“Our mission is clear in Iraq. Should we have to go in, our mission is very clear: disarmament.” — George W. Bush
No quagmire in Iraq, you say? Here’s yesterday’s news:
The tours of 4,000 American soldiers who had been scheduled to leave Iraq in the coming weeks have been extended for up to four months, signaling that there would almost certainly be no significant troop pullout before the year’s end, military officials and analysts said Saturday.
“We don’t believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans.” — George W. Bush
The new security plan allows almost no room for significant troop withdrawals by the end of 2006, Anthony H. Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said in an interview on Saturday.
“I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.” — Dick Cheney
If any troop pullout takes place in the coming months, “it would be so cosmetic that it would be meaningless,” he said. “It would be statistical gamesmanship.”
“Our cause is just, the security of the nations we serve and the peace of the world. And our mission is clear, to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.” – George W. Bush
“People are now talking about 2009 as the goal for achieving really serious security,” he added.
“There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today.” — Tom DeLay describing U.S. troop deployments in Bosnia in 1999
As of Saturday, there were 127,000 American troops in the country, Colonel Johnson said. Numbers fluctuate when units overlap while rotating in and out of Iraq. So the total troop level will rise above 130,000 as new units rotate in and the 4,000 troops are held here longer.
“Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.” -”“ George W. Bush
The military said Saturday in a written statement that “the duration of the temporary deployment of these Iraqi and coalition forces in Baghdad will be determined by conditions on the ground.”
“Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.” — Herman Goering
sucker, ʟʟᴄ