Billmon:
On the other hand, having to spend several hours listening to Shrub’s annoying verbal mannerisms -[…]- would be pretty excruciating, too.
Back to Main
October 27, 2006
WB: Table Talk with Bush
Comments
Aren’t there reports that Bush and Rove like fart jokes? Maybe they are a way to make light of uncontrollable flatulence.
Posted by: Anonymous | Oct 27 2006 16:10 utc | 3
Bush said:
What’s happening is I’m not — remember the pictures in the Oval Office, with them sitting over the maps, picking out the targets in Vietnam? That’s not happening in this war. The Commander-in-Chief, through the Secretary of Defense, must empower the military people on the ground, and the embassy, to work — and by the way, these guys are working very closely, which is important – to implement the strategy. And if tactics need to change, change them. Just keep us posted. And that’s what’s happening.
That’s not what happened though:
Turning point – A journalist who was embedded with the U.S. Marines in Fallujah explains how the Bush White House lost the key battle of the Iraq war.
… Reflecting on the course of the White House-ordered campaign on Sunday, Conway indicated that he had had serious misgivings about the Fallujah operation from the get-go, “We felt that we probably ought to let the situation settle before we appeared to be attacking out of revenge,” he told reporters gathered on the sprawling Marine base just east of the embattled town. “I think we certainly increased the level of animosity that existed.”
The mainstream press has largely overlooked the fact that in the case of Fallujah, the White House unnecessarily injected itself into the military’s tactical decision-making process in Iraq, ignored the informed opinions of ground commanders, and in effect micromanaged the battle. According to many observers, the seemingly contradictory U.S. military actions over the course of the siege were largely the result of the wishy-washy directives being issued by the Bush administration and its failure to appreciate the implications of sending in a large Marine force to seize a notoriously hostile town.
Posted by: David W. | Oct 28 2006 1:27 utc | 4
“The Germans — poor people — have to take it every day, and I am certain there isn’t a gesture, a word or a pause that they don’t know by heart.”
And the American people?
How many have come to the same conclusion that HST came to some time ago in the depths of his despair:
“We’re the Nazis in this game, and I don’t like it. I’m embarrassed and I’m pissed off. Yeah. I mean to say something and I think a lot of people in this country agree with me.’
http://upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20061003-060439-2990r
Military Matters: Afghan advice
By WILLIAM S. LIND
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) — The Washington Post is currently serializing excerpts from Bob Woodward’s new book, “State of Denial,” which reads distressingly like Count Ciano’s diaries.
Posted by: sysprog | Oct 31 2006 3:12 utc | 6