I Was Waiting for the Transcripts So I Could Share
…and see if you were as surprised as I was. The setting? A round table on CNN’s “This Week at War“. The participants? BRIG. GEN. David Grange, U.S.A.(RET), Jamie McIntyre, the usual CNN suspects, including…correspondent Michael Ware. I was already rolling my eyes. They would wind up bugging out in shock.
…[Tom] FOREMAN: Jamie, how afraid are the generals that now with General Petraeus in command, they are moving in the right direction that things actually are making progress but that the clock in Washington has just run out?
McINTYRE: You saw that comment from General Lynch. It followed the one on Thursday from General Mixon, his counterpart to the north. There’s a united front from front line commanders who are urging patience with the surge. The biggest fear now is that the surge is going to be successful in the short term and then the troops are going to be pulled out. It’s all going to go back to the way it was. That’s what they’re warning about now and basically say they’re not paying attention to what’s happening in Washington, but they can feel the heat of the disillusionment in Washington, the impatience with the policy and they’re very concerned that the rug might be pulled out from underneath them just when they think they have a strategy that’s working.
…FOREMAN: Michael Ware, you’ve had some of the most pessimistic outlooks at times that anything can be done to make things better, but you’re on the ground there. You see the so-called surge at work. Would you say to the politicians here, yeah, give it until September, see how it works out or would you say, look, we’ve waited and waited and waited. Maybe you’re doing the right thing to change now?
WARE: What I would say is quite the contrary. I would say that, you know, I’m sorry, but American forces took this country. A set of circumstances emerged and whether you like it or not, whether you’re for or against this war from the beginning, whether you’re for or against the surge now, I’m sorry, America has very little choice but to stay and for the long-term. I mean, this country is broke. America’s enemies are emboldened and stronger. Their spheres of influence are increasing as a direct result of U.S. presence here and the ongoing war. And what, you want to turn around and pull out and leave it behind to them? If that’s what you want to do, I mean, if America wants to pull out now……is America ready to pay the price?
The next question is “General Grange, what do you think that price would be, very briefly?” and you can tell the General is stunned by what came out of Ware’s mouth, as were we. He was all fired up to dispute what he knew Ware was going to say, got completely blindsided and has to regroup, speaking as if he can’t believe what he’s about to say…
GRANGE: I think Mike’s right on.
Buried on a Saturday afternoon show, I doubt this got the attention it deserves, since the New York Times editorial page had already gone to print. Sh*t. I’ll bet they had this written a year and a half ago and were just waiting to spring it.
It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.
…It is frighteningly clear that Mr. Bush’s plan is to stay the course as long as he is president and dump the mess on his successor. Whatever his cause was, it is lost.
Military Thingies | tree hugging sister | 
July 8, 2007 10:19 pm
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WTF?!?!?! Did the sun rise in the west, or what?
Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!
And as for the NYT, good job being so succinct with your Total Worldview – “All is lost!” Wankers.
For real, huh, you guys? Color me gobschmacked.
And I’m half convinced Ware will be singing a different tune whence he realizes what it was he said. But that’s the cynic in me talking.