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08/28/2003 Archived Entry: "What in the hell's going on here?"
What in the hell's going on here?
Pardon my freedom, but there's some weird-ass shit going on for the past day or two.
First, Perle goes to France and says this.
Richard Perle, a leading Pentagon adviser and architect of the U.S. war to topple Saddam Hussein, said the United States had made mistakes in Iraq and that power should be handed over to the Iraqis as fast as possible.... "Of course, we haven't done everything right," said Perle, according to the French text of the interview. "Mistakes have been made and there will be others.
... "Today, the answer is to hand over power to the Iraqis as soon as possible," he added.
And the NYTimes publishes this.
The Bush administration has signaled for the first time that it may be willing to allow a multinational force in Iraq to operate under the sponsorship of the United Nations as long as it is commanded by an American. The idea was described by Richard L. Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, as just "one idea being explored" in discussions at the United Nations. It was first hinted at publicly last week by Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general.
And the LA Times publishes this.
Frustrated at the failure to find Saddam Hussein's suspected stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, U.S. and allied intelligence agencies have launched a major effort to determine if they were victims of bogus Iraqi defectors who planted disinformation to mislead the West before the war....Saddam's motives for such a scheme may have been to bluff his enemies abroad, from Washington to Teheran, by sending false signals of his military might. Experts also say the dictator's defiance of the West, and its fear of his weapons of mass destruction, boosted his prestige at home and was a critical part of his power base in the Arab world....
The current focus on Iraqi defectors reflects a new skepticism among members of the Iraq Survey Group, the 1,400-member team responsible for finding any illicit arms. In interviews, several current and former survey team members expressed growing disappointment over the inconclusive results of the search so far....
"We were prisoners of our own beliefs," said a senior U.S. weapons expert who recently returned from a stint with the survey group. "We said Saddam Hussein was a master of denial and deception. Then when we couldn't find anything, we said that proved it, instead of questioning our own assumptions."
Why do I get the feeling that we're about to pull out of Iraq?
Replies: 4 people speak up
Yo, Blah3, I love you like the brother I never had, but seriously, you need to cool your jets.
Yeah, the shit is hitting the fan big-time in Iraq, and Knucklehead looks weaker every day, but let's not get too optimistic right now.
I seriously hope you're right, but I think Elmer has too much political capital invested in Operation Iraqi Freedom to simply pull out the troops.
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 08/28/2003 10:11 AM NY
Metro,
The idea of US pulling troops out of Iraq ain't necessarily a happy scenario.
I posted on Atrios' comments last night that it could be happeneing because a) we've stolen everything we caould steal, or b) Rove recognizes this issue will kick his boy to the curb in 2004.
Someone replied that I'd forgotten c) - that they need the troops for the next invasion.
Even if (and you're right, it's a huge 'if') the troops were pulled from Iraq, it's no guarantee that they wouldn't be at war somewhere else.
Posted by editor @ 08/28/2003 11:06 AM NY
No surprise here- we've got their oil, and Bush's friends have their fat government contracts, and that's all they ever wanted.
Posted by jack @ 08/28/2003 04:41 PM NY
2004 turns on two and only two issues:
1) the economy
2) security
Both are looking shaky right now for bringing home the bacon for BushCo in 2004, so unka karl is instituting plan B: another invasion in the summer/fall of '04. Moving 200,000 troops around takes a lot time...big wheels are turning.
Posted by scat @ 08/28/2003 10:21 PM NY
