Cheney, America-hating U.S. general at odds

[tristano's ghost]

Al-Jazeera no doubt will broadcast the remarks of liberal America-hater General John Abizaid. We need not wonder further about his motives, as he clearly wishes for the deaths of American troops:

General, Cheney at odds on Iraq

June 24, 2005

BY DREW BROWN and LEILA FADEL
DETROIT FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

WASHINGTON -- The top U.S. commander in the Persian Gulf told Congress on Thursday that the Iraqi insurgency is undiminished and that foreign fighters continue to swell its ranks, an assessment that seemed to be at odds with more optimistic claims from the Bush administration.

Gen. John Abizaid, who heads U.S. Central Command, agreed with his superiors that the operation in Iraq will succeed, but he distanced himself from Vice President Dick Cheney's statement last month that the insurgency was "in its last throes."

Asked at a contentious Senate hearing by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., whether he agreed with Cheney's assessment, Abizaid declined to answer directly. He said the insurgency is essentially unchanged from six months ago.

"I don't know that I would make any comment about that, other than to say that there's a lot of work to be done on the insurgency," Abizaid said when asked about Cheney's remarks. "I'm sure you'll forgive me from criticizing the vice president."

Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the Bush administration's strategy in Iraq unacceptable.

"The fact is that the insurgency has not weakened," he said. "Our men and women in uniform are serving with great honor. They deserve an objective assessment of the situation in Iraq. They deserve a clear layout of the next steps there. They're not getting either from the administration."

Abizaid, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top military commanders defended their handling of the war. In the hearing's most dramatic moment, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., accused Rumsfeld of incompetence and asked for his resignation.

"We are now in a seemingly intractable quagmire. Our troops are dying and there is no end in sight," Kennedy told Rumsfeld. "You basically have mismanaged the war. ... Our troops deserve better."

"There isn't a person at this table who agrees with you that we're in a quagmire and that there is no end in sight," Rumsfeld replied, referring to the military commanders with him. He added that he has twice offered his resignation to President George W. Bush, but the president asked him to stay in the job.

Cheney stuck by his earlier assessment in an interview with CNN on Thursday.

"If you look at what the dictionary says about throes, it can still be a violent period," he said when offered a chance to amend his comment in a CNN interview last month. "The point would be that the conflict will be intense, but it's intense because the terrorists understand if we're successful at accomplishing our objective, standing up a democracy in Iraq, that that's a huge defeat for them."

Military commanders and lawmakers also expressed concern about waning public support for the war. Recent polls show that a majority of Americans do not think the war was worth it and are eager for the return of U.S. troops.

"The public is going south," Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., said. "That worries me greatly."

Even though violence in Iraq remains unabated, Gen. George Casey, commander of multinational forces in Iraq, told lawmakers that the insurgents represent "less than one-tenth of 1% of the Iraqi population." He expressed confidence that the insurgency would be defeated, although he added that the solution lay in the political process.

Although Rumsfeld and the military leaders said Iraqi security forces now number 170,000, they declined to say publicly how many are fully trained. Bush has repeatedly said that U.S. troops will come home as soon as Iraqis are ready to take over.

"I think we need to know that information. ... That is the key element to success," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said. "I think the American people need to know. They are the ones who are paying for this conflict."

The military leaders agreed that setting a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops now, as some in Congress have called for, would be a mistake and would only strengthen the insurgency.

"Leaving before the task is complete would be catastrophic," Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate committee.

Contact DREW BROWN at dbrown@krwashington.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Maybe General John Abizaid has a clearer view, not having ducked combat in a war that he supported with five draft deferments... nice work if you can get away with--er, get it, that is.