Bush In Denial

Reid: Bush in denial over war in Iraq By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 1 hour, 4 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday President Bush is in a state of denial over Iraq, "and the new Congress will show him the way." Holding his ground, Bush renewed his staunch opposition to timetables for U.S. troop withdrawals. (Yahoo News)

Clearly, President Bush does not get it. His response? "I believe strongly that politicians in Washington shouldn't be telling generals how to do their job," Bush said at the White House. The problem with this is that it is exactly politicians in Washington that are supposed to be telling the military what their job is, starting with the Commander-in-Chief. Unfortunately, this CinC has lost his way. The Generals were not the ones that decided Iraq needed to be invaded, it was the Politicians. Now the politicians are saying, "enough is enough, let us cut our losses and get while the getting is good."

During Vietnam, there were several cases of the politicians trying to micromanage the war (again, another one that should not have been entered into, but that is a different argument). There is no comparison, however, between the Secretary of Defense telling his people to use less ammunition and the Congress of the American People telling the President to bring the troops home. This is not micromanagement. This is an executive decision, one that should be made by President Bush, and one he refuses to make. The generals will continue to fight as long as they are told to, using cobbled together arms, equipment and munitions if that is all they have available until the President is forced to do the right thing. Because otherwise, this President does not know what the right thing is.