 Tim Russert reported exclusively for NBC tonight that President Bush faced an extraordinary confrontation with 11 Republican lawmakers in the White House solarium. The delegation, yesterday at 2:30 in the afternoon, was led by Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. The private meeting was attended by the president, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Karl Rove, and Tony Snow, along with perhaps others.
At the meeting, Russert reports the 11 unusual suspects (no Ron Pauls there,) told the president in supremely blunt terms that he has lost credibility on the Iraq war. The Congressmen reportedly called the conversation "the most unvarnished convo they've ever had with the president," and one described it by saying that he has had private meetings with three presidents, with this one being the most blunt.
Just a few quotes related by Russert tonight on Countdown (courtesy of ThinkP, where you ca also see the video report):
[O]ne said “My district is prepared for defeat. We need candor, we need honesty, Mr. President.” The president responded, “I don’t want to pass this off to another president. I don’t want to pass this off, particularly, to a Democratic president,” underscoring he understood how serious the situation was.
Brian, the Republican congressman then went on to say, “The word about the war and its progress cannot come from the White House or even you, Mr. President. There is no longer any credibility. It has to come from Gen. Petraeus.” The meeting lasted an hour and 15 minutes and was, in the words of one, “remarkable for the bluntness and no-holds-barred honesty in the message delivered by all these Republican congressmen.”
Meanwhile, as if Dubya isn't having enough problems, VoteVets.org has released a series of unprecedented video ads in which generals -- including two who commanded U.S. forces in Iraq -- assail the president's handling of the war, his mismanagement of United States armed forces, and the detrimental effect his Iraq policy is having on our ability to fight real terrorism. The VoteVets site was jammed as of this writing, but you can view retired Maj. General John Batiste's ad here. Over to Congress, where Senator Robert Byrd grilled Defense Secretary Gates on the very authorization for the war.
The 2002 congressional resolution that granted President Bush the power to invade Iraq contains some very specific language: enforce all relevant United Nations sanctions regarding Iraq, and defend the nation against the “continuing threat posed by Iraq.”
That’s old news, says Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. And he tried during a Senate hearing Wednesday to get Bush’s defense secretary to admit it.
“Since the government of Iraq that is referred to in the resolution no longer exists, having been replaced by a democratically elected one, do you agree that this authorization no longer applies to the ongoing conflict in Iraq?” Byrd asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who appeared before the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee to request funds for fiscal 2008.
Gates didn’t take the bait. “I think the honest answer, Senator Byrd, is that I don’t know the answer to that question.”
“That’s really honest,” replied Byrd, who along with Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is leading a move to force a vote on rescinding the 2002 resolution. “Therefore, if you don’t know the answer, how does it apply if you don’t know the answer?”
Said Gates, “Well, sir, my impression is that it’s the view of the president that it still continues to authorize the actions that we are taking in Iraq.”
Yes, the candor is refreshing. But the fact remains that the 2002 authorization for the use of force in Iraq is plainly not valid. Read the authorization for yourself here. It specifically authorizes the president to:
(1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and
(2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq.
Well, since Iraq now has a government purportedly friendly to the United States and no longer in violation of U.N. resolutions, neither of those appears to apply, unless you consider the Iraqi internescene civil war to be a mortal danger to U.S. security. We need to remind ourselves daily that the war in Iraq is over. It ended 41 days after it began, with the successful decapitation of that country's then government. What we've been involved in for the past four years is a drawn out, equisitely unsuccessful, occupation. That occupation is draining United States troop strength and manpower, equipment and lives. It wasn't worth the cost of going in, it's not worth spending another American life to stay.
Most Americans already believe that.
Eventually, even George W. Bush is going to have to admit it.
Labels: George Bush, Iraq war, worst president ever |
