yourdomain.com

[David R Gold]

Gingrich calls Iraq war a 'failure'
In N.H., says Bush must admit that to regain trust

By James W. Pindell, Globe Correspondent | November 29, 2006
SOURCE
BEDFORD, N.H. -- Former House speaker Newt Gingrich told a New Hampshire audience yesterday that unless the Bush administration admits that the war in Iraq is a "failure," it will never develop a strategy to leave the country successfully.

Gingrich, who has been laying the groundwork for a presidential run, said the Bush administration needs to plan a "third stage" in Iraq, following the military takeover stage and the recent democracy-building stage. But he says a third stage can come about only if officials admit they must change course.

"If the military, White House, and State Department continue to avoid the word 'failure,' how can you bring about a third stage?" Gingrich said.

Gingrich was in New Hampshire for three campaign-style events Monday night and yesterday. While the former speaker has expressed interest in a presidential run, he said yesterday that he is more interested in injecting ideas in to the 2008 campaign than in putting his name on the ballot. He said he will not seriously entertain a presidential campaign until September.

Gingrich, who served on a key Pentagon board that advised Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the runup to the Iraq war, was eager to distance himself from the Bush administration's handling of the war.

He said a show of contrition by the White House would help the president regain the trust of the American people and avoid a quick pullout, which would be disastrous.

The first goal in Iraq, Gingrich said, should be to rebuild the national military, even if it requires spending tantamount to the Marshall Plan effort in the aftermath of World War II, in which the United States spent up to 3 percent of its gross domestic product.

"We have to show we are serious about winning and that we will defeat any person, Sunni or Shi'ite, that hopes to disrupt progress," he said. "But we can only do that if we have Iraqi troops on the ground."

Speaking at various campaign-style events, Gingrich reiterated his belief that the Republican Party's loss of Congress earlier this month was attributable to a failure to follow conservative principles, particularly concerning spending.

On Monday night, Gingrich was the keynote speaker at a First Amendment dinner sponsored by the Union Leader of Manchester, the state's largest and historically conservative newspaper.

Yesterday morning he appeared at the classic New Hampshire primary stop "Politics and Eggs," where he fiercely defended the first-in-the-nation status of the Granite State's presidential primary on the grounds that its small size and engaged electorate make it a forum for a discussion of ideas.

The former speaker also met privately with David Carney , a New Hampshire-based consultant who was the White House political director during the George H. W. Bush presidency. He wrapped up his visit by addressing 100 Republican legislators and activists at a lunch meeting that was part pep rally and part lecture on how to build a strong party.

The lecture was well-received by Republican leaders.

"He was exactly the right person we needed to hear from," said State Representative George Katsakiores , a Derry Republican.

[Fox]

Newt needs to quit drinking the water in Washington. Labeling one of the most successful military operations in history a failure is not going to make it a success. It will not inspire people to support continuing the hard work that lays ahead and it will not motivate our enemies to end their brutal and barbaric ways.
_________________
Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. (Applause.)

[FoundingFather]

Sorry Newt, but I see no benefit to announcing "failure" other than to appease the President's critics.

We all know that we need to curb the violence, and let the Iraqi military and police take over. The question has been, how to accomplish that? For damn sure, it's not "ask Iran and Syria for their help".

The answer is to make a statement that neither side (militias/insurgents) are preferred, and this ongoing violence will not be tolerated. I don't care if a few eggs are broken.

[pbrauer]

[gary]

I heard Newt on the radio yesterday. He said then that the invason and ousting of Saddam was a brilliant success. Then he went on and said that we were failing in the building of an Iraqi democracy. He pointed out a number of failures and was accurate.
The list includes:
Putting an American in charge of the country.
Not paying attention to the defeated Iraqi army and police.
Not taking care of business with the militias.
and a couple of other things.

It this Newt is right. We did make some mistakes and failed to do the right thing. This does not mean that the whole thing was a failure and as far as I have heard, it is not what Newt was saying.

gary

[Fox]

I think it is debatable as to whether those are mistakes or not.

Why would it follow that things would be better if we had put an Iraqi in charge at the beginning? Maliki is in charge right now and no one says it is getting better.

It is not clear to me that we did not pay attention to the Iraqi Army or the police. We did disband their ranks and rebuild those institutions. But there are great reasons for doing this. One being that we would like to lessen the ability of the enemy to infiltrate their ranks.

As far as the militias goes, these are not groups of men wearing uniforms that say "militia". Remember the Fedayeen al Saddam who went around in black uniforms. They are not doing that anymore cause they found out quickly they would get their butts whipped. Remember when the terrorists tried to make a stand in Fallujah? Guess what? They lost badly and they are not trying to stand up to the US military anymore.

I think it is a sign of a successful campaign that the criticisms are so minute in the grand scheme of things. What has been accomplished in Iraq is really without parallel in history.

On the other hand, what exactly has our enemy accomplished? They only seem to be able to succeed in committing atrocities and spooking squishes here at home. But ceasing to fight them is not going to stop the atrocities.
_________________
Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. (Applause.)

[joe]

Newt is trying to become a dog in the hunt again, so he is going to play the political game to appease the people. When you are dealing with people's ignorance, I don't blame him.

I have refereed enough football games to recognize I have made mistakes. Sometimes in penalty enforcement or my mechanics. However, that doesn't mean the entire game was officiated badly. The better coaches recognize that. They don't expect perfection, but consistency.

The same goes with Iraq. Some mistakes have been made, but I didn't expect perfection. So, if you are one of those that expects perfection and one mistake is made, then you have to assume failure.
_________________
All comments, opinions, sarcasm, and insults are according to King Joe (accurately nicknamed by Gary)...aka KJV

[Osiris]

[joe]

Osi:
I have heard Bush admit to mistakes in Iraq. He has admitted some things have not gone as planned too. However, he is just not telling you who told him so.

[Osiris]

[gary]

My point was that Newt did not say that the whole war was a failure. I happen to agee with him that some very significant mistakes were made. Some of them were corrected, like putting an American or at least the wrong American, in charge right after the fall of SH. However, some damage was done anyway. This was a political mistake to be sure. The way that the Iraqi Army and police were delt with was a mistake. They were disbanded but not totally disarmed. They were ignored for too long. This gave arms and expertise to our enemies. The list goes on and on. However, the overall policy has not been wrong. This situation can be brought to a positive conclusion if and only if we move forward toward an identifiable goal.

gary

[Osiris]

[gary]

Osi, it does seem to have worked in 14 of the 18 provinces. That is 78% of the country. So to say that this is a total faliure or that the plan was 100% wrong is just plane not right. However, we do need to change some things in order to get the other 22% of the country on board. As we all know Bagdad is part of that 22% and Bagdad is the real issue.

gary

[Fox]

[gary]

Fox I agree with you as far as the Media is concerned. However, if the errors are being looked at by the military and by the government of the US and corrected then bringing them to light is a positive thing. If, as it appears right now, these things are just being used to say "Bush Bad!", then you are 100% right.

gary