LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency
LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency
Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes heads off to the Middle East this weekend for a round of public diplomacy. Think Progress has obtained this internal memorandum sent from Hughes to National Security Council Principals earlier this month entitled “Thinking ‘bigger.’”
A key section of this memo offers the Bush administration’s strategy for “Public Diplomacy to Counter Insurgency in Iraq.” Far from “thinking bigger,” the recommendations for defeating the insurgency are small-minded, unambitious, and disconnected from reality. Here are Hughes’ three ideas:
– Substantially expand…[the] “Micro scholarship” program…targeted at youth in key disadvantaged areas in Iraq, such as Sadr City or Anbar Governorate.”
– Create a fund to support media projects by Iraqis, such as documentaries, short films, animation, audio-visual productions and other material that would show Iraq’s reality to pan-Arab and pan-Islamic audiences.
– Revive book publishing in Iraq to fill the intellectual vacuum…and support…Iraq’s hard-pressed intellectuals.
See the full memo HERE.
These are all nice ideas in theory, but the problems affecting Iraqi society go much deeper and are far more serious that the administration wants to admit. Iraq is in a state of endemic chaos, marked by four raging internal conflicts, ethnic cleansing, and few significant advances in Iraq’s economic reconstruction.
These recommendations fail to scratch the surface of the underlying problems and do not address what the recent Iraq NIE described as “a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world.” Hughes’ memo sadly reveals that the administration is not “thinking big” enough about the problems resulting from our current occupation of Iraq. To get things right in Iraq, we need to embrace a complete shift in strategy and adopt a policy of strategic redeployment.
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“Polishing the brass on the Titanic” is one phrase that fits here.
Not that I wish any more suffering on the Iraqi people, and not that I think we should have ever invaded in the first place, but stopping the Sunni-Shiite slaughter should be priority one, not hearts-and-minds programs like this.
As usual, the Bush administration is proceeding as if everything is going swimmingly. They’ve lied to us so much that they’re starting to believe their own propaganda — always a sign of an out-of-touch autocrat.
Read “The farce known as America’s immigration debateâ€
October 28th, 2006 at 4:08 pm*Confessor shakes his head*
It’s kind of bewildering to see this sort of fluff advanced by the Bush team, since it’s a perfect representation of the disconnection from reality which the GOP often ascribes to the progressive wing of the Democratic party.
It reminds me of nothing so much as a snippit of dialogue from the VCPR radio station in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, obviously meant to lampoon such ill-considered solutions to problems.
October 28th, 2006 at 4:22 pmCreate a fund to support media projects by Iraqis, such as documentaries, short films, animation, audio-visual productions - - Karen Hughes should send the Iraqis the upcoming episode of “The Simpson,” set to air on Nov.5:
October 28th, 2006 at 4:29 pmhttp://www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=6059
The whole WH clique has a view of Iraq that has nothing to do with reality. If we would get out, the Iraqis would fix their problems faster and easier than with us there. Then, once they actually had schools and reconstructed infrastructure, they could begin to think about doing these other things.
How much love for the USA does she think that a recipient of a scholarship would have right now?
Why would this money be better administered now than before? We have had so much go down the rathole that I can’t even count it. This peanut amount she is describing would be siphoned off so quickly we wouldn’t even know that it got there.
She is supposed to be working on the “big picture” of how we can deal with the people of the Middle East, but she is looking at the edges. We need to leave them alone to work out their own problems, not slap them with one hand and hand them chump-change with the other.
October 28th, 2006 at 4:33 pmGiven that the U.S. military brass and the Iraqi government personnel already fill most of the Green Zone in Baghdad, where does Karen Hughes expect these printing presses and video studios to be located?! And if they’re not in the Green Zone, will she venture forth into the rest of Iraq - the Red Zone - to oversee their organization and delivery?! Get real.
October 28th, 2006 at 4:35 pmIt seems to me, we should be looking for a disciple of Sufism that practice the early tenets of Islam of love and peace. If such a cleric exists, we should be helping him with all we got.
October 28th, 2006 at 4:37 pm—Create a symphony and chess club organization as way to keep their baby democracy minds from being distracted with jihad thoughts.
—Fund football programs so they can take their anger out on a safe haven. More scholarships and corporate tie in.
—poetry department should be expanded to self actualize the wonderous democracy that is burgeoning.
—If all else fails unleash the daisy cutters and lets move on to Iran.
Sincerely,
Karen “Soccer Mom” Hughes
October 28th, 2006 at 4:42 pm“These are all nice ideas in theory”
It disturbs me to read realistic, sensible commentary on this website… the left/right inversion deepens. When oh when will the situation normalize. :(
October 28th, 2006 at 4:43 pmYes, there are other issues that need to be addressed first like ELECTRICITY, WATER AND KEEPING PEOPLE FROM BEING KILLED IN THE STREET. Scholarships. Bloody hell.
October 28th, 2006 at 4:45 pmOMF GOD!!!!
Did you read that memo?!!!!!!!!!!!!
Talking about an inverse heirchy of needs. These ignorant hillbillies are so full of shit they are discussing self actualized objectives when avaerage Iraqi citizens operate on no electricity, food shortages, and simply trying not to get blown up and living another day????
America gets what it voted for.
The shit is going to be so much worse in the next 20 years because of this HISTORICAL COLLOSSAL FAILURE.
October 28th, 2006 at 4:48 pmRandom Rightie what was the name of Bob Woodwards book again?? It is on the tip of my tongue…………
October 28th, 2006 at 4:50 pmI dont know guys, Karen Hughes has no real capacity to shape US counterinsurgency strategy, so I wouldnt make a big deal out of this memo. Better to focus on people who actually have a say in it. Her job is basically to shill for president bush, using the same tired lines we’ve heard for years, and telling them to international audiences who have long ago decided we’re all full of sh*t. With Iraq as it is, there’s real no way public diplomacy of the kind she specializes in will have any effect on the situation on the ground in Iraq anyway, let alone on international opinion of the US. The best public diplomacy success at this point would be to keep water and electricity on in Baghdad for most of the day.
October 28th, 2006 at 4:57 pmThe contradictions of these Right-wingers never cease to amaze. They’ve been railing against things like arts grants for public media for decades, and now they suddenly believe they’re the cornerstone that will SAVE Iraq from CIVIL WAR.
October 28th, 2006 at 4:58 pmElectricity has dropped from 20 hrs a day to 3. Karen, why don’t we keep the lights on first, huh?
October 28th, 2006 at 4:59 pmKaren Hughes has sh*t for brains.
October 28th, 2006 at 5:05 pmGreat suggestion to, “keep the lights on, Paul. Do you really think we could do it?
October 28th, 2006 at 5:08 pm13: Karen Hughes has no real capacity to shape US counterinsurgency strategy - - Hughes is one of Bush’s long-time closest confidantes, trusted advisor and a charter member of the inner circle. Not to mention Hughes is another surrogate wife of Bush’s.
October 28th, 2006 at 5:09 pmCondi looks as if she wishes she had a knife in her hand.
October 28th, 2006 at 5:09 pmThis is amazing. As the current occupants of the WH undermine public funding for major civic institutions such as the arts, media, and public education, K.H. purposes these same ideas to salvage victory in Iraq. These people are truly dilusional.
October 28th, 2006 at 5:11 pmSounds like the U.S. could benefit from this “thinking bigger” strategy!
Hmmmm….. scholarships to disadvantaged youth, funds for independent media projects and support of intellectuals’ book publishing? Can we have some of that too?!
October 28th, 2006 at 5:17 pm“Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs”…
they just made that up for her, didn’t they? …i don’t know, it just sounds like some new-fangled thing they cooked up to keep karen busy…
October 28th, 2006 at 5:33 pmWhat the heck is a leaked memo..really?
Is a leak something that has now become institutionalized?
Is there a book of leaking etiquette?
Is a leak really a leak or just information framed a certain way in order to get more attention and to make us think it is a “leak”?
How many different kinds of leaks are there?
I don’t think people really know anymore…. Propaganda leaks, real leaks, fake leaks…..on and on. God, does anyone else here get tired thinking about how much this government and other “forces that be” are jerking us all around on a daily basis? The thugs in power were never on our team….the American team. They just wanted to steal……all about power and theft. They need to be held accountable………
October 28th, 2006 at 5:50 pmHow come midnight basketball was a terrible idea for American youth but a good one for Iraqi kids?
October 28th, 2006 at 5:51 pm“Thinking ‘bigger.’â€
awww, karen… c’mon now… use your imagination… do it like this:
“Think BIGGER” … there ya go… no charge…
October 28th, 2006 at 6:04 pm.
How come gun control would be good for American youth but not for Iraqi kids?
Also some clalmation shorts would help. Everybody lovs claymation.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:05 pmYou guys are heartless liberals.
First you criticize the administration for not thinking, then you criticize every single idea they use to adapt.
Microshcolarhsips are a great idea!!! If you don’t understand why, go read about economics in developing nations and the most recent nobel peace prize.
Liberal pessimists…everything is always wrong.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:13 pmKaren, (you pathetic little poodle)
October 28th, 2006 at 6:15 pmYou’re two decades late, and a few trillion short.
Your ideas at this point in time are like trying to stop a forest fire with a bottle of Evian.
Clueless republicans. It’s a freakshow. That is what our government has become.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:22 pm—Fund football programs …
Comment by Heterodoxy — October 28, 2006 @ 4:42 pm
YES! MARCHING BANDS!!!
it’s true that school band programs are a huge educational benefit…
and since so many schools here in the states have had to give up their band programs, there should be plenty of instruments we could “lend”…
w00t!
October 28th, 2006 at 6:23 pm#26: Microshcolarhsips (sic) are a great idea!!! - - Better give all the Iraqis laptops and make all the courses online because any brick and mortar school will get blown up. And those latops better come with a pre-charged battery powered by dilithium crystals.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:25 pm#26
October 28th, 2006 at 6:36 pmThank you for the quote from Robert Kennedy.
Perhaps we can all remember back to the point in history when he spoke those words.
Kind of a cosmic coincidence today for me, to see those words in print……..
In the course of pulling up 3 layers of old linoleum from the floor of my house today, I found newspapers from the early sixties, here’s a couple short articles, exactly as they appeared:
Albuquerque Journal, May 4th, 1960 “Testing Device Has Deafening (unreadable)
Sandia Corp. “torture experts” have added a new torture to their routine of environmental testing - the power to create a screaming noise equal to that of 1000 hi-fi sets running at full power.
The test facility creates the deafening roar to duplicate the sound vibration caused by rockets, missiles, and jet aircraft.
According to W.H.Cross, environmental test engineer for the acoustic facility, sound up to 148 decibels can be produced. This is enough to cause instant deafness, he said.
The facility has eight low…..”
(the rest of the article is missing)
Micro-scholarships are not what the Nobel Prize was about–it was about micro-lending for micro-entrepreneurship. And if people need education, a functioning state with a bazillion barrels of oil at their disposal ought to be able to provide it. Why the hell should my tax dollars pay for Iraqi kids to get scholarships? I’m paying for my own kid to go to college. Why, someone tell me why, is Iraq poor? And if it is, why isn’t it Saudi Arabia’s job to finance their education? Why is that my responsibility?
And if scholarships and publishing and the arts deserve U. S. taxpayer dollars in Iraq, is the same true in the U. S.?
And someone tell me this–what gives Karen Hughes the least bit of credibility on how to re-build a Muslim country? According to her Wiki bio, she was a journalist for a short while after college and then worked for Bush pretty much ever since. And that qualifies her to do what?
October 28th, 2006 at 6:43 pmYou know, we could work on getting them more than a few hours of electricity per day, but maybe we should just paint some more schools and grant a few more micro-scholarships … let’s hope the recipients survive to attend classes.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:48 pmWhen The Decider looks in the mirror each morning, he’s spying on the world’s biggest terrorist…
October 28th, 2006 at 6:56 pmCheers.
I have to laugh at this. It’s so beyond a rational person to understand the thinking of this deluded gang of dolts. It’s also scary to think they are running this country as well.
October 28th, 2006 at 6:59 pmNotice these are are all programs lending themselves to information management … which is why that’s all there is to her “plan” and why there’s no concern on their part about it’s considerably low bar. It’s just the advance PR for programs that will facilitate future propaganda within the Iraq. And it’s also probably easy to pillage the budgets of programs like these.
October 28th, 2006 at 7:02 pmmaybe she could turn on the electricity and control inflation along with her youth ministry…………….pure texas hogwash
October 28th, 2006 at 7:21 pmI read the memo.
Reality check.
Iraqi police recruits are gunned down on a regular basis. How do you think Iraqi children will fare going to an American after-school center?
Was this President Bush’s “secret plan” for success in Iraq? After-school centers staffed by Ameri-Corps volunteers? Create more targets for the Iraqi insurgents/freedom fighters?
Think about it: this is seen as the best way to win the hearts and minds of occupied Iraq.
October 28th, 2006 at 7:24 pmThis broad and her boss simply don’t have a clue.
October 28th, 2006 at 7:24 pmThey may be able to fool the We The People, but the Iraquis never.
Predicted failure again.
Heck of a job, karen.
Perhaps next she could have people plant flower gardens in the front of the rumble that used to be their houses.
October 28th, 2006 at 7:24 pmAmerica’s Least Wanted
I did not realize anyone could be more out of touch than Mr. Bush. Well, Ms. Hughes has dissuaded me from that conclusion.
October 28th, 2006 at 7:25 pmThis is nothing special. If you want ‘out of touch’, check this gem from as early as 2003:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/ 2003/ 04/ 29/ riaas_rosen_writing_iraq_copyright/
October 28th, 2006 at 7:29 pmI hope someone in the msm gets this and reads it to America. These kids are being shot at, seeing people blown up, have limited electricty and this is the “plan” ms huge comes up with???? These people live in never never land. It’s pathetic and scary all at the same time…
October 28th, 2006 at 7:32 pmKeyboard Cowboy John G. states
You guys are heartless liberals.
First you criticize the administration for not thinking, then you criticize every single idea they use to adapt.
Microshcolarhsips are a great idea!!!
Liberal pessimists…everything is always wrong.
John G. It’s time already… You need to die for your criminal chimp. If you don’t enlist because you have “other obligations” - You have no business here pushing your propaganda spam while cheering the deaths of others.
Air Force
Air National Guard
Army
Army National Guard
Coast Guard
Marines
Military Career Guide Online
Minnesota National Guard
Navy
*FOR YOU BITCHES WHO LIE AND CLAIM YOU ALREADY HAVE SERVED OR YOU’RE TOO OLD, I GOT YOU COVERED TOO:
Jobs with American Contractors in Iraq and surrounding countries Positions Currently (09-27-06) Available
The conflict in Iraq, has opened opportunities in thousands of support jobs with hundreds of large US companies involved in a range of security, logistics and non military operations.
The types of jobs available are shown on the left. But if your speciality is not on there, don’t worry, it is difficult to find a skill that is not being used in this operation.
http://www.jobline.net/jobiraq1.htm
BUH BYE!!!!!!!
October 28th, 2006 at 7:37 pmMore proof male chearleaders make for poor commanders in chief.
October 28th, 2006 at 7:42 pmDelusional beyound believe. All of Iraq is a “disadvantaged area” now that we have unleased the wrath of terroist hell. Judging from the photo King George really likes to hear fantasies pour forth from the articulate but naive KH and KR. Reality on the ground is that Iraq will implode fairly soon, sucking the US down with it. Throw these bozos a life raft as they obviously can’t swim in the deep end.
October 28th, 2006 at 7:58 pmSasquatch Hughes is unforgiveably stupid on her best day…
October 28th, 2006 at 7:59 pmThe Death of a Marine
Life over there.
We have no clue.
Bring these Americans home.
October 28th, 2006 at 8:02 pmPerhaps next she could have people plant flower gardens…
Comment by Budpaul — October 28, 2006 @ 7:24 pm
VICTORY GARDENS !!! YAY!!!!
i was just reading an article in “the progressive” about how america’s fertilizer and pesticide industries grew out of the post war 2 need to use up left-over chemicals originally used for bombs and poison gases…
hey! from lemons…
(you all know i’m being facetious, right?) … right?
October 28th, 2006 at 8:02 pm.
[…] Think Progress » LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency By ghostwriter Think Progress » LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency […]
October 28th, 2006 at 8:06 pmHi, Zooey.
Any time I hear her name, all I can think of is Stephanie Miller.
Any time they mention her name, they play a sound effect of some pretty hefty feet hittin’ the floor.
It’s a riot.
October 28th, 2006 at 8:08 pmHi true,
That is funny.
I’m tall, so I shouldn’t say anything, but she’s such an idiot all bets are off.
Anyone know how tall Sasquatch Hughes is?
October 28th, 2006 at 8:12 pmSpew and write propaganda
October 28th, 2006 at 8:18 pmGive the girl a break, folks! She’s obviously there to Foleyate the prez.
Let’s give her some help. Maybe she could add:
- passing out bibles
- organizing bake sales
- starting some bowling leagues
- boy scouts/girl scouts
- water polo
- spelling bees
- scavenger hunts
Uh, no. Better scrap the scavenger hunts. They might … find shit.
Anyway, feel free to use my list, Karen. And don’t think you have to mention my name.
We might both get waterboarded.
October 28th, 2006 at 8:33 pmCondi looks like a jealous wife!
October 28th, 2006 at 8:39 pm31, the audio devise is already in use in Iraq and local police departments are considering it in the US:
http://66.102.7.104/ search?q=cache:VUjsT5NJL-UJ:www.oft.osd.mil/ library/ library_files/ article_461_Boston%2520Globe.doc+Testing+Device+Has+Deafening&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2
Unless, of course, they turn the volume up….
October 28th, 2006 at 9:00 pmUnless, of course, they turn the volume up….
Comment by Briseadh+na+Faire
I heard the volume goes up to eleven.
October 28th, 2006 at 9:04 pm(snark)
#44
I see, even though a majority of americans don’t won’t us to leave until the iraq is pacified, and I’m “challenging” your kool-aid cherry picked information….I should die. You facist. Way to debate on the points…oh wait, you just are a bunch of 20-20 hindsight critics.
Liberals spew nothing but hate and wish the destruction of their citizens. You have so much hate from be propagandized by liberal 2 dimensional sound bites, you have all become disconnected from reality.
Your shortsighted, “lets pretend everyone can talk it out” liberal thinking will be the death of America. Wake up to reality. I know you’re all rooting for the enemy.
You have no idea about the future, so don’t preach to me about your “facts”…aka speculation.
##############################
Winners win, Losers lose.
Vote for a democrat, and vote for bad news.
You’re liberals are right [sic], the US can’t win.
Of course don’t help, just criticize past sin.
Made some mistakes to win the cold war,
Fixing it now so our kids avoid horror
heads down we leave, from terrorists, thugs, and thieves?
Japan, Germany, seemed to become free.
our armed forced can succeed cuz we’re pretty smart
if liberal senators stop speculating with their mouth farts
just because we have no hindsight time machine
doesn’t mean that we just give up on our team
while democrats pretend there is no social security woes
and sen. clinton says that parents can’t know
with all the liberal special interest bills ready for the inking
not yet, we’re not fooled…with your short sighted liberal thinking
##############################
October 28th, 2006 at 9:07 pmWow, John G, that’s some big-time projection.
October 28th, 2006 at 9:13 pmAlso, John G, that’s poetry a Vogon would be proud of.
October 28th, 2006 at 9:14 pm#60
Well, I have to give props to you…that was the best reply thus far :)
October 28th, 2006 at 9:22 pmLook at the look on Condi’s face! What do ya think she is thinking?
October 28th, 2006 at 9:37 pmBwhahaha the last 6 years of bad news has been created by the GrOPes!
October 28th, 2006 at 9:38 pmCould be an idea for a new TV show - think Andy Griffith meets Mad Max Across Thunderdome.
Besides her utter divorcement from the current reality that the typical Iraq citizen, including children, faces a battle to simply survive until the next day so he/she can fight the same battle all over again, the truly disturbing thing is that Karen Hughes’ memo, when read in entirety, clearly assumes a very long occupation of Iraq. I don’t know how inside the policy loop Hughes is, but she but two rungs below the President on the Executive org-chart. (Rice is between them.)
What are they planning to do, make Iraq the 51st state? If so, Iraq under Hughes’s plan would have better programs for underprivileged children than the other 50. While the neocons continue their grand experiment in privatizing a country - which has blown up in the lab to the tune of a half million or so dead and counting, funds for mental health and mental retardation programs in the U.S. continue to be cut.
They never cease to amaze in their arrogance and wrongness. “Winning” (whatever that may mean) at the cost of our country’s financial, military and moral strength is anything but.
October 28th, 2006 at 9:43 pmCriticism is constructive, such as in changing the course [iceberg ahead mentality] criticize past sin? Whom has sinned? Republicans! We are helping the sinners to see so they can correct their dear leader course!!
October 28th, 2006 at 9:43 pmMurtha said redeploy a while back, now James Baker will propose the same and the GrOPes won’t DARE say a word. The GOP is brainless lemmings!
You guys are heartless liberals.
First you criticize the administration for not thinking, then you criticize every single idea they use to adapt.
Microshcolarhsips are a great idea!!! If you don’t understand why, go read about economics in developing nations and the most recent nobel peace prize.
Liberal pessimists…everything is always wrong.
Comment by JohnG — October 28, 2006 @ 6:13 pm
I’ll say it AGAIN: ELECTRICITY, WATER, SAFETY FROM BEING KILLED IN THE STREETS. My lord.
October 28th, 2006 at 9:46 pmI think because Rice is the daughter of an evangelical preacher from Alabama and Hughes is another of the 30% [Lahaye] crowd that see War in the middle east as part of the coming of the messiah and as such they care less. [my soapbox]
October 28th, 2006 at 9:49 pmWe are against war, that would save hundreds of thousands of lives.
Bush began this war. I think you mean. “You guys are heartless GOP warmongers”
But even that would be a lie wouldn’t it?
October 28th, 2006 at 9:52 pm#63 No, we need a 60% majority, so the we can get some bills through. I wish the political reality would allow for us to pick up seats. Alas, wishful thinking.
October 28th, 2006 at 9:54 pmHughes can bring back Gerry Ford’s W.I.N. buttons. Instead of Whip Inflation Now, they’ll stand for Whip Insurgency Now.
October 28th, 2006 at 9:59 pmWould the last person to post please turn out the light’s……Blessings
October 28th, 2006 at 10:00 pm#65
Oh really, you go read through these comments and tell me how “constructive” the remarks are.
What is apparent, is the joy for bush to have 0% success, regardless how it impacts the world, our troops, and the future.
“Redeploy”??? Wow, some big bold guy spots that general term…who before any investigation was accusing our soldiers of murder before any investigation on the senate floor a few days after “reports” started coming in. It’s obvious at some point we would change tactics…progress takes time. You people don’t understand the transfer from theoretical wishy thinking and executing that under fire from murdering thugs. (FYI - Since it may not be 100% clear to you liberals, the murderous thugs describes the terrorists, not the coalition forces).
We still have troops in Japan and Germany and South Korea, etc, etc. What kind of expectations did you have?
October 28th, 2006 at 10:03 pmWhat are they planning to do, make Iraq the 51st state?…
Comment by rollotomasi — October 28, 2006 @ 9:43 pm
i do believe so… way back in 98 (?), with the pnac plan…
October 28th, 2006 at 10:03 pmit is totally a grand experiment… gone horribly wrong…
Would the last person to post please turn out the light’s……Blessings
Comment by Sharon Cox
*snort*
October 28th, 2006 at 10:05 pmzooey- … vogons - are you referring to Hitchhiker’s Guide?
October 28th, 2006 at 10:08 pmi googled the word and most links pointed to that, and wiki…
not flattering at all…
oh! i see…
:)
#66 Well, we can’t make the insurgents stop sabotaging the stuff…it’s tough work in the Iraqi reality. You don’t give up when it gets tough, you don’t pull out and abandon what success we have made (albeit 50% optimal, based on the looting reality we assumed). I wish the Iraqi’s didn’t here from he NYT how we torture, how gitmao was standard operating procedure, and bush lied about stuff. Kind of makes the terrorists job easier.
And before you accuse me of not understanding the value of democracy…I do. But the liberals “tone” has consequences, regardless of whether you have the right to do it.
Disband the military that was shooting us two weeks early? Yes, maybe a bad idea…we made a lot of mistakes over there. But again, there is no text book for dealing with today’s global threats.
We had bad intelligence, I know everyone thought we we’re perfect…we are the U.S. after all. But given what the president knew at the time, I hope any president would have reacted the same way. Thank god Gore wasn’t elected!!! Good environmental evangelist, not the guy we need to show stregnth in this nutty world.
October 28th, 2006 at 10:12 pm#68 In world of today’s reality, nothing you have said would save lives in the long term. Short sighted, “i hate bush cool crowd” drum beat as per usual.
October 28th, 2006 at 10:14 pm#75 thanks for making sure I understood the personal attack. Liberals cliques!
It was props for the wit.
October 28th, 2006 at 10:17 pmThis woman is so far over her head–she is no more qualified for this position than the man in the moon. The only reason she has this job is because of her “unique friendship”with Chimpy McFlightsuit. She couldn’t find her ass with both hands behind her back.
The only thing Hughes has to show for the last 2 years is a lot of frequent flyer miles. She is pathetic.
Word is that she is not respected by career foreign service people because she has her own little fantasy ideas for other nations that are not workable.
October 28th, 2006 at 10:17 pm#79
It’s funny you mention nothing of her actual record and accomplishments…just personal attacks.
Liberals, still pissed off that they’re is no santa claus…how could they lie to me, bastards! [sic]
October 28th, 2006 at 10:20 pm#79, #80 - ’sconset,
October 28th, 2006 at 10:25 pmThat woman is so catty, I believe she licks it.
Ms. Hughes is only capable of thinking small.
October 28th, 2006 at 10:28 pmI haven’t believed or trusted a word Karen Hughes has said since the 2000
election… acting like she was a constitutional scholar or something, lol
http://www.tothecenter.com
October 28th, 2006 at 10:30 pmThat woman is so catty, I believe she licks it.
Comment by WaltTheMan
Oy god, Walt…
October 28th, 2006 at 10:31 pmWho could trust Karen Hughes after the 2000 election? Like she was a constitutional scholar or something! lol…
http://www.tothecenter.com
October 28th, 2006 at 10:32 pmThis big old girl is just one of the skirts Georgie hides behind besides Condi, Laura, Babs and Harriet. His women always get thrown into the fray when the going gets rough for the poor little frat boy. What do you suppose we’re paying K. Hughes for her bandaid diplomacy?
October 28th, 2006 at 10:33 pm#81 & #82
##############################
Winners win, Losers lose.
Vote for a democrat, and vote for bad news.
You’re liberals are right [sic], the US can’t win.
Of course don’t help, just criticize past sin.
it’s tough so lets not try, let sjust forget all the tears
while never debate the ideas, just spew venom and smears
Made some mistakes to win the cold war,
Fixing it now so our kids avoid horror
heads down we leave, from terrorists, thugs, and thieves?
Japan, Germany, seemed to become free.
our armed forced can succeed cuz we’re pretty smart
if liberal senators stop speculating with their mouth farts
just because we have no hindsight time machine
doesn’t mean that we just give up on our team
while democrats pretend there is no social security woes
and sen. clinton says that parents can’t know
with all the liberal special interest bills ready for the inking
not yet, we’re not fooled…with your short sighted liberal thinking
while north korea and iran resist nuclear inspections
go head and just spew your “i’m bitter” speculations
##############################
October 28th, 2006 at 10:38 pm#84 - Zooey,
October 28th, 2006 at 10:40 pmI guess you know a cat. I learned the phrase from my Grandfather, born in 1880, died in 1976.
#86 - Audrey
Level 3 — $152,000
http://dcjobsource.com/presidentialsalaries.html
October 28th, 2006 at 10:41 pmI guess you know a cat. I learned the phrase from my Grandfather, born in 1880, died in 1976.
Comment by WaltTheMan
Well, I was the Zookeeper…
My condolences, Walt. Sounds like your grandfather was an interesting man. :P
October 28th, 2006 at 10:45 pmWhat’s next? Balloons and Pop-Tarts?
Folks, all is going according to plan - bush&co. are right on target. There is no reason for them to do anything that will actually work to reduce the chaos. It’s easier for Halliburton to hide their war-profiteering when chaos rains and certainly more profitable to drag this chaos out as long as possible.
Know this - this a completely political regime. Nothing they do is being done for the benefit of anyone but themselves. There is no mercy for anyone that thinks otherwise. They have destroyed democracy through the decimation of the electoral process, murdered the very people they took an oath to protect (9/11 was an inside job - if you look at the evidence there is no other conclusion) and now are in the process of taking their insanity into Iran and there isn’t anyone that can stop them being congress has sheepishly given bush dictatorial powers only matched by modern tyrants such as Hitler and Stalin.
What bush is doing with hughes and rice is a tap-dance of folly for the masses.
October 28th, 2006 at 10:45 pmComment by JohnG
*yawn*
October 28th, 2006 at 10:47 pm…I wish the Iraqi’s didn’t here from he NYT how we torture, how gitmao was standard operating procedure, and bush lied about stuff. Kind of makes the terrorists job easier.
oh man… are you a comedian? ’cause that line just cracked me up!
how ’bout if there were NO torture, or gitmo, or lies, huh?
that would make the job of diplomacy and democracy a lot easier…
We had bad intelligence…
Comment by JohnG — October 28, 2006 @ 10:12 pm
no, johng, we didn’t… we had bad people ignoring the good intelligence…
you are in way over your head here… you should just keep quiet and read and learn… your country needs your help… and you’re not helping…
October 28th, 2006 at 10:52 pm.
The house is on fire and Hughes’ response is to put up some cute Martha Stewart holiday decorations.
October 28th, 2006 at 10:54 pmHere’s a memo for the dumbshits in the White House:
1. Announce that all rebuilding contracts with American corporations are cancelled. The money will be distributed to the Iraqi government to Iraqi businesses.
2. Renounce all claims to Iraq’s oil, allow the Iraqis to cancel contracts with American corporations, and allow them to undo the privatization and theft of their economy imposed by the Bushies.
3. Announce the United States will suspend any work on permanent military bases until our troops pull out so the Iraqis can decide if they want them without being under duress.
4. Suspend work on the mega-embassy for the same reason.
5. Announce that all mercenaries will be withdrawn, but any who have committed war crimes will be turned over to the Iraqi police to do with as they see fit.
6. Announce that our troops will pull out of all cities and will initiate no hostilities while they are being sent home.
These things will not be done because the Bushies went their to steal. Just as they gave their rebuilding cronies billions in no bid contracts, they gave oil companies trillions worth of oil concessions and let those companies dictate the terms of the contracts and how the oil sector of the Iraqi economy is structured.
It is to our undying shame that not only our president and republicans aren’t talking about this real agenda taking Iraq’s oil but neither is the supposed oppositon party, the Democrats, or most of the alternative press (let alone the mainstream press or right wing PR network).
October 28th, 2006 at 10:55 pmThe house is on fire and Hughes’ response is to put up some cute Martha Stewart holiday decorations.
Comment by brandX
Bull’s eye, brandX
October 28th, 2006 at 10:56 pmIt is to our undying shame that not only our president and republicans aren’t talking about this real agenda taking Iraq’s oil but neither is the supposed oppositon party, the Democrats, or most of the alternative press (let alone the mainstream press or right wing PR network).
Comment by Mike
Of course. The political class will do everything to keep the attention of the people in emotional, useless stuff. But there wont be a word about who profits from it. Now, do you think the Muslim leaders are really pissed off by this war? Not a chance. They recruit more young poor kids with destroyed lives. If it was a matter of principles wouldnt OBL tape himself with C4 and blow himself? Oh no…Allah says only poor people should blow himself up. This is a beautiful world, ruled by people addicted to power and supported by sh*tless people…like Exley and JohnG.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:04 pmThis is delusional! Karen Hughes thinks that films can help “show Iraq’s reality to pan-Arab and pan-Islamic audiences.” Does she have any idea what the reality in Iraq is? Has she been outside the green zone?
You won’t believe it, but the plan is like something right out of the new novel The Futurist. It’s as if Hughes read the novel and cribbed her ideas from it.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:06 pmI’ll just apply this here Ban-Aid to your gaping festering wound……seeeee……doesn’t that feeeeel… better?
October 28th, 2006 at 11:08 pmWell said, Juan, as usual. :)
October 28th, 2006 at 11:10 pm- institute an “Itchy and Scratchy” cartoon marathon for the Iraqi children
October 28th, 2006 at 11:12 pm#92 I know, it’s not exciting unless everyone agrees with you
October 28th, 2006 at 11:15 pmFrankly some warm milk, cookies and a nice bedtime story might really put a crimp in the insurgency.
-Mama Hughes
October 28th, 2006 at 11:19 pm“and are far more serious that the administration”
should be THAN.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:20 pm#26
JohnG’s post re:
“heartless liberals …go read about economics in developing nations…”
1) Iraq isn’t a developing nation, it’s a devolving nation, so… micro-economics/scholarships can’t/won’t apply.
2) with less than 3hrs a day of electricity, you’re right I would have to be the one to go ‘read’, they obviously can’t.
3) heartless liberals…? you kool-aid drinkers are so screwed up you are mixing/forgetting your metaphors. we’re ‘godless liberals’, and YOU are the ‘heartless bastards’.
i know, i know. calls for supporting intellectuals, funding public access, and injecting capital into the hands of the masses by your standard bearers IS disconcerting but, please, try to keep up pretenses/appearances (at least for another week+) you’ve got an election to subvert by obfuscation, omission and/or theft.
LMAO!!
October 28th, 2006 at 11:24 pmWell said, Juan, as usual. :)
Comment by Zooey
*blush*
October 28th, 2006 at 11:24 pmHow about building wishing wells throughout the Sunni Triangle Karen, that ought to do it.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:28 pm-Bush brought it upon himself. he invaded a country based on dubious claims. It was inevitable that Iraq would turn out this way.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:31 pmmadrassas…that’ll do it. karen hughes. heckuva job.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:34 pmThat can’t be a real document because the “ideas” are so silly that they could not possibly be considered serious proposals. Even W is not that stupid.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:38 pm#105
1. Iraq is not lost. I know you want to give up, but more americans disagree with you.
2. That is not the U.S. fault, it is the Iraqi’s for not securing their country.
3. no heartless, you know about the death that will be caused if america pulls out, plus the long term fiasco of iraq as a terrorist breeding ground. You just want to be right, because you obvious don’t want the us to win.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:40 pmI disagree. It was Bush who made the terrorists’ job easier by torturing Iraqis and making Gitmo standard operating procedure.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:40 pm#105
Of course, whenever the democrats lose…it’s under false pretenses. Maybe others just think you’re wrong…and the other side is right. It’s a lot more probable then “obfuscation, omission and/or theft”. But keep spreading your lies and talking points.
Bash, bash, bash, bash…..
October 28th, 2006 at 11:44 pm#112 Back up your claims you liberal nut.
A few bad apples at gitmo, you have no context outside your liberal sounding boards. Wake up in to reality. U.S. has never tortured…and here you spout this information helping terrorists by trying to achieve moral equivelence.
The US doesn’t torture suspects, the knocking them around is not torture…these are very bad men. I’m sure you would rather free or their information lost to allow blowing up civilians. You are not thinking about the other side of the coin.
Typical liberal democrat.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:49 pm#114 I backtrack a little…Never tortured as part of policy, I it’s probable that a rouge cia operative has ever done this in modern times.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:52 pmThe military has done all they can do. They invaded a country and removed their government. Their mission is complete and if you see it as a failure that’s all on you.
No. It’s Bush’s fault.
It has been fiasco from the run-up to the war until the present. Blame Bush not us.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:55 pm-It was not a few bad apples this was all sanctioned from the top by the Bush administration.
-Again, it is Bush who is helping the terrorists by torturing people.
Of course the Bush administration tortures. And how does anyone know these are very bad men. The Bush administration is full of liars.
October 29th, 2006 at 12:01 am#114 I backtrack a little…Never tortured as part of policy, I it’s probable that a rouge cia operative has ever done this in modern times.
October 29th, 2006 at 12:01 amComment by JohnG — October 28, 2006 @ 11:52 pm
#255 backtrack… bla bla bla…
Hey, lets love one another, no?
Micro- scholarships???????? Iv’e used all of the pages in my textbooks to wipe with….. now to get the damn toilet to flush……….little or no sanitation/sewer for years now.
October 29th, 2006 at 12:01 am#111
JohnnyJohnnyJohnny
you seem to feel SO strongly, why aren’t you ‘over there’? oh, probably ‘other priorities’ (like not getting your ass blown up), eh? just like ALL the ChickenHawk assholes that ‘walked us’ into this kill zone. btw, i served, volunteered in Vietnam, unlike Bush, Cheney, LimpBalls, Allen, Armey, Boehner, Gringrich, OReilley, Frist, Hannity, Delay, etc
capital ‘D’ denial from the kool-aid drinker, a-maz-ing!
you CAN”t possibly be this stupid. i understand now, it’s just about being an ‘irritant’. well, the great thing about low aspirations is that they are easier to achieve. good news, johnny YOU’VE SUCCEED!!
as for the deaths that will be caused by AmeriKa pulling out, frankly i’m NOT concerned. what i AM concerned about are the 100 deaths this month of our guys/gals and the 3000-5000 Iraqis that are dead because we ARE there.
we need OUR troops back in the US on OUR borders to quard OUR country from the very inflamed masses, thanks to the Neocon wet dream gone bad in Iraq.
bring em home now, let the Iraqis sort out their tribal shit. deploy on our borders and IF the folks that wind up on top get ‘off message‘ with whatever oil profits they can squeak out of what we left them… we just ‘level’ the (oil) playing field with an air/sea cruise missle ‘reminder’ to play nice.
easy peasy
night all, i NEED some SNL to take the idiot ’stank’ of johnny’s stupidity off of me.
October 29th, 2006 at 12:05 amThese people have no clue. They are nuts. Dangerous crazies. If we don’t rid ourselves of them soon, it’ll be too late. I just finished reading Thomas Ricks’ boot Fiasco. Having read that, and now reading this trash from Hughes in absolutely infuriating. God I hate em.
October 29th, 2006 at 12:12 am“The Iraq War” Eddie Bauer edition
October 29th, 2006 at 12:23 am#117 how was it sanctioned, please provide some information from a reputable news agency or government agency.
Liar.
October 29th, 2006 at 12:38 amHello
October 29th, 2006 at 12:54 amThe road to hell is paved with good intentions.
October 29th, 2006 at 12:56 amAs a lifelong Liberal, I’m actually liking the ideas Karen Hughes has come up with and wish her Godspeed. Too bad this wasn’t the approach the day after we entered Baghdad.
At least is shows a grasp of letting the Government leverage its influence in a way helpful to the poor and desparate, something this Administration has not seen fit to do even in “the Homeland”. The adminstration is just not good at governing, just at dismantling governments, both home and abroad.
I think America and the world would be far safer by switching the absolute budgets of the State department and the Defense department for about 5 years.
There also should be a new “truth in labeling” approach to reverse the Orwellian perversions of departments and legislation. The Department of Defense should revert back to its original name as the War Department, which fits so much better. The Department of Homeland Security should be renamed the Department of Domestic Spying. The INS should be renamed “Borders”, whoops, that one is already taken.
October 29th, 2006 at 1:02 am#120 nothing in your comment acknowledgers the consequences of your “i hate bush” happy dance iraq pullout.
Typical “blah blah bush, blah blah orrielly”
October 29th, 2006 at 1:08 am-Gonzalez writing torture memos with the help of that crazy Neocon Francis Fukuyama who says it’s alright for the president to crush the balls of the children of suspected terrorists to extract information.
-Little supervision at the prison.
-The troops convicted of torturing prisoners were not allowed to submit evidence that the Bush administration or any of their superiors sanctioned the torture.
-Similar allegations between the torture at Gitmo and Abu Gharib.
-The president over the last couple of months trying to secure a right to torture sending a specific message to the military and the world.
-The liars are in the white house.
October 29th, 2006 at 1:32 amWhat consequences have you imagined?
October 29th, 2006 at 1:38 amBush and his crew are absolutely clueless. Support scholarships, Book publishing, intellectuals? Jesus Christ, intellectuals are leaving Iraq in droves because of the violence. Nothing, NOTHING! is going to work until the violence has stopped, or greatly reduded. Until people can go about their daily lives without fear of kidnapping, totur, being blown up or caught in the crossfire there’s not one damn thing Karn Hughes can do that will help, but these dim-bulbs don’t, won’t, can’t get it. As long as Bush reigns there will be no hope for the Iraqis.
October 29th, 2006 at 1:43 amreduced
October 29th, 2006 at 1:44 amWould the last poster please close and lock the gate when johng leaves, clearly he is a cull and need’s to be cut out of the heard……Blessings
October 29th, 2006 at 1:46 amerror….herd….Peace
October 29th, 2006 at 1:48 amhttp://www.politicallyerectshirts.com/ Designs/ Left/ images/ I-think-therefore-im-Democrat.jpg
JohnG you’re a typical fascist bloviating his bs. You talk about these sanctions as though they never happened. Well, wimpy someone had to authorize this policy and someone had to propose the legislation to allow this. Now if you can’t see the writing on the wall, which I doubt you can than obviously you hate our freedoms! I suggest you come back after serving over in Iraq, otherwise you really are not loyal to your principals are you? By answering back you obviously hate our troops!
October 29th, 2006 at 1:56 am(pardon the intrusion, i just found this discussion).
Would someone remind me again what’s up and what’s down? Karen’s “ideas”, futile as they are to the romans caught in town while Rome burns, do seem an awful lot like the kind of compassionate nationbuilding Bush criticized and for which he pledged never to commit American troops.
am I straying back to the reality based world again? would someone pass me a red pill, I’m all out (yes I know it’s not covered, I’ll replace it when my next shipment from canada comes)
October 29th, 2006 at 2:01 am[…] Think Progress » LEAKED MEMO: Karen Hughes Thinks Small In Combating Iraq Insurgency […]
October 29th, 2006 at 2:15 am#117 how was it sanctioned, please provide some information from a reputable news agency or government agency.
Liar.
Comment by JohnG — October 29, 2006 @ 12:38 am
Cheney confirms that detainees were subjected to water-boarding
By Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Newspapers
* PDF | FORGETTING THE HISTORY OF WATER TORTURE IN U.S. COURTS
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al-Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called “water-boarding,” which creates a sensation of drowning.
Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn’t regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. “It’s a no-brainer for me,” Cheney said at one point in an interview.
Cheney’s comments, in a White House interview on Tuesday with a conservative radio talk show host, appeared to reflect the Bush administration’s view that the president has the constitutional power to do whatever he deems necessary to fight terrorism.
The U.S. Army, senior Republican lawmakers, human rights experts and many experts on the laws of war, however, consider water-boarding cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment that’s banned by U.S. law and by international treaties that prohibit torture. Some intelligence professionals argue that it often provides false or misleading information because many subjects will tell their interrogators what they think they want to hear to make the water-boarding stop.
Republican Sens. John Warner of Virginia, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have said that a law Bush signed last month prohibits water-boarding. The three are the sponsors of the Military Commissions Act, which authorized the administration to continue its interrogations of enemy combatants.
The radio interview Tuesday was the first time that a senior Bush administration official has confirmed that U.S. interrogators used water-boarding against important al-Qaida suspects, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged chief architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Mohammad was captured in Pakistan on March 1, 2003, and turned over to the CIA.
Water-boarding means holding a person’s head under water or pouring water on cloth or cellophane placed over the nose and mouth to simulate drowning until the subject agrees to talk or confess.
Lee Ann McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, denied that Cheney confirmed that U.S. interrogators used water-boarding or endorsed the technique.
“What the vice president was referring to was an interrogation program without torture,” she said. “The vice president never goes into what may or may not be techniques or methods of questioning.”
In the interview on Tuesday, Scott Hennen of WDAY Radio in Fargo, N.D., told Cheney that listeners had asked him to “let the vice president know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we’re all for it, if it saves American lives.”
“Again, this debate seems a little silly given the threat we face, would you agree?” Hennen said.
“I do agree,” Cheney replied, according to a transcript of the interview released Wednesday. “And I think the terrorist threat, for example, with respect to our ability to interrogate high-value detainees like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that’s been a very important tool that we’ve had to be able to secure the nation.”
Cheney added that Mohammed had provided “enormously valuable information about how many (al-Qaida members) there are, about how they plan, what their training processes are and so forth. We’ve learned a lot. We need to be able to continue that.”
“Would you agree that a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?” asked Hennen.
“It’s a no-brainer for me, but for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president `for torture.’ We don’t torture. That’s not what we’re involved in,” Cheney replied. “We live up to our obligations in international treaties that we’re party to and so forth. But the fact is, you can have a fairly robust interrogation program without torture, and we need to be able to do that.”
The interview transcript was posted on the White House Web site. Interview of the Vice President by Scott Hennen, WDAY.
CIA spokeswoman Michelle Neff said, “While we do not discuss specific interrogation methods, the techniques we use have been reviewed by the Department of Justice and are in keeping with our laws and treaty obligations. We neither conduct nor condone torture.”
McClatchy correspondents James Rosen and Marisa Taylor contributed to this report.
JohnG that was to easy my four year old could debate you. He says your pants are on fire, I agree. You must have a pretty long nose. Tootaloo loser!
October 29th, 2006 at 2:17 amYou just can’t make this kind of stuff up… The ignorance of this administration and disconnect from reality is profound.
October 29th, 2006 at 3:05 am#137 I understand that you believe water boarding for the dozen or so high profile terrorists the president authorized…makes the U.S. government guilty of torture. This is your ONLY fact that you use to spew AMERICA TORTURES, AMERICA TORTURES!!!! Poor supervion at one detention center doesn’t constitute standard operating procedure.
Typical liberal propoganda!!!!!
Realistic Americans understand you can’t just yell at these people…or just “talk it out”…you live in peter pan world.
Hopefully your four year old can teach you some critical thinking.
October 29th, 2006 at 3:20 am#133 Facist liberal. Don’t agree, and will kill you. I wouldn’t want to be your elder grandparents.
October 29th, 2006 at 3:22 am#134 Saying Bush lied and U.S. torture is not criticizing, it’s being a propagandist for terrorists.
All that extra casualties in Iraq this month, trying to scare the weak Americans. You don’t think there is bored Islamic fascists posting on this web site right trying to swing your opinion. Liberal suckers!
You just don’t understand the nature of our enemy. They want to slit your throat.
October 29th, 2006 at 3:29 amYou just don’t understand the nature of our enemy. They want to slit your throat.
Comment by JohnG
You may find that the feeling is mutual.
October 29th, 2006 at 3:55 amTo stop the car bombings in Iraq Hughes is recommending taking away driver’s licenses.
October 29th, 2006 at 4:27 amA cabby in NJ was telling me we had to “get the job done” and keep civil war from breaking out.
I didn’t arguem I just quietly asked him if he knew Iraq’s history. How it was cobbled together by the British from three provinces of the Ottoman Empire that had no intrinsic connection. I asked him if he knew about the promises made to the Kurds back then for an independent nation. I compared its devolution to Yugoslavia’s after Tito died. He was very silent and chastened, and finally said, “I didn’t know any of that–why didn’t they tell us?”
Many of us saw the disaster coming.
We knew troops were being taken out of Afghanistan at the wrong time.
We knew talk of war as a lastr esort