Robert Novak: "Rice likely to back Iraq pullout"

[truthpusher]

From the Robert Noak Chicago Sun-Times Column:

Rice likely to back Iraq pullout
---------------------------------
March 28, 2005
BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
---------------------------------
Determination high in the Bush administration to begin irreversible withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq this year is reinforced by the presence at the State Department of the most dominant secretary since Henry Kissinger three decades ago. Condoleezza Rice is expected to support administration officials who want to leave even if what is left behind does not constitute perfection.

(snip)

"She is not controlled by the neo-cons insisting on achieving a perfect democracy before we go," a colleague told me. That reflects not only the national consensus but also the preponderance of Republican opinion. Without debating the wisdom of military intervention in Iraq two years ago, President Bush's supporters believe it now is time to go and leave the task of subduing the insurgents to Iraqis.

(snip)

The central figure in shaping the policy is Rice. Not since the days of Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft has a secretary of state had the power position of working with a former deputy at the National Security Council, as Rice does now. Furthermore, she is Bush's closest adviser. During Bush's first term, he spent vastly more time with Rice than with Powell or Rumsfeld.

(snip)

But how does the president rationalize an escape from Iraq with his inaugural address' embrace of a Wilsonian or neo-conservative dogma to spread democracy worldwide? Bush officials who want to reduce the military profile in the region argue that the grass-roots democratic sentiment boiling up in Lebanon is to get rid of Syrian troops, not to welcome U.S. troops.

Link: http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak281.html

[Arkana]

1. Novakula should go back into his coffin and sleep

[Auntie Bush]

13. And don't forget to close the lid/door

[DS1]

14. and put it underneath Yucca Mtn

;-)

[cally]

2. I always thought the Bushies would do this

Even if this war is an abysmal failure, they will withdraw, claim success and take us into another war. I wonder what the oil companies will say if they don't get the oil, though.

[Sanity Claws]

4. I agree with you

They want another war and are short of troops. They'll pull out of Iraq in order to get the manpower for another war. Sickening, isn't it?

[truthisfreedom]

8. and they'll claim victory even if her namesake tanker is listing to one

side with an oil slick 1000 miles long around it... drunken captain puking over the side. basically, these people are rogues. they aren't real Americans. they're a dysfunctional mafia.

[Windy]

10. You do know Halliburton just announced it was pulling out of Iran right?

Not to be "tin foil hattish", but ya think they may need the troops for something else???

[Auntie Bush]

19. Halliburton employees ad voiding Shock & Awe.

[kysrsoze]

15. That's already in the plan:

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4

He he.

[bpilgrim]

3. "most dominant secretary since Henry Kissinger" kinda early in her term

to be coming to that conclusion unless he knows something he ain't tell'n... again.

peace

[Lone Pawn]

5. He's more connected than W.

Of course, so is my ass.

[pinniped]

6. They're both POS war criminals so it's only fitting his name appears.

.

[Boo Boo]

17. Utterly ridiculous statement by Novak

Thanks Bob, I needed a good laugh.

[scarletwoman]

32. He meant "most DOMINATRIX secretary since Henry Kissinger"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51640-2005Feb24.html

sw

[bluestateguy]

7. Novak is too generous here

Rice and Rumsfeld are not neo-cons? Perhaps that case could be made for Rice pre-9/11, but after 9/11 she fell more and more into line with the neo-cons (this account is backed up by David Frum's book). Rumsfeld was a PNAC signatory and also signed the letter to Bill Clinton written in 1998 calling for military action against Iraq.

Second, what bothers me here is that if and when Bush pulls out of Iraq it will be hailed by the corporate media and punditocracy as enlightened statesmanship, while if a President John Kerry did exactly the same thing on the same timetable these same people would whine that we are "cutting and running".

Third, I actually believe Novak. Maybe the troops will leave Iraq in a year or two, but only so they can be used for a war with Iran. That may be the only way Bush can have his war with Iran without a draft, or at the very least, delay the necessity for a draft until after he is out of office. I happen to think the Iran war will commence around early 2007. These troops are going to be absolutely exhaused by then.

[yellowcanine]

9. Check out Nofacts flowery prose here....

"Subtler is the advent of Secretary of State Rice. This willowy, vulnerable-looking woman wields measurably more power than Colin Powell, the robust general who preceded her."

And his typical horn tooting here.....

"In my Sept. 20 column, I speculated that Rice would replace Powell at State, that she would be replaced as national security adviser by her deputy Stephen Hadley and that Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz would succeed Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at Defense. I was correct in two out of three because Rumsfeld is staying on at the Pentagon."

[Nostradammit]

16. There's that word again "robust" -

I swear that must be Satan's favorite word because every other noun in the neo-con lexicon is "robust."


What the hell, are these guys all wired to the same microphone?

[charlie]

23. Willowy, vulnerable-looking

Funny, I see a glowering golem who'll bite your ass if you turn your back to her.

[mistertrickster]

28. Amen, my friend--Remember that evil little Chuckie doll?

Now compare to this . . .



And by the way, she's showing in this photo how much ear she bit off her last victim.

[Boo Boo]

33. "Willowy"

Yup. Fit's her to a tee.

Yep.

[GetTheRightVote]

11. RiceBowl = NeoCon, Reason why spinning this fact

The NeoCons are on the out and they know it so why not save RiceBowl by spinning that she in fact is not a NeoCon but we all know she is and always will be a NeoCon thru and thru.

The Oil Companies are winning in the Iraq Oil fights per Democracy Now, Amy Goodman and Greg Palast report just coming out of the closet. The NeoCons looked to be winning pre/post 9/11 but lost it in the end to insurgents against privatizing their country.

RiceBowl is trying to set herself up as a Presidental candidate but with NeoCon tag would not be able to do it so spin the tag off of her. She sucks as a Sec of State as well and the world knows that for a fact. Time for all of the NeoCons to go, RiceBowl included.

:kick:

[GetTheRightVote]

12. RiceBowl = NeoCon, Reason why spinning this fact

The NeoCons are on the out and they know it so why not save RiceBowl by spinning that she in fact is not a NeoCon but we all know she is and always will be a NeoCon thru and thru.

The Oil Companies are winning in the Iraq Oil fights per Democracy Now, Amy Goodman and Greg Palast report just coming out of the closet. The NeoCons looked to be winning pre/post 9/11 but lost it in the end to insurgents against privatizing their country.

RiceBowl is trying to set herself up as a Presidental candidate but with NeoCon tag would not be able to do it so spin the tag off of her. She sucks as a Sec of State as well and the world knows that for a fact. Time for all of the NeoCons to go, RiceBowl included.

:kick:

[whistle]

18. Oh boy, Bush is really trying to get his ass out of a sling....

...but the military/corporate string pullers will be the ones who get to say when we pull out of Iraq and not Condi Rice!

[charlie]

20. 14 bases and the world's largest embassy sez

if we pull out we'll be reinvading faster than you can say "oh fuck, the Ayatollah wants to nationalize the oil companies!"

Or maybe the old tried and true has been greenlighted and the CIA and a pack of mercs will install Chalabi as Supreme Democratically Elected Ruler before the year is out.

[RubyCat]

21. Is this is April Fool's Day column?

[Kagemusha]

22. Once there's a permanent govt in Bagdhad, he says?

Bob, Bob. You're going to be waiting for a while for that one.

[femmecahors]

24. If this is true . . . they are facing reality! n/t

[charlie]

26. The reality

that forces are too stretched to jump Iran's ass, a draft will likely be a hard sell, and they need that fresh Iranian Boogah Boogah crisis NOW to keep the polity in line? That reality?

[0007]

25. I don't believe a fucking thing they say.

....and Halliburton will stay as long as the troops are there. Halliburton is only pulling the folks out that have completed the Military installations. Who's shiting who?

[Joe Chi Minh]

31. There's no way Halliburton, Bechtel, etc

can survive there without the military and their surrogates, and they have a hard enough job surviving, themselves. And there's no way the US can leave them there either and hope to half-normalise relations. They must have always been the biggest bone of contention of all. The pillagers.

Whether the oil companies could salvage a commercial presence, who knows? I wouldn't think any non-expert in the sphere. But I doubt it, with the all the "bad blood"; at least for some years (and administrations...).

[AlGore-08.com]

27. Obviously part of the campaign to make Rice a candidate in 2008

Whether Rice is behind it or not, her boosters are trying to create the same bogus "sensible moderate that Democrats support as much as Republicans" image for Rice that has been spun up for McCain and Colin Powell.

Pulling out of Iraq prior to 2008 would make it much harder for an anti-war Dem to run against her. Because once we're out of Iraq, most Americans will blame the ensuing chaos on the Iraqis themselves, not on us going in and bombing the country back to the stone age and then leaving the Iraqis with no resources to clean up our mess...

[EVDebs]

29. Cut and run ? Remember that ? And what about staffing bases in region ?

Christian Science Monitor showed all the new bases being built in the Caspian/PersianGulf region and who praytell will be staffing those new bases ?

Is Novak just blowing sunshine up our collective asses ? To placate the masses and give false hope ? Sure looks that way.

[Javaman]

30. Honestly, How much dick can Novak possibly suck?

Sorry for the offensive title, but this guy is the biggest shill for moron* ever!
I wonder how much he's getting paid? Oh, for writing this dribble, that is...