‘Last throes’ delayed successful anti-IED strategy.
‘Last throes’ delayed successful anti-IED strategy.
In early 2006, the U.S. strategy in Iraq began to shift from hunting bombs to hunting bombmakers. The focus on breaking up bombmaking networks, accompanied with “a broader counterinsurgency strategy this year,” has brought “casualties from the bombs” to “their lowest point since 2003, the first year of the war.” According to USA Today, the strategy “was ignored or rejected for years by key decision-makers,” like Vice President Dick Cheney, who “insisted the insurgency was dying”:
That plan and others mirroring the counterinsurgency blueprint that the Pentagon now hails as a success were pitched repeatedly in memos and presentations during the following two years, at meetings that included then-Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby. [...]
Bush administration officials, however, remained wedded to the idea that training the Iraqi army and leaving the country would suffice. Officials, including Cheney, insisted the insurgency was dying. Those pronouncements delayed the Pentagon from embracing new plans to stop IEDs and investing in better armored vehicles that allow troops to patrol more freely, documents and interviews show.
In May 2005, Cheney declared to CNN that the insurgency in Iraq was in its “last throes.”
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And just like those hanging onto deck chairs on the Titanic, they all drowned in their ignorance.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:08 pmIn May 2005, Cheney declared to CNN that the insurgency in Iraq was in its “last throes.
— Look, when your The Prince Of Frickin’ Darkness And Master Of All That’s Unholy, “last throes” is a temporal, transitory thing.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:09 pmWhat? They were wrong? Again?
Who could have predicted that?
December 19th, 2007 at 2:09 pmHeckuva job, Dick and Rummy! Either way, Haliburton’s stock rose, so it’s a win-win for you both.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:11 pmLast throes? No, no, no. the Insurgency has just begun.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:12 pmhttp://www.tshirtinsurgency.com
Nobody’s going to be able to prove anything now. The documents and the remaining tapes were set on fire today. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, as they say.
Bush/Cheney/OBL win when America gets shafted and America has been shafted but good.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:12 pm“And just like those hanging onto deck chairs on the Titanic, they all drowned in their ignorance.”
Really? Seems to me they’re still running the country unhindered and unchecked. The only ones drowning, metaphorically speaking, are the troops who died or were injured because of this policy.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:12 pmOh, the Military mind of 5-time deferment Dick.
Hey Richard Dick Richards, STFU.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:15 pmCheney was laughing and rubbing his hands together as the insurgency gained momentum.
A bloated and arrogant psychopath.
Every American serviceman injured should hold him, Bush and Rumsfeld personally responsible.
-GSD
December 19th, 2007 at 2:20 pmSo they actually prevented us from winning their stupid little war. Osama must be laughing his ass off.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:26 pmThey did a cost benifet analysis and decided that the lives of the troops were worth less than the cost of protecting them. typical republican thinking.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:35 pmAs Cheney declared himself an authority on war strategy, his pronouncements were always speculation, in error or outright lies.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:39 pmWhy this man remains in office is almost as astonishing as the fact that his heart remains beating.
They have always hindered success in Iraq. The Mission Accomplished banner was not a joke to W and Cheney. That was as far as they’d planned. Everything would just work out after Saddam was taken out. The world would bow the might of America. Democracy would ring out amongst the world, especially in areas sane people knew would never, ever, ever embrace democracy imposed by infidels. It’s a great story, for comic book and graphic novel writers. Not for people who are so smug that they believe the BS they spew.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:41 pmOnce again, proof that this regime is more concerned about its image and mythical ‘place in history’ than with any real concern about the troops or Iraq.
And the band played on….
December 19th, 2007 at 2:43 pm‘Last throes’ Ha Ha Ha Ha
Falluga has been surrounded for 5 months now , no cars and curfews everynight where snipers shoot anybody out after 6 PM
Al Sadr ceasefire is working better than the surge
UN mandate for one more year then American troops out for good WITH NO OIL
was it worth it – Hell yes well done Ossama Bin Laden you have shown America in true colours
December 19th, 2007 at 2:44 pmJust another example of this Administration ignoring legitimate intelligence and going on it’s “gut feelings”. At the expense of our soldiers safety no less. These criminals disgust me. Their false claims of patriotism and “support the troops” belie the fact that all they care about is money, power and oil. Common sense and laws be damned. Somebody lock this traitor in his man sized safe and throw him off top of the Washington Monument! LOOK OUT BELOW!!!
December 19th, 2007 at 2:47 pmWhy do Republicans hate our troops…?
December 19th, 2007 at 2:49 pm1/ Bush Embarrassed as World Rejects Bid to Punish Iranian Banks
2/ Iran, Italy to sign major gas deal
3/ LUKOIL resumes work in Iran’s oil field
4/ First nuclear fuel arrives in Iran from Russia 　
5/ Iran, China Sign $2 Billion Oil Contract
Did Bush Get New Iran Intel Last Winter?
http://www.antiwar.com/porter/?articleid=12070
what a loser Bush is
December 19th, 2007 at 3:00 pma really sad apologist troll on this site once proclaimed that the word “throes” could mean any length of time, even years. dumb.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:00 pmif the UN mandate is renewed on the 31st dec 2007 for another year
Expect Maliki getting nowhere, and new elections again in july
December 19th, 2007 at 3:10 pmAJ: How do you view the recent US and Iraqi reports about the improved security situation?
Al-Dhari: Yes, we can say the security situation has slightly improved. The reason for that lies in the fact that George Bush needs to present some sort of success to his people, and it is the same with the current Iraqi government. Both have realised that the tense situation in Iraq would do them no good. Hence, the Iraqi government ordered its death squads to halt their attacks on people. That’s all.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/358F4592-A9B6-4BBC-8C3A-4FBC700C0BBC.htm
December 19th, 2007 at 3:13 pmwhat a loser Bush is
Comment by Bush Cover Ups — December 19, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
Yes.
I’d really like some TALENTED PERSON to be the next president.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:18 pmRepukes need not apply.
So they actually prevented us from winning their stupid little war. Osama must be laughing his ass off.
Comment by Lefty Patriot
There was never any plan to win anything. It’s much easier to steal during the chaos of war.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:47 pmWhat this shows us is that if our Commander guy and his side-kick Tricky Dick had left this occupation up to the military, we might be in a place right now where we could bring our soldiers home. But, with their constant meddling and either overriding or firing Generals who were doing what needs to be done, we are still up to our a$$ in alligators in Iraq.
December 19th, 2007 at 4:20 pmwe are still up to our a$$ in alligators in Iraq.
Yes
By setting themselves up to be manipulated, they give credence to an old Arab saying: the magic has taken over the magician.
December 19th, 2007 at 4:26 pmCHENNEY, RUMSFELD, RICE = HAGUE 2009
December 19th, 2007 at 9:34 pm