Has Anyone Been Able To Decode "CATASTROPHIC SUCCESS"?

[Placebo]

I still have absolutely no idea what it means.

It could be the dumbest bushism of all time.

[Chichiri]

1. I think it means the same as "Successful Catastrophe." (n/t)

[liberal N proud]

3. I agree, catastrophe is usually associate with failure so a

successful catastrophe would just about cover it!

[cheshire]

2. It's a throw away just testing the sheep to see if their still stupid

enough to vote for a frikin Moron monkey f**k like a**hole. Wow I feel a bit better.

[A_Possum]

4. It means "pyrrhic victory."

Pyrrhic victory, a victory gained at too great a cost; in allusion to the exclamation attributed to Pyrrhus after the battle of Asculum in Apulia (in which he routed the Romans, but with the loss of the flower of his army), ‘One more such victory and we are lost’.

Or, "the operation was a success, but the patient died."

See? Easy.

[livinginphotographs]

5. I, like most Americans,

have no earthly idea what that means. (thank you, John Edwards)

[Snellius]

6. I'll give it a shot

What he seemed to mean was that they miscalculated that the war would be so fast and easy and that, instead of wiping out the forces of the Fedayeen and Republican Guard they were able to retreat to fight again. Or something like that.

[Placebo]

7. Or something like that.

:P

[K-W]

8. Exactly, it was so successful it was a catastrophy. That is what it means.

We got in too fast and easily and by misjudging the timing, we were unable to setup for the post war period.

That I think is the gist of this, it is absolute nonsense, but what do you expect?

[gottaB]

9. Franks --> Rumsfeld --> Bush

Franks coined it, meant to warn about lack of planning for post-invasion Iraq. Rumsfeld tried to turn it to a positive. Bush echoed Rumsfeld.

See links in this thread for sources:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2282452#2284320

[Liberal Gramma]

10. What surprises me is that he used a 4 syllable word

that isn't "nuculear"

[vetwife]

11. To Bush it meant the oil was a success but lives lost meant nothing

It was catastrophic in lives lost which meant nothing but oil gain which equaled success. It meant He got his way and it didn't matter who paid !