Subscribe
to TIC!

America’s Ship of State Starts to Change Course

...At least a little. More than a month after the midterm elections, the Democratic takeover of both houses of Congress was in some ways a seismic event, the ripples from which are reverberating still. The dual departures of both Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and temporarily appointed U.N. Ambassador John Bolton were proof the political winds were changing. And while critics on both sides dispute some of the suggested course corrections made by the Iraq Study Group, the group’s bipartisan assessment that the present course in Iraq is not working has reached the White House. While a new direction has yet to be set, the Bush Administration’s mantra of ‘stay-the-course’ is likely being retired in favor of finding “a-new-way-forward”.

[clockwise from top left] 1.) Soon-to-be Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi along side soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. 2.) The Co-Chairs of the Iraq Study Group, former Rep. Lee Hamilton and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III discussing the release of their report on Iraq, and 79 suggestions for moving forward. 3.) A map of Iraq by religious and ethnic divides. 4.) The front cover of the newly release “Iraq Study Group Report” 5.) Formerly the Director of the CIA, Robert Gates was confirmed as Secretary of Defense 92-2.

While the Bush Administration had anticipated losing the House to the Democrats for some time, the loss of the Senate as well meant that Bush would no longer have a Congress so willing to endorse his complete agenda.

In order to work with the Democratic Congress on Iraq and other matters, Bush may start adjusting his plans.

Departing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had also called for such a change in course in a memo he sent to the President just one day before the pivotal elections.

“In my view it is time for a major adjustment. Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough” Rumsfeld’s memo states.

Bush was also displeased that his controversial U.N. Ambassador, John Bolton, had failed to win Senate confirmation because one Republican had joined with the Democrats in opposing his permanent placement to the position. Outgoing moderate Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) voted against Bolton’s nomination in the Foreign Relations Committee saying, “The American people have spoken out against the president's agenda on a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on foreign policy.”

President Bush responded by saying he was, “deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate…They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the [outgoing] Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time.” Bush continued, “This stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country, and discourages men and women of talent from serving their nation.”

Driving home the need for a change in strategy was the release of a much anticipated report from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group (ISG), which was comprised of five Republicans and five Democrats. The report stresses that the current approach has not and will not succeed, and urgently requires change. They recommend a gradual reduction of our military approach in Iraq, but an increased regional effort diplomatically, including engaging Iran and Syria regarding the crisis, and reinvigorating the stalled Israeli/Palestinian peace process.

The Chairman of the ISG, James A. Baker III recently said in an ABC News interview, “I believe in talking to your enemies. I don't think you restrict your conversations to your friends. … In my view, it's not appeasement to talk to your enemies.”

Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, Co-Chair of the ISG also chided Congress for abdicating their responsibilities and war powers saying, “I think the Congress has been extraordinarily timid in its exercise of its constitutional responsibilities on the question of war-making and conducting war.”

The report has been lambasted by some as ‘cut-and-run’ and a defeatist’s strategy, while others question the wisdom of trying to engage Iran or Syria. On this point in particular, Bush finds objection, insisting that there will be no negotiating with Iran until after it stops enriching uranium, and no negotiations with Syria unless it stops interfering with Lebanon, and both countries ‘stop supporting terrorism’.

Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the confrontational U.N. Ambassador John Bolton personified Bush’s ‘Stay-the-course’ strategy.

Still others have described the report as a dose of ‘realism’. One recent convert regarding the war effort, Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), a previous supporter of Iraq war said, “I, for one, am tired of paying the price of 10 or more of our troops dying a day. So let's cut and run or cut and walk, but let us fight the war on terror more intelligently than we have because we have fought this war in a very lamentable way...I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal.”

The question of criminal activity by the Bush Administration was one that Rep. John Conyers had intended to investigate with a Democratically controlled House, along with inquires into manipulation of pre-war intelligence, and the bypassing of constitutional requirements regarding warrants, which may have led to impeachment.

However, incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has ruled that out saying, “John Conyers is an enthusiastic advocate. I am the leader. Our caucus will decide where we go.” She went on to say, “any effort to impeach the president is ‘off the table’.” Proving the point, the Articles of Impeachment of the President filed by outgoing Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) have already been dismissed as going nowhere.

Although he may be forced to adjust his Iraq strategy, Bush refuses to admit he had been wrong. “I do know that we have not succeeded as fast as we wanted to succeed. I do understand that progress is not as rapid as I had hoped. And therefore, it makes sense to analyze the situation and to devise a set of tactics and strategies to achieve the objective that I have stated…You wanted frankness; I thought we would succeed quicker than we did, and I am disappointed by the pace of success.”

What is the FBA?  |  FBA Website Prototype  |  Cost Estimates  |  The Team

Publishers of The Informed Constituent.

Contact the FBA