Bush's New Vision For Iraq : Like Israel, With Less Car Bombings

Bush Reconfigures 'War On Terror' To Be 'War Against Unacceptable Level Of Terror'



Bush told Iraqis, and US, that they better get used to scenes like this in a free and democratic Iraq.

If you want to define success in Iraq, says Bush, think of Israel. But with less car bombings. And less suicide attacks. And less beheadings. And less massacres, and IED attacks, and executions by the double dozen. Not no terror at all, just some terror. You know, like Israel.

I'll just hazard a guess here, but isn't Israel exactly what most Iraqis don't want their newly 'liberated' country to become?

Cue furious and Zionist Conspiracy headlines from the Arab and Muslim media across the planet.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Bush is finding that even die-hard Republican backers of the war from day one are now publicly stating that American troops should begin coming home, within months, not years. Or decades.

From the Associated Press :

President Bush held up Israel as a model for defining success in Iraq, saying Thursday the U.S. goal there is not to eliminate attacks but to enable a democracy that can function despite violence.

With his Iraq policy under increasing criticism from the public and lawmakers in both parties, Bush went to the U.S. Naval War College to declare progress and plead for patience. At the same time, his top national security went to Capitol Hill to hear out Republican critics.

Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said this week U.S. troops should start leaving now because Bush's strategy will not have time to work.

The White House thought it had until an expected September assessment by military commanders before facing a showdown on the unpopular war.

But a majority of senators now believes troops should start coming home in the next few months. House Republicans want to revive the independent Iraq Study Group to get new options.

Here's some of Bush's most recent comments on Iraq, and his whole 'Think Israel, With Less Bombings' definition of success.

The president laid out in some of his plainest terms yet how to determine when the U.S. presence in Iraq has achieved its goals. This, Bush said, is "the rise of a government that can protect its people, deliver basic services for all its citizens and function as a democracy even amid violence."

"Our success in Iraq must not be measured by the enemy's ability to get a car bombing in the evening news," he said. "No matter how good the security, terrorists will always be able to explode a bomb on a crowded street."

So much for a safe and secure Iraq for all Iraqis. You're free, what's a few car bombings, in the mornings, and afternoons when you've got democracy?

(Bush) suggested Israel, the frequent target of terrorist attacks and a country in a decades-long, intractable and often violent dispute with Palestinians, as a standard to strive for.

"In places like Israel, terrorists have taken innocent human life for years in suicide attacks," Bush said. "The difference is that Israel is a functioning democracy and it's not prevented from carrying out its responsibilities. And that's a good indicator of success that we're looking for in Iraq."

It was likely to be controversial _ and possibly even explosive _ for Bush to set out Israel as a model for a Muslim Middle Eastern nation.

Aside from Israel's security problems, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is such a sensitive issue in the Muslim world that it has become a rallying cry for many and major recruiting tool for Islamic extremist groups such as al-Qaida.

Wasn't the whole idea of the 'War on Terror' to actually STOP TERRORISM?

Bush is now arguing that Iraqis must accept a certain level of car bombings and suicide attacks as part of their lives for however long into the future.

Should make for some extremely deadly future elections.

Iraq : Another American Massacre, 17 Slaughtered