In Robert Draper’s book on the Bush presidency, “Dead Certain,” Bush says the goal of his Iraq strategy is to play it out until “October-November.” That is when he hopes the Iraq troop increase will finally show enough results to help him achieve the central goal of his remaining time in office: “To get us in a position where the presidential candidates will be comfortable about sustaining a presence,” and, he said later, “stay longer.”
UPDATE: Some other highlights from the Draper book:
– Karl Rove told Bush he should not tap Cheney for Vice President
– Bush hopes to make a lot of cash delivering speeches after his presidency is over… while running a “fantastic Freedom Institute”
– Bush “can’t remember” one of the biggest mistakes in post-war Iraq: disbanding the Iraqi army
– The White House staff, including Dan Bartlett and Karl Rove, were “constantly at war” with one another
– Bush cries a lot
UPDATE II: Carpetbagger highlights a few other interesting portions from Draper’s book.
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