2006, 06:17 AM

Did he say it this time with a laugh?

Oh, wait that's customary on his part. (Be good Caroline....be good)

But seriously, even with his need to "tweak" his plans, they're not working. Bush is taking the same concept of war and changing it a million times. How about just coming to some peaceful end?

In my opinion, Bush's strategic plans haven't been successful. I found this from an article posted just yesterday:

Quote:

After three years of trying to thwart a potent insurgency and tamp down the deadly violence in Iraq, the American military is playing its last hand: The Baghdad Security Plan.
The plan will be tweaked, adjusted and modified in the weeks ahead, as American commanders attempt to reverse the dismaying increase in murders, drive-by shootings and bombings.But military commanders here see no plausible alternative to their bedrock strategy of clearing violence-ridden neighborhoods of militias, insurgents and arms caches, holding them with Iraqi and American security forces and winning over the population and generating jobs with reconstruction projects, primarily programs underwritten by the Iraq government. There is no winning fall-back plan that the generals are holding in their hip pockets. This is it.

Also:

Quote:

When he was running for the presidency, George W. Bush vowed that he would not use peacekeepers as President Bill Clinton had done in the Balkans. "We will not be permanent peacekeepers, dividing warring parties," Bush said in a 1999 speech. "This is not our strength or our calling." Yet to some extent, that is what the United States deployment in Baghdad has become - and without the broad coalition that the Clinton administration fielded for its Balkan operations.

You can read the rest of the article at:
News Analysis: U.S. forces in Iraq said to lack fallback - Africa & Middle East - International Herald Tribune

He's just hurting the few people left that support him, which isn't much.

Lexis · 10-23-2006, 08:12 AM

There's not much you can really say to this. Its just the run of the mill Bush administration antics.

**sum1** · 10-23-2006, 09:14 AM

Seriously, "we've never been stay the course"? I'm a fan of Bush's foreign policy but that's just ludicrous.

ceilirose · 10-23-2006, 10:25 AM

He's delusional or else his handlers are letting him out without the earpiece. He's out there speaking on his own which is always dangerous.

TokyoNiGHTS · 10-24-2006, 09:16 AM

Quote:

The White House said Monday that President Bush was no longer using the phrase “stay the course” when speaking about the Iraq war, in a new effort to emphasize flexibility in the face of some of the bloodiest violence there since the 2003 invasion.

Quote:

“He stopped using it,” said Tony Snow, the White House press secretary. “It left the wrong impression about what was going on and it allowed critics to say, ‘Well, here’s an administration that’s just embarked upon a policy and not looking at what the situation is,’ when, in fact, it is the opposite.”

Bush Abandons Phrase 'Stay the Course' on Iraq - New York Times

vc318 · 10-25-2006, 10:27 AM

Quote:

The White House said Monday that President Bush was no longer using the phrase “stay the course” when speaking about the Iraq war, in a new effort to emphasize flexibility in the face of some of the bloodiest violence there since the 2003 invasion.

Yeah, that helps everything.


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