FLASHBACK: One Year Ago, Gen. Casey Told Bush ‘Less Is Better,’ Pushed Reducing Troops In Iraq
FLASHBACK: One Year Ago, Gen. Casey Told Bush ‘Less Is Better,’ Pushed Reducing Troops In Iraq
Today, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that top American commanders — including Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. — have “decided to recommend a ’surge’ of fresh American combat forces” in Iraq.
But exactly one year ago, Casey rejected a troop increase in Iraq and recommended to President Bush that the number of U.S. forces should actually drop:
As I’ve said before this is not a conventional war, and in this type of war that we’re fighting, more is not necessarily better. In fact, in Iraq, less coalition at this point in time, is better. Less is better because it doesn’t feed the notion of occupation, it doesn’t work the culture of dependency, it doesn’t lengthen the time for Iraqi forces to be self-reliant, and it doesn’t expose coalition forces to risk when there are Iraqi forces who are capable of standing up and doing it.
Casey has not explained the reason for his sudden turnaround and how an increase in troops in 2007 won’t now “feed the notion of occupation” or increase “the culture of dependency.” The Joint Chiefs of Staff are unanimously opposed to Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq and many military officials believe that Bush has tried to bribe them into supporting his escalation plan by offering a tradeoff of increasing the size of the military.
(HT: BarbinMD)
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Boy,Casey sure changed his mind quick.
December 23rd, 2006 at 12:55 pmCut and Run, the Only Brave Thing to Do …a letter from Michael Moore
Friends,
Monday, November 27th, marked the day that we had been in Iraq longer than we were in all of World War II.
That’s right. We were able to defeat all of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the entire Japanese empire in LESS time than it’s taken the world’s only superpower to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad.
And we haven’t even done THAT. After 1,347 days, in the same time it took us to took us to sweep across North Africa, storm the beaches of Italy, conquer the South Pacific, and liberate all of Western Europe, we cannot, after over 3 and 1/2 years, even take over a single highway and protect ourselves from a homemade device of two tin cans placed in a pothole. No wonder the cab fare from the airport into Baghdad is now running around $35,000 for the 25-minute ride. And that doesn’t even include a friggin’ helmet.
December 23rd, 2006 at 12:57 pmflip, flop.
change his mind or lose his job, thats his choice. we know how these guys try to stifle public dissent.
December 23rd, 2006 at 12:59 pmposted on an earlier thread:
I can only imagine the discourse: The Secretary of Defense tells the top commander in the field that the Commander in Chief has ordered him to request more troops. The general complies with the order?
What else could explain such a turn-around?
Look for an Executive Order whereby the State’s Militias are commandeered by the Commander in Chief and thousands are sent to Iraq.
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:00 pmdont blame the generals. blame the decider.
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:02 pmwhats the point of anymore troops when American troops cannot even secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad after 3.5 years
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:06 pmI can only imagine the discourse: The Secretary of Defense tells the top commander in the field that the Commander in Chief has ordered him to request more troops.
I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if blunt threats are being used: go along, or you will be charged with treason, or we will expose your mistress, or whatever it takes. Bush is a dictatorial thug, plain and simple.
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:07 pmComment by INSANE — December 23, 2006 @ 1:06 pm
More Troops = More Money to War Profiteers.
In a reverse Robin Hood, poor people’s kids die so that rich people’s kids can enjoy life more: Social Darwinism at its finest.
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:15 pm7. - It would be interesting to hear the General under oath in a Congressional investigation explain why he changed his stance.
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:17 pmDoes that mean General Casey is/was wrong,or it means that there are other factors surfacing now including political ones that we do not know about?
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:20 pmHe was against increasing troop numbers before he was for it.
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:25 pm*
Is it a flip flop or do people have the option for honest change of mind ?
Michael-From-The-Future !
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:56 pmhttp://questionoftheday.blogspot.com/
*
Is it a flip-flop or do people have the option for honest changes of mind ?
Michael-From-The-Future !
December 23rd, 2006 at 1:57 pmhttp://questionoftheday.blogspot.com/
Apparently they are following the Vietnam strategy of failure. The only group to benefit are the war profiteers.
December 23rd, 2006 at 2:07 pmOOP!
December 23rd, 2006 at 2:26 pmThere is no right answers anymore. Just answers that are less wrong than others. Any way you look at it, people will be dying, our troops and Iraqies, or just Iraqies. We’ve allowed Bush & Co. to bury us so deep, we’ll never see daylight. There will never be a good resolution to this. It’s going to be a lose-lose situation all around. No doubt some of our generals are war-mongers, but I believe many are caught in a moral dilemma and job security. When you’re desperate and there is no good solution, then any solution is better than none, I guess. Bush created a war, then expected the military to make it work. I wonder if we offered the top 3 and threw in Rumsfeld, as a bonus, to the insurgents, maybe they’d stop killing our soliders? H*ll, I’d even gift wrap them!
December 23rd, 2006 at 3:02 pmIm all for more troops in Iraq. That will mean less mindless drones here in our soceity. I have yet to meet an enlisted person who isnt a complete rube. Sorry,but its a high time we stop praising these guys for knowing how to flex thier trigger fingers. Good Riddance.
December 23rd, 2006 at 3:06 pmIs it a flip flop or do people have the option for honest change of mind ?
Not in the republican world. Kerry was attacked mercilessly for doing it.
According to the Bush doctrine, once you form an opinion on something, you should never ever change your mind, no matter what happens.
In the words of Steven Colbert: “I’m not a fan of facts. Facts can change, but my opinions never do”
also, on a more germane note, the timing of his “change of heart” is rather suspicious, to say the least..
December 23rd, 2006 at 3:20 pmHow transparent can they get?
December 23rd, 2006 at 4:36 pmBush floats balloon.
Gates makes visit
Gates relates Cheney demand the generals ask for more troops or their firstborns are dead.
Generals ask for more troops.
(Posted on open thread this morning)
…
More troops arrive.
More troops killed.
More pissed off Iraqis.
More ethnic cleansing.
Troops leave.
Check this brilliant anti-war video;
Guernica Iraq
December 23rd, 2006 at 4:52 pmhttp://911blogger.com/node/5219
What interests my employer fascinates me.
December 23rd, 2006 at 5:00 pmHe was against it before he was for it. Way to go General Casey, you’ll go down in history as one of the many miltary enablers of this rancid Chimpocracy.
-GSD
December 23rd, 2006 at 5:02 pmMilitarism or militarist ideology is the doctrinal view of a society as being best served (or more efficient) when it is governed or guided by concepts embodied in the culture, doctrine, system, or people of the military. Militarists hold the view that discipline is the highest social priority, and claim that the development and maintenance of the military ensures that discipline. Militarism connotes the drive to expand military culture and ideals to areas outside of the military structure —most notably in areas of private business, government policy, education, and entertainment.
Militarism is ideologically rooted in or related to concepts of alarmism, expansionism, extremism, fascism, imperialism, loyalism, nationalism, patriotism, protectionism, supremacy, totalitarianism, triumphalism and warmongering.
Wikipedia
This is where all our problems are based. No more military, no more wars. Unless You have a better use for the trillions of dollars that will be sucked into the military machine, keep closing your eyes and dreaming of a solution.
December 23rd, 2006 at 5:12 pmIt is clear as chicken broth to me, all that bush wanted was an escalation of this war. With the help of brehmer in Baghdad they intentionally ignited and fueled the resistence (’insurgents’) against US and sectarian violence against each other. It is bushes goal to have total chaos in Iraq, to get more troops down there and to attack Iran. And it will be done because the militarists get watery eyes when they think about all the new tanks, jets, missiles, air craft carriers, bombers, nukes, helicopters and maybe the first ‘combat robots’ bush is going to buy them.
We need to rename this country into ‘United Militarists Of North America’.
Violence will never prevail, neither on a small, nor on a large scale.
How about United Shitheads of America?
December 23rd, 2006 at 5:36 pmItsJustKarma at 5:12 pm
Extremely well said. Your comments could have been taken, justifiably, from the pages of Chalmers Johnson or Andrew Bacevich or Gore Vidal. One of the most egregious examples of militarism in modern times must be the faux war on terrorism that the neoconservatives have launched in the Middle East. As Robert Dreyfuss, writing in afterdowningstreet. org has pointed out: “Terrorism cannot be fought with tanks, planes and missiles. The Defense Dept. cannot invade the London suburbs or mosques in Hamburg or the teeming cities of Pakistan. Cells of angry Muslims will coalesce spontaneously to seek revenge for real or alleged wrongs for decades to come. That is a problem for the CIA, the FBI, and especially, foreign police and intelligence services, not the legions [who swear fidelity to the Dept. of Defense]”, but which should be more aptly titled the Dept. of War.
December 23rd, 2006 at 5:57 pmBecause like the rest of the Bushites, Casey doesn’t know what to do either.
December 23rd, 2006 at 6:22 pmBush’s Slippery Slope Leads To A Police State, Plain And Simple
(Dec. 21, 2005, Ed. Note: It is a sad state of affairs to have the President of the United States admit to the nation and to the world that he is spying on the citizens he is elected to safeguard.
It is worse to have the President aggressively justify his “big brother†politics in the name of an ill-begotten, counter-productive war on terrorism that, by his own admission, will go on for years and years and years. It would seem that George Orwell’s “1984†is now at hand; that Bush is aiming to outdo Chile’s Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who also justified his assault on the human rights of Chileans in the higher name of a “war on terrorism.â€
The slippery slope that Bush has embarked upon leads to a police state, plain and simple.
Bush argues that his powers as a president in “times of war†are plenary – that is, full, complete, without limit. Yet the very soul of a democracy is the equal powers that the three branches of government share, each serving as a counterweight to the messianic impulses that any one of the other branches might dare assume.
How can President Bush claim to want to instill a working democracy in Iraq, while at the same time violating our own U.S. laws, our own system of checks and balances? Terrorism is a serious risk to our nation, but a far greater threat is the centralization of American political power in the hands of any single branch of the government.
CONTINUED w Byrd’s speech to the U.S. Senate…
http://www.tcgnews.com/ santiagotimes/ index.php?nav=stor… http://www.democraticunderground.com/ discuss/ duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364×2969845..
Pinochet and Poppy
both Knights of Malta.
December 23rd, 2006 at 6:33 pmCasey’s flipflopping because he’s either being blackmailed or paid off - one or the other! Follow the money (power) trail and ask youself the same question. This is “cryin time” for the Bush administration and the people are out for justice - investigate, indict & impeach….The “Three Big I’s” beginning in January. They must have something on Casey for him to do a ‘Colin Powell’ at this point or he must so desperately need a paycheck that he will prostitute himself for the almighty dollar (which is falling rapidly in value so he’d better take it while the gettin’s good.) If Casey’s this much of a spineless sychophant, then he certainly doesn’t need to be in a position of power in running our troops. Down with Flipflopper Casey today!
December 23rd, 2006 at 6:37 pmHe has been in charge for how long and still has no idea what the hell he is doing;I am sure the medal of Freedom is coming his way for getting more Americans killed.
December 23rd, 2006 at 6:38 pmGen. Casey another disgraceful American military man,same as Tommie Franks.
Flipflopper Casey is on the take! Either he’s being blackmailed or paid off. One doesn’t change their mind that easily particularly when things are going even more abysmally than they were when he suggested “less is more” so what’s his new gig? He’d doing a “colin powell” for either a paycheck, pension, or payoff - it’s always about the almighty dollar which is tanking with each passing day. He figures he’d better get it while the gettin’s good….speaking of which, Cheney gets a raise? For What? For shooting someone in the face? For his neofascist principles?? He’s a tired, heartless (wonder why he has cardiac problems, do ya?) old fool who’s over the hill like his buddy, Rummy. Impeach this nincompoop now! Can’t wait for him to be caught in his own snare when he’s called to testify for his peon, Scooter. Now that will be worth seeing how he tries to lie his way out of the memo with his handwritten annotation on it - he’s in a perfect Catch-22 and will either perjure himself by lying or be thrown out on his ear (Impeached)…..let the games begin! Bring ‘em on, says the american people! It’s time to pay the piper, Tricky Dicky!
December 23rd, 2006 at 6:43 pmThey are selling a product and the product defunct. The war victory is vanishing before their eyes. So, they are just having to believe. Dream on, you so called ………
December 23rd, 2006 at 7:11 pmThe Politics of War.
I can’t stand it.
December 23rd, 2006 at 7:18 pmExcellent posts.
December 23rd, 2006 at 7:34 pm“Turn and Doubletime” sure beats the hell out of “Duck and Cower.”
December 23rd, 2006 at 7:37 pmGen Casey: And now, something completely different…
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:08 pmanother lying piece of shit.
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:11 pmIt’s like:
“You know I can’t tell You everything.
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:25 pmWhy are You asking me so many questions to begin with?
Whoever is with us does not need to hide.
I am not gonna tell You anything anymore.
You’re not gonna understand it anyway.
This is secret on top of it.
You know, I’ve had it with You now!
No more elections for You!
You will just do what I tell You to do!
And if You have a problem with that,
‘the Camp Doors are wide open’.
Remember the question addressed to the Germans after the war?
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:27 pm“Why did You not stop it?”
Well, WHY doesn’t the media ask Casey why exactly it is he changed his mind, and why none of the things he mentioned before are still factors. Are they not still factors? Do we have a media or not?
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:37 pmI think any God’s Blessing is now highly appreciated
and needs to be inseparably united with true Justice.
Maybe we need to employ some out-of-country Judges.
True Judges that hold the same principle high
as true Doctors.
To save human life from desease and misery,
to act and to speak out in a supportive fashion
for the better of human mankind.
A partisan Judge is worse than any crime or
violation he was addressed to judge over.
Without Justice there will never be peace.
Justice is not something You can throw
Your Blood Stained cloth over and be
done with it.
Justice is Karma’s Friend
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:45 pmWorld Peace.
I wish I could wish ‘Happy’ or ‘Merry’ ‘Anything’,
but I think about the people who die
for nothing.
Enjoy If You Can.
It’s Just Karma
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:51 pmWhat ever happened to the option of high altitude bombing?
December 23rd, 2006 at 8:52 pmJust recall the troops to safe areas and litter the bombing grounds in advance of what will occur in 2 hours….carpet bombing for 2 hours. Stop for 4 hours and repeat as necessary untill all the combantants have something to really complain about. Indiscriminate, you say? What is going on now? If we are at war, give them real war, not this be nice to the locals crap.
Andrew you make me ill.
December 23rd, 2006 at 9:01 pmWhat can one expect from Gen. Casey? A flip-flop ensures a bright post-retirement future with one of the major GOP contributing corporations. From all accounts, it appears Casey was bribed and what a tragedy? Honesty means what is expedient for these top ranking US Military officers. They have shown the world they are no better than military officers from corrupt nations worldwide. Also, Gen. Casey is a man without any testicular fortitude. Flip-flop is more a GOP trait than anyone else’s in USA.
Wish the honest and peaceful citizens all over the world Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy and Prosperous New Year.
GOD, please save the US and its inebriated GOP members and followers from their ignorance. In this case of the GOP and their followers, ignorance is NOT bliss.
Honest Abe Lincoln
December 23rd, 2006 at 9:05 pmI second that, Truth.
December 23rd, 2006 at 9:07 pmWhat can one expect from Gen. Casey? A flip-flop ensures a bright post-retirement future with one of the major GOP contributing corporations. From all accounts, it appears Casey was bribed and what a tragedy? Honesty means what is expedient for these top ranking US Military officers. They have shown the world they are no better than military officers from corrupt nations worldwide. Also, Gen. Casey is a man without any testicular fortitude. Flip-flop is more a GOP trait than anyone else’s in USA.
Even Field Marshal Rommel one of the great military strategists during WW II paid with his life rather than suck upto Adolf Hitler! Alas Casey is not even closer to Field Marshal Rommel, but to Hermann Goering, Chief of the German Luftwaffe during WW II, under Adolf Hitler.
Wish the honest and peaceful citizens all over the world Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy and Prosperous New Year.
GOD, please save the US and its inebriated GOP members and followers from their ignorance. In this case of the GOP and their followers, ignorance is NOT bliss.
Honest Abe Lincoln
December 23rd, 2006 at 9:11 pmComment by Samantha — December 23, 2006 @ 8:37 pm
yes, we do. It’s owned by the ruling dynasties.
December 23rd, 2006 at 9:16 pmThis whole issue is a sham. A farce.
Why isn’t anybody talking about the 100,000 extra troops we already have in Iraq in the form of private contractors???
Add those guys in and what will 40,000 troops accomplish?
All that number will do is replenish those who’ve been killed or maimed and add a few more soldiers to “guard” the private contractors who’ve taken their safer, support jobs at 10x the pay!
More lambs to the slaughter is all this is, more money for the profiteers
December 23rd, 2006 at 9:33 pmIs it a flip-flop or do people have the option for honest changes of mind ?
Comment by Michael-From-The-Future ! — December 23, 2006 @ 1:57 pm
Yes, indeed, Michael, people do have the option for honest changes of mind. unless they happen to belong to the “wrong” political party and most especially, their name must not be John Kerry.
Got it? Good.
December 23rd, 2006 at 9:50 pmWow Michael, you really must be from the future if you have so little recollection of the 2004 presidential election.
December 24th, 2006 at 1:22 amRep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami……..one can only hope someone gives her a non returnable gift of lead.
December 24th, 2006 at 3:26 amMaybe Casey had a thing with Gannon like W and Cheney? Just a question…….
December 24th, 2006 at 3:27 amThere are more GAY connections in this administration than any other in history. I would bet my life on the fact that one day when im 90 it will come out that bush was gay, just like hitler.
December 24th, 2006 at 4:14 amIm all for more troops in Iraq. That will mean less mindless drones here in our soceity. I have yet to meet an enlisted person who isnt a complete rube. - Comment by sarahT
**************************
Are you calling me a rube? I was Navy enlisted from 1969-1974. Fortunately, I didn’t kill anyone, but I helped point nuclear warheads at Eastern Europe. By the time I gained enough political consciousness to understand what I was doing, it was either finish out my term or go to prison. What you you have done, sarahT?
Are we a bit of a snob, maybe? What about officers? You got a soft spot for them? My experience with officers is that they issue the killing orders and that the system tends to promote psychopaths and assholes. The enlisted guys are often just poor kids trying to get ahead. So you can kiss my ass darlin’.
I admit there are plenty of ‘rubes’ in the military. But last I heard, being a rube is not a capital offense, and I do not wish death and mayhem on someone for being a rube. You, however, appear to be doing so.
The military is hard-core authoritarian, and it always has been, and unless we keep it on a short leash, it’s a danger to civilized society. But the problem starts at the top and works its way down. Not the other way around.
December 24th, 2006 at 9:55 amComment by I Love Bush at 4:46 am
“I urge every American to find some way to thank our military this Christmas season.”- George W. Bush. The best way our deserter in chief can thank the military is to get them out of that hellhole as quickly and as rapidly as possible. If not, they will receive a New Year’s present of a missing limb[s], a severed spine, a badly burned body, a mind which has been severly damaged, both physically and psychologically. Since he did his best to make sure that he would never end up in a field of combat while wearing a military uniform, perhaps that is the reason why he seems to be completely devoid of the fact that those in the military are being killed and blown up for absolutely no legitimate reason whatsoever. Empathy has never been his strongest suit. Bring them home now before more of them come back to this country in flag draped coffins.
December 24th, 2006 at 10:14 amI guess “I Love Bush” forgot about all that bipartisan that the last few Congress’s engaged in right?
Oh I forgot, the Dems put anything, I mean anything up for a vote and it was killed outright, straight party votes, the Repugs killed anything the Dems put out.
And now this one thinks Bush is really going to engage in Bipartisanship? hahaha
What is in your wheaties this morning, Jack Daniels AND meth? Geez……..
December 24th, 2006 at 10:16 amwhat wonderful hypocritical words from a President who has yet to attend one military funeral, for any of the poor kids he’s sent off to die in his war for PNAC/AIPAC.
December 24th, 2006 at 10:18 amWow, lookit that picture. Is someone trying to channel Il Duce?
December 24th, 2006 at 10:59 amBush was catching a raft of s…t because he was going to override the commanders recommendations NOT to increase U.S. troops. So of course, he did whatever it took to overcome those objections. Frankly, I believe there were some major threats made…and not just to Casey’s retirement and other military perks.
December 24th, 2006 at 1:14 pmIcreasing the troops in Iraq will only help if it will lead to increasing ruthlessly the pounding of the insurgents hidden in their civilian shelters which they use as shields. It’s this cover behind civilians that has made the task of US forces so difficult in capturing or eliminating the insurgents, as well as so costly in American lives. But before this remorseless tactic is going to be used, the insurgents should be warned that their cover behind civilians will no longer save them.
Also, the increase in troops must be accompanied by a new strategy and tactics on the ground, if it’s going to lead to the defeat of the insurgents. See,” How to Defeat the Insurgency by its Own Lethal Weapon”-
December 24th, 2006 at 10:32 pmI could see it from the get-go. Generals Casey and Pace are part of BushCo….which means they will say ANYTHING they are asked/told to do by their superiors. So, General’s Casey and Pace, way to think about the safety of your troops in the field.
December 26th, 2006 at 9:41 amAnd to bushlover #55, he may plead for bipartisanship but where were those words BEFORE he set on his current ill-advised course.
SOS Military: dig the grave; fill it back in; repeat.
December 26th, 2006 at 4:17 pm[…] Think Progress / December 24, 2006 […]
December 26th, 2006 at 11:38 pmI Love Bush is a fake. Nobody could be that stupid.
December 27th, 2006 at 11:21 pmThose of you who have never been there should shut up and listen to those of us who have. His change of position on the issue is because the enemy has a vote in this matter. Clueless pundents would not understand.
February 1st, 2007 at 8:52 pm