Ho-Leee crap. "Bush Sets Timetable for Transition in Iraq"

[WilliamPitt]

Headline on the Post right now:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/13/AR2006031300785.html

He won't, of course. No way. But he has been running from the "Timetable" issue for months now, and the Conyers crew in Congress, along with a lot of other Dems, have been demanding one. "The 'terraists'll use it against us," he has said. I guess we call this a flip-flop?

He's nervous. They all are. Scared green.

[deadparrot]

1. He'll "set" one for the midterms.

Then it'll magically disappear after November.

[Kahuna]

18. Ding ding ding ding ding!

You are correct!

[mattclearing]

24. Indeed. It's classic Nixon. n/t

[Ishoutandscream2]

26. Yes, very "Nixonian"

[sandnsea]

2. Does sound familiar

Turning it over, a "territory" at a time. That sounds like someone's "sector by sector" turnover plan from last year. Not at all like "out now".

[MADem]

15. Sounds like what the Russkies did as Afghanistan became untenable n/t

[garybeck]

3. if you believe that, i have a bridge to sell you.

it's all spin, to try to raise his numbers.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. He must have received some very bad news from the ground in Iraq

Nothing that we didn't already know, but he is finally getting it.
On second thought, it is probably just mid-term electioneering of the most insidious kind.

[Sparkly]

5. It's meaningless.

This "timetable" is about who will "control" security in Iraq.

How meaningful or achievable the president's new goal is seems uncertain. In the speech, Bush said Iraqi units today have "primary responsibility" over 30,000 square miles of Iraqi territory, an increase of 20,000 square miles since the beginning of the year. As a country of nearly 169,000 square miles, Iraqi forces would need to control about 85,000 square miles to fulfill Bush's target.

What constitutes control, however, depends on the definition, since no Iraqi unit is currently rated capable of operating without U.S. assistance. And vast swaths of Iraq have never been contested by insurgents, meaning they could ultimately be turned over to local forces without directly affecting the conflict.

[Bluebear]

6. For your search enjoyment: "Bush timetable"

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=bush+timetable&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&fr=FP-tab-web-t&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8

[WilliamPitt]

8. Awesome

[Bluebear]

11. NO timetable NO timetable NO timetable **NO TIMETABLE!!**....

......timetable!!

[annabanana]

19. Well how about that!

Can we do the "flip-flop" thing in an annoying sing-song voice now?

[harpo]

7. if he leaves iraq, he's heading to iran

[Crazy Guggenheim]

9. He didn't say jack shit. It's too ambiguous.

:popcorn: :popcorn:

[thereismore]

13. It's kind of muddled... nt

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. It'll be like Nixon's plan to get out of Vietnam. A timetable known only

to the shrubmeister. "Trust me."

[annabanana]

20. " a secret plan"

it kind of like the "major award" from Christmas Story.

[aquart]

12. And yet....

They still have not one single impulse to do anything FOR the American people.

It's odd.

[AlGore-08.com]

14. He always does this cr*p - - he gets a few headlines, then does nothing

Or he signs a bill into law, then cuts all the funding for that law...

As others have pointed out, this is just a bait and switch for 2006.

[sandnsea]

16. But we *could* use it

To point out how often he has to backtrack on his own words, all because he never does do what he says he's going to do, even after Democrats have pressed him to do those things for years.

[radfringe]

17. comments on his speech

first - I admit I didn't watch the whole thing. (I'm just getting over the flu, and didn't feel like throwing up again...)

two things:

a) he said nothing new. he's still "optomistic" and still insists "we're making progress", and repeated the "when Iraqi's stand up, we'll stand down" crap.

b) no applause. He paused several times, with that stupid smirk, to give audience the opportunity to applaud -- silence. He also paused after giving "strong and resolute" soundbites for applause - silence. at more than one time during an "applause pause" when he was met with silence - he looked surprised and perturbed at the silence

[Hubert Flottz]

21. "He's nervous. They all are. Scared green"

He is a coward! He ran from Vietnam. He Runs from Cindy. He runs from the truth!

[mmonk]

22. Political deception and positioning

the next lie maybe.

[DinahMoeHum]

23. I call bullshit. You don't build permanent bases out there. . .

for the hell of it.

:evilfrown:

[mattclearing]

25. That will be the case we make.

Whether or not the voters buy it will be interesting to see.

[kentuck]

27. Cut and run ?

Unpatriotic?