“Twice now in the past week, Defense Secretary Gates has raised hackles at the White House with headline-making comments on Iraq that sounded a different note from the official line,” saying that the congressional Iraq timeline debate has been helpful, and that the “clock is ticking” for the Iraqi government to make political progress.
Gates’s comments…unsettled Iraq strategists on the Bush team who fear that too many signals about the limits of U.S. patience could backfire, rather than induce the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to get its act together. “If they feel we’re going to leave, they’ll cut deals with Moqtada Sadr” and other bad guys, says one Iraq expert who consults with the White House.
A DoD official says the Pentagon has heard a “question or two” about Gates’s comments from the White House, but that is all. A White House spokesperson did not immediately return a call asking for comment.
Oy mein Gott! Gates is not a yes man!?
April 24th, 2007 at 9:32 pmLet’s see if I understand this. If the Democrats offer a timetable for leaving Iraq, it’s the party of “cut and run.” But if a Republican does it, especially the current Secretary of Defense, it is a tactical move? Hmmm….
April 24th, 2007 at 9:32 pmGates must have told them the war is lost….
April 24th, 2007 at 9:32 pmI told them not to get rid of Rummy!
April 24th, 2007 at 9:32 pmUh, yeah, Malaki might cut deals with THE GUY HE NAMED TO HIS CABINET if we announce we’re going to leave.
Heaven forfend. We wouldn’t want the various factions to achieve a political settlement.
What fun in that?
April 24th, 2007 at 9:36 pmMore GOP hypocrisy on display, hard to keep track of all the ‘official’ lines. I bet Dick and Karl want to spank him when he returns from his junket.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:37 pmI said it once and i’l say it again, GHW Bush snookered GW Bush into nominating Gates. I can imagine the father- son chat, remember Texas A&M is both the site of the GHW library and Gates’ prior job. GHW is trying to rescue his son from an ignoble fate.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:39 pmMust have been Dubious who got his hackles in a stiffy,
April 24th, 2007 at 9:39 pm’cause neither Karl nor Dick have any left……….
hallo…
April 24th, 2007 at 9:39 pmsorry i vanished for a while…
Here’s some good news, Dennis Kucinich introduced articles of impeachment against Chainee today.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:43 pmMichael Moore’s site has the headliner
http://www.michealmoore.com
sorry folks, bad spelling, it is http://www.michaelmoore.com
April 24th, 2007 at 9:46 pmhallo…
sorry i vanished for a while…
Comment by whiteyfresh
Geez whitey, I guess you’re NOT having a crisis…?
April 24th, 2007 at 9:47 pmDO NOT go to the site I mistakenly posted in #10… my pop up blocker went crazy…
April 24th, 2007 at 9:51 pmApologies again………
(Exception: Trolls, please turn off all your anti-virus software and dive in………….)
ohhh… Life with out Rummy in your pocket… Or was it the other way around?
April 24th, 2007 at 9:54 pmRaven,
You mis-spelled the website name. :)
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
April 24th, 2007 at 9:55 pmyes. i am. see previous thread…
April 24th, 2007 at 9:57 pmWell Hitler shot Erst Roehm….. ooh did I just compare the current US administration to the Nazis, how gauche of me.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:58 pmI find it highly dubious that this administration has even one hackle to raise, let alone multiple hackles.
Also – I’ve never really seen a satisfactory explanation as to why giving a timeline for withdrawal would be dangerous strategically. If say we’re leaving on October 1, does that mean the Sunnis and Shi’a and Tawheeds and Jihadis and al-Qa’ida wannabes will suddenly stop bombing coalition troops and each other and save up their explosives for a big C4 orgy on September 30? Or will they just keep doing what they’re doing and just show us the usual daily bombing? If it’s the former, that’d probably be a good thing for Iraq, and if it’s the latter, what differenc does it make?
Perhaps they’ll try a completely different tactic and send us off with flowers and tiramisu! How fun!
April 24th, 2007 at 10:21 pmGood job Gates, now you’re fired.
April 24th, 2007 at 10:48 pm#4 You are a moron, Frank. 2 days before Rumsfeld got canned he sent a memo to the “president” that the war was lost and had ideas for getting out of Iraq. Even that old f$ck saw reality after it had slapped him in his drooping dementia-ridden face.
April 24th, 2007 at 11:25 pmShame on you Gates. Bad Bushie.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:04 amWhat are they afraid the bubble boy might hear some reality for a change? I am convinced they tell the stupid son of a bitch the shit he says everyday.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:12 am#22 No, Bush is like a superhero. He is impervious.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:26 amDo those snakes in the Bush admin even have “hackles”? Hackles are for mammals; the Bushies are cold-blooded, beady-eyed, spineless reptiles.
April 25th, 2007 at 3:15 amI know a couple of snakes who would take offense to that.
April 25th, 2007 at 5:28 amGates, as a former CIA boss (Intelligence required) is not willing to portrait himself and the country as a bunch of retards.Price to pay too high.
Gates is the first one who is thinking in life after the Chymp.Gates considers the Chymp and his slaves already grilled and is distancing himself a little bit from the mud.
April 25th, 2007 at 8:07 amThe idiots in this administration and their 28% base do not live in the reality based world…they continue to be trapped in the bubble with bubble boy Dubya.
April 25th, 2007 at 8:49 am#7 GHW Bush is one of the few parents I would honestly believe if he said: “Yep, there’s my oldest boy. I tried to raise him up good, but he’s dumb as fence post and twice as dense.”
April 25th, 2007 at 3:17 pmDo those snakes in the Bush admin even have “hackles� Hackles are for mammals; the Bushies are cold-blooded, beady-eyed, spineless reptiles.
Comment by Whizz Bang — April 25, 2007 @ 3:15 am
Hackles are for roosters. Just ask anyone who has been tying trout and fishing flies for the last 52 years. I still have 42 necks that I purchased from Herter’s back then. My fly tying box is an oak footlocker that my Grandfather made for my father when Dad attended MIT.
April 25th, 2007 at 6:12 pm