Nbadan
01-16-2005, 02:50 PM
No U.S. Troop Withdrawal Date Is Set
Sunday, January 16, 2005; Page A01
President Bush said the public's decision to reelect him was a ratification of his approach toward Iraq and that there was no reason to hold any administration officials accountable for mistakes or misjudgments in prewar planning or managing the violent aftermath.
"We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 elections," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. "The American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates, and chose me."
With the Iraq elections two weeks away and no signs of the deadly insurgency abating, Bush set no timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops and twice declined to endorse Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's recent statement that the number of Americans serving in Iraq could be reduced by year's end. Bush said he will not ask Congress to expand the size of the National Guard or regular Army, as some lawmakers and military experts have proposed.
In a wide-ranging, 35-minute interview aboard Air Force One on Friday, Bush laid out new details of his second-term plans for both foreign and domestic policy. For the first time, Bush said he will not press senators to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the top priority for many social conservative groups. And he said he has no plans to cut benefits for the approximately 40 percent of Social Security recipients who collect monthly disability and survivor payments as he prepares his plan for partial privatization.
more…
Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12450-2005Jan15.html)
So now the 04 Presidential election was strictly about the Iraq war? Ah, Democrats should hold on to this moment because like most current initiatives by this White House, this house of cards is sure to someday come tumbling down.
There used to be this old hick joke about a country boy up in a tree fighting with a bobcat. The boy's friend was at the bottom of the tree with a gun, but couldn't get a clean shot at the cat. The boy up the tree kept calling for the boy with the gun to shoot the bobcat. The boy with the gun shouts up to his friend that he is afraid he might hit him. The boy fighting the cat replies, "Just shoot up in here amongst us, one of us has got to get some relief!"
We, here, in the US are swiftly approaching the same point...
Sunday, January 16, 2005; Page A01
President Bush said the public's decision to reelect him was a ratification of his approach toward Iraq and that there was no reason to hold any administration officials accountable for mistakes or misjudgments in prewar planning or managing the violent aftermath.
"We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 elections," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. "The American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates, and chose me."
With the Iraq elections two weeks away and no signs of the deadly insurgency abating, Bush set no timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops and twice declined to endorse Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's recent statement that the number of Americans serving in Iraq could be reduced by year's end. Bush said he will not ask Congress to expand the size of the National Guard or regular Army, as some lawmakers and military experts have proposed.
In a wide-ranging, 35-minute interview aboard Air Force One on Friday, Bush laid out new details of his second-term plans for both foreign and domestic policy. For the first time, Bush said he will not press senators to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the top priority for many social conservative groups. And he said he has no plans to cut benefits for the approximately 40 percent of Social Security recipients who collect monthly disability and survivor payments as he prepares his plan for partial privatization.
more…
Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12450-2005Jan15.html)
So now the 04 Presidential election was strictly about the Iraq war? Ah, Democrats should hold on to this moment because like most current initiatives by this White House, this house of cards is sure to someday come tumbling down.
There used to be this old hick joke about a country boy up in a tree fighting with a bobcat. The boy's friend was at the bottom of the tree with a gun, but couldn't get a clean shot at the cat. The boy up the tree kept calling for the boy with the gun to shoot the bobcat. The boy with the gun shouts up to his friend that he is afraid he might hit him. The boy fighting the cat replies, "Just shoot up in here amongst us, one of us has got to get some relief!"
We, here, in the US are swiftly approaching the same point...