Saturday, October 21, 2006

Dick Armitage, a Cut and Walk Don't Run-er

Having been among those who called for going into Iraq, Richard Armitage is now calling for an about face and leaving Iraq, couched in the necessary qualifications to deflect the Bushovik hordes criticism.
A former top Bush administration official called Wednesday night for a notify-and-walk exit from Iraq in a move that would fall somewhere between cut-and-run and stay-the-course.

Richard L. Armitage, deputy secretary of state from 2001 to 2005, advocated an incremental reduction of U.S. troops while Iraq's fledgling democracy struggles to overcome sectarian violence.

"We notify the Iraqis that we're going to be drawing down a reasonable but careful percentage of our troops over a reasonable interval of months -- just for example, 5 percent of troops every three months," Armitage told a crowd of 850 at DeSales University.

"This will show seriousness of purpose, I think. It will give our population some hope and enthusiasm that this is not a never-ending affair. And also it will put the heat on the Iraqis, because ladies and gentlemen, we can't win this militarily. By the way, we can't lose this militarily."
That last sentence should be qualified by "if we leave soon enough". In Iraq, we are the pencil and Iraq is the pencil sharpener, constantly chewing us down to the end. If something isn't done, the end may resemble the Brits at Gandamack.

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