Bush finally utters the ‘V’ word as Iraq ‘mission’ deteriorates, unaccomplished
This is, George W. Bush has declared, “National Character Counts Week.”
His own character, his admirers say, is marked by his resolute, from-the-gut, stick-to-it approach; his detractors call that quality a character flaw, better known as stubbornness.
So it is that Bush’s unexpected observation that his costly Iraq boondoggle is starting to look like the United States’ disastrous experience in Vietnam is no casual, throwaway remark; instead, it’s a major admission of failure and, around the world, it’s news.
Nowhere does it resonate more profoundly, and perhaps more painfully, it appears, then in Britain, the American ally whose leader, Prime Minister Tony Blair, sent its soldiers to fight Bush’s strategyless war despite overwhelming opposition throughout the United Kingdom.
Bush was asked in an ABC television interview that was broadcast in the U.S. last night if he agreed with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who has compared the deteriorating scene in Iraq with the Tet Offensive, one of the turning points in the war in Vietnam. Bush responded: “He could be right. There’s certainly a stepped-up level of violence.” (As this blog item is being posted, after ten U.S. soldiers were killed yesterday, and with the announcement of two more American casualties, the total number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far this month has risen to 69.) (Times) Bush asserted that al Qaeda forces that are active within Iraq “believe if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and cause the government to withdraw.” (Voice of America)
“[T]he U.S. administration’s nerve is beginning to crack,” notes Britain’s Guardian in an editorial today. The paper reports that a special advisory team headed by Bush family consigliere and dutiful, Republican fix-it man James Baker III will give the president an analysis of the Iraq-war quagmire and recommendations for what to do about it soon. (That advice, apparently for political reasons, is scheduled to come after November’s midterm elections.) Baker’s report, it is assumed, will propose “a number of alternatives, including withdrawing troops to neighboring countries and launching targeted strikes against insurgents. Or concentrating [U.S.-led] coalition troops in Baghdad and bringing in forces from Syria and Iran to help enforce security outside the capital.” (Australian) [more]