McCain: Bush not straight enough on Iraq

[pickel]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/...ors/index.html

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said Bush was not being "as straight as maybe we'd like to see" with the American people about Iraq.

McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday" that it was "a serious mistake" not to have had enough troops in place "after the initial successes" and that the mistake had led to "very, very significant" difficulties.

"I think every day that goes by that we don't remove these sanctuaries in Falluja and other places in the Sunni Triangle, the more expensive it's going to be at the time we take this out," McCain said.


All Bush cares about is his own wanting to get re-elected @ss. Read the whole article ans see him for what he REALLY is. Like I've said, Kerry is a complete idiot, but all the Bush lies and deceptions while our yougn men are dying turns my stomach and makes me more determined to see him tucking tail back to Texas in November.

[Pexster]

I heard on Chris Matthews today that the decision to go into Fallujah was made by Bush, and the decision to pull back out three days later was made by Bush -- for political reasons, not military ones.

[Theophylact]

The term I've seen for this is "joysticking".

[pickel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theophylact

The term I've seen for this is "joysticking".

I thought that's what Bush does in the Oval office

[MTAtech]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pexster

I heard on Chris Matthews today that the decision to go into Fallujah was made by Bush, and the decision to pull back out three days later was made by Bush -- for political reasons, not military ones.

FLIP-FLOPPER!!!

[TOAD6147]

Actually MTAtech, I believe "flip-flopping" as used by the Republicans, was defined by James Baker during the Election Campaign of Jimmy Carter as taking a position to satisfy one political position or affiliation and then adopting a different or opposing view on the same subject to satisfy a different political position or affiliation. As if Republicans have never done such a thing.

[MTAtech]

It isn't only McCain, this is from Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, Nebraska who is on the Foreign Relations Committee who was on Face the Nation, yesterday:

Quote:

SCHIEFFER: Do you think, Senator Hagel, that we're winning [in Iraq]?

Senator CHUCK HAGEL (Republican, Nebraska; Foreign Relations Committee): No, I don't think we're winning. In all due respect to my friend Jon Kyl, the term hand-wringing is a little misplaced here. The fact is a crisp, sharp analysis of our policies are required. We didn't do that in Vietnam, and we saw 11 years of casualties mount to the point where we finally lost. We can't lose this. This is too important. There's no question about that. But to say, `Well, we just must stay the course and any of you who are questioning are just hand-wringers,' is not very responsible.

The fact is we're in trouble. We're in deep trouble in Iraq. We need more regionalization. We need more help from our allies. We need the Iraqi people to come around us in a more supportive way. That means more jobs, more development. http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/face_091904.pdf

This from Republican Senator Richard G. Lugar:

Quote:

Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said today that the Bush administration’s request to divert more than $3 billion from reconstruction work in Iraq to security measures was a sign that the American campaign in Iraq is in serious trouble.

“Although we recognize these funds must not be spent unwisely,” the committee chairman, Senator Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, said, “the slow pace of reconstruction spending means that we are failing to fully take advantage of one of our most potent tools to influence the direction of Iraq.”

Mr. Lugar expressed his concerns as two State Department officials came before the committee seeking permission to divert more than $3.4 billion in reconstruction funds to security efforts. The request came a day after one of the bloodiest days in Iraq in recent months. http://www.command-post.org/2_archives/2004_09.html

[MTAtech]

Quote:

Record shows Bush shifting on Iraq war
President's rationale for the invasion continues to evolve

President Bush portrays his position on Iraq as steady and unwavering as he represents Sen. John Kerry's stance as ambiguous and vacillating.

"Mixed signals are the wrong signals,'' Bush said last week during a campaign stop in Bangor, Maine. "I will continue to lead with clarity, and when I say something, I'll mean what I say.''

Yet, heading into the first presidential debate Thursday, which will focus on foreign affairs, there is much in the public record to suggest that Bush's words on Iraq have evolved -- or, in the parlance his campaign often uses to describe Kerry, flip-flopped.

Full Story

[TOAD6147]

Something lost on the neo-cons or their defenders:

Quote:

In the fall of 2002, as Bush sought congressional support for the use of force, he described the vote as a sign of solidarity that would strengthen his ability to keep the peace. Today, his aides describe it unambiguously as a vote to go to war.

But THEY don't flip-flop.

[johnnycombat]

Quote:

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said Bush was not being "as straight as maybe we'd like to see"

This has to be the most diplomatic way of calling someone a liar that I have ever heard.