Novak: Quick exit from Iraq is likely

[buycitgo]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak20.html

Inside the Bush administration policymaking apparatus, there is strong feeling that U.S. troops must leave Iraq next year. This determination is not predicated on success in implanting Iraqi democracy and internal stability. Rather, the officials are saying: Ready or not, here we go.

This prospective policy is based on Iraq's national elections in late January, but not predicated on ending the insurgency or reaching a national political settlement. Getting out of Iraq would end the neoconservative dream of building democracy in the Arab world. The United States would be content having saved the world from Saddam Hussein's quest for weapons of mass destruction.

The reality of hard decisions ahead is obscured by blather on both sides in a presidential campaign. Six weeks before the election, Bush cannot be expected to admit even the possibility of a quick withdrawal. Sen. John Kerry's political aides, still languishing in fantastic speculation about European troops to the rescue, do not even ponder a quick exit. But Kerry supporters with foreign policy experience speculate that if elected, their candidate would take the same escape route.

.............

Well-placed sources in the administration are confident Bush's decision will be to get out. They believe that is the recommendation of his national security team and would be the recommendation of second-term officials. An informed guess might have Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, Paul Wolfowitz as defense secretary and Stephen Hadley as national security adviser. According to my sources, all would opt for a withdrawal.

[buycitgo]

1. this was the talk of the morning at CSPAN, and should be huge

pretty obvious that he's doing Rove's bidding here, trying to plant the seed that we're out of there ASAP, to fool the heedless morans out there who believe ANYthing they say

[shockingelk]

11. Why wouldn't Jr cut and run?

He gave up on finding OBL, why not give up on Iraq?

[ixion]

2. Novak should wear kneepads

for all the time he spends with his face planted in BushCo's collective groin, IMO.

[cthrumatrix]

3. AWOL looks like a FOOL with his "stay the course" BS

[bogey18]

4. So I guess if we break it

we really DON'T have to buy it, huh?

So is this the new strategy - Mr. Strong and steadt will actually pull us out if elected but he can't talk about it? Anyone here old enough to remember Nixon's secret plan to end the war in Vietnam?

[shockingelk]

14. Why wouldn't Bush do that?

They gave up on their success of getting inspectors in Iraq.

They know populations of other countries despise Jr so much, their leaders will not cooperate with the effort, even if they think it's a good idea.

Seems it would be just like them to call a half-assed, violent and contested election a "victory for Democracy" and they're already denying that Iraq is a hot war zone.

[PsN2Wind]

22. I remember Nixon's plan

He just forgot to mention it would take 5 years and, I believe, about 34,000 more dead troops.

[cthrumatrix]

5. What happened to "fight them there vs. in Our Country" spin...????

[NNN0LHI]

6. This is pure BS

Bush has no intention of leaving Iraq. If he did, he would pull out now. Can't get all the oil pumped out of there by next year.

Don

[Ripley]

7. LOL.

"Ready or not, here we go." Seems to be their motto, whether the country and world are screaming not or not.

Why isn't Novak in jail?

P.S. I like your Bosch pics....are those "toys?"

[buycitgo]

19. figurines......pretty cool, huh?

http://www.arcana-arcana.com/acatalog/Jheronimus_Bosch.html

[indigobusiness]

28. "I was just telling Julia how much we needed another figgerine..."

Henry Moon - Goin' South

Way cool figurines...gotta love Bosch.

Hey, BTW, did you hear about Oprah giving everyone in her audience a sample of Boudreaux's Buttpaste?



There is hope for us all...I am restored.

www.buttpaste.com

[buycitgo]

30. hahahahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

she'd never do that

she needs it all herself!

[indigobusiness]

31. She did it...no kidding.

She must've invested.

[buycitgo]

33. you're serious? that's too funny...here's a bigger picture

and thanks for reminding me of the tibetan thing.....I started using that awhile ago, and keep forgetting it

[indigobusiness]

39. No joke...It cracked me up...so to speak...

She did a show on cottage industries and featured Boudreaux's.

Here's another prayer wheel gif.



http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/prayer-wheel.htm

[Ripley]

29. Thanks for the link!

Wish the dollar was worth more.

[buycitgo]

32. buy now....it's not going anywhere but STRAIGHT down

I'm gonna buy some Euros now, cause no matter WHO wins, you can't beLIEVE how things are gonna change immediately after the election

Bush's puppeteers don't CARE what happens after that

the dollar: down

interest rates: straight UP

housing bubble: POP!

gas prices: ROCKETING up

get ready for the whipsaw

[indigobusiness]

40. So true...on all points. The dollar is toast.

The dotcom bubble just migrated to real estate, and when it pops...man the ramparts!

There's not enough buttpaste in all the world to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

[Ripley]

41. But if your scenario comes true...

Figurines of The Garden of Earthly Delights aren't exactly on the top of my list of things I'm going to splurge on. But they are very cool.

I'm thinking maybe those old geezers who stuff their cash under their mattresses aren't so dumb (except I should probably stuff gold or Euro's instead of US currency). :(

[htuttle]

8. JASPTETW

"Just Another Secret Plan To End The War."

I don't buy it for a minute. If Bush manages to steal the election this November, what impetus would he have for giving up all those 'permanent bases' in Iraq?

This is Nixon's Secret Plan updated for 2004 in Iraq. For those of you too young to remember 1968, that means Bush is lying. There is no plan.

[bemildred]

9. More Kool Aid.

Like Nixon had a secret plan to get us out of VietNam.
It was so secret that it didn't exist.

[leesa]

10. Flip- Flop! Stay the course! What opportunistic lunatics we have running

our country. So Kerry says he'll be out in four years (why so long, we don't know) and Bush tries to trump him with one year, after campaigning on staying the course until this moment.

[buycitgo]

20. AND after all his minions have been running around saying that

Kerry is AIDING the terrorists by putting a deadline on it

this is the PUREST, most cynical BS I've heard since, well, since Novak said last week that CBS should reveal its sources!

[asjr]

12. Pure political BS. Pull the we will get out and then later, double-cross.

[Dudley_DUright]

43. Yup, this is the mother of all "head fakes"

W gets to talks tough but leak that we won't be in Iraq forever but forget to mention all of those permanent bases we are building.

[UpInArms]

13. No-Facts is not a "news journalist" - he is a spinning lying

piece of flotsam that writes whatever Rove whispers into his ear.

The truth is more in the area of these fools invading Iran or Syria.

Anyone who believes this garbage deserves to live in the world of Atila the Hun.

[Swamp Rat]

15. Novak... Pffft!

[Minstrel Boy]

16. And Novak's saying this six weeks before the election? Bullshit!

This raises hopes that Bush is the one to bring the troops home, particularly since Kerry says he may take four years (sigh) to do the same.

[Richardson08]

17. The ultimate flip flop by Bush

Every Republican Senator from John McCain to Chuck Hagel to Dick Lugar to Lindsay Graham had said in the past week that "we are in Iraq for the long haul" with estimates of 5-10 years being thrown out for how long it will take for Iraq to become a democracy.Iraq will become the next Afghanistan

[Pirate Smile]

18. The news is reporting that *'s speech to the UN tomorrow will be about

how a democracy in Iraq is crucial to fight terrorism or maybe not.

[davhill]

21. Of Course Bush is going to pull out of Iraq

How else can he get enough troops for the scheduled invasion of Iran.

[Lerkfish]

25. not gonna happen: follow the missiles...

they have offloaded (if I remember correctly) 5-7 MOABs from ships into Iraq bases.
I'm sure they have no intention of loading back onto the ships without using them. Until THAT happens, they aint leaving.

Also coincidentally, doesn't that equal the number of surrounding countries?

[davhill]

26. I Think Pull Out in this case Means

Pull back into 14 Guantanamo like enclaves and let the rest of the country continue to go to Hell.

[buycitgo]

35. all your Iraqi bases are belong to US!!!!

[Emillereid]

44. Do you have a source regarding the MOABs? This is just the kind of info

we have to keep in mind to understand what's going on. The real story of our presence in Iraq or anywhere can always be had by looking at the 'purchase orders,' which I believe now run through 2007 for our Iraqi bases. All these speculations and pronouncements are nothing more than distractions.

[90-percent]

23. pull out

But if we pull out doesn't that mean the USA will forfeit the 200-BILLION DOLLAR investment in securing oil reserves for US Oil Companies?

Since this is all about oil, how do we pull out and maintain ownership of all that Iraqi crude?

Oh, and sorry about the anarchy and shambles we left your country in. Not my fault, I didn't vote for the bastard! Just incubate your young terrorists and get revenge on us in about 10 years!

-85% Jimmy

[rjbny62]

24. kerry foreign policy advisor on npr this morning

when asked about Kerry getting our troops out within his first term and why not sooner, he said Kerry wouldn't pull out of Iraq and kept pushing this idea about foreign countries rushing in to support us once * is out of office, and also doing a better job at training. IMO, Kerry isn't differentiating himself enough and now may be preempted. He should have taken the position that Iraq is a quagmire created by * and we need to get out. Kerry's slippage in the polls seemed to coincide with the Aug comments about whether he would have gone to war in the first place.

[buycitgo]

34. not that IDIOT Rubin, I hope

he SCREWED Kerry awhile ago with some really boneheaded remark, for which he shoulda been fired

was it Holbrooke? if so, he screwed up, just as you say

they HAVE to reject those questions very premises, and take the OFFENSIVE Immediately, making BUSH the target, because of his colossally venal incompetence

[rjbny62]

37. it was rubin

audio is online

>>>>
Morning Edition begins a series on important issues in the presidential campaign. In the first part of the series, NPR's Steve Inskeep examines the views of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry on the war in Iraq. He talks with two people -- Jamie Rubin, an advisor to the Kerry campaign and former State Department spokesman, and Dan Senor former spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad.
>>>>

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=20-Sep-2004&prgId=3

[gatlingforme]

27. Civil war will ensue -

[buycitgo]

36. totally agree.....did you see the thread on this in GD?

the Kurds must be shittin in their pants, cause as soon as we go, they're gonna get attacked big time, maybe by both Iran AND Turkey, much less the Shia and Sunnis

[candy331]

38. Novak and his ilk will push anything the WH tells them to push

Integrity and and truth to them is "Jump, how high? Mr President. Who believes they will leave Iraq soon, no one.

[gatlingforme]

45. Yes, and now we have alienated almost every faction in that

country. It will be a very ugly situation for the Kurds they will be the most disenfranchized group. Turkey is just waiting for this to happen. very sad situation.

[Emillereid]

42. They plan on abandoning the 14 bases they've just built? Oh, Please!

If you believe that I have a bridge or two for you to consider!

[peaceandjustice]

46. Richard Clarke begs to differ

On last night's Daily Show Richard Clarke said that he is hearing of plans to retake Fallujah in late November regardless of the certainty of high U.S. casualties. Stewart mentioned this piece by Novak and Clarke shrugged it off, rightly so in my opinion, as a ploy to get votes.

[Disturbed]

47. Not gonna happen. Wouldn't be prudent at...

this juncture.

The new plan: Forget about re-building Iraq and "Winning hearts and minds".. Bomb them into submission is the new plan. They will accept US Colonization or millions of them will die. If the Neo Fascist remain in power Iraq will be secured. Caution has only been practiced because of the American electorate's possible rejection of massive death in Iraq. If the Neo Fascists remain in power all restraint will be gone. Iraq WILL submit!!!