12.09.2006

Poppy Bush's People Worried Bush II "Dismissive" Of Iraq Study Group Recommendations

See the US News piece quoted below.

So we're supposed to care that the ever-tearful Poppy (George H. W.) Bush and his aides are worried that President Bush II has yawned and won't even "read" or bother to comment on the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group (aka Baker-Hamilton Commission) report for weeks?

I mean, we are worried. Our men and women are dying in Iraq and the Iraqis - the people we were told we were going in to "free" - are dying in ever greater numbers due to the violence the Bush Admin's (mis)handling of this war allowed to develop.

So forgive me if I don't give a rat's ass that Poppy Bush is crying again, this time because the 40th or 50th "life line" he's tossed to his megalomaniac son gets sunk. Bush's behavior throughout, but especially his smirking and lying as the situation gets worse and worse, is exactly why I believe we should be considering whether the Bush Administration has and is acting in ways that define treason (rather than "simply" to impeach him and keep the rest of this failed, miserable crew aboard).

From Kenneth T. Walsh writing at U.S. News & World Report:

Former White House advisers to George H.W. Bush are keenly disappointed and concerned about the current President Bush's initial reaction to the report by the Iraq Study Group.

They consider him rather dismissive of the group's conclusions, issued yesterday, which include the view that current Iraq policy is failing. The group recommends a variety of important changes, such as assigning U.S. troops to play more of an advisory and training role and less of a combat role. The ISG also recommends that the United States withdraw most of its combat brigades by early 2008 and that the administration increase diplomatic efforts, including starting talks with Iran and Syria and energetically working toward an Israeli-Palestinian solution.

Adding to the unease were President Bush's comments at his Thursday news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which he avoided commenting on specifics in the ISG report.

"We have a classic case of circling the wagons," says a former adviser to Bush the elder. "If President Bush changes his policy in Iraq in a fundamental way, it undermines the whole premise of his presidency. I just don't believe he will ever do that."

White House advisers say Bush won't react in detail to the ISG report for several weeks, while he assesses it and awaits various internal government reports on the situation from his own advisers. Bush tells aides he doesn't want to "outsource" his role as commander in chief. Some Bush allies say this is a way to buy some time as the president tries to decide how to deal with rising pressure to alter his strategy in Iraq and hopes the critical media focus on the Iraq war will soften. .