Bachmann on Iraq

The SC Times has commentary on Congresswoman Bachmann's vote to continue the quagmire in Iraq.

"There was no plan in the bill, it does nothing," Bachmann said. "There was no plan to leave Iraq, no plan for success in Iraq. No plan to move forward."

What has the Republican plan been for the past 5 years?

Seriously?

President Bush comes out to defend progress with the troop surge and performance of the Iraqi Government.

Think Progress has a great post up telling the "other side".

CLAIM: “The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward forming a Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) and then completing the constitutional review.”
FACT: “The Committee was originally scheduled to complete its work by May 15. Instead, it delivered a draft that did not address many of the key issues.” One CRC leader recently said, “We have not committed to doing it by September.” [LINK]
CLAIM: “The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward establishing supporting political, media, economic, and services committees in support of the Baghdad Security Plan.”
FACT: Such public services committees have “had little impact on Baghdad’s population which still lacks access to many basic services like water and electricity.” [LINK]
CLAIM: “The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward providing three trained and ready Iraqi brigades to support Baghdad operations.”
FACT: According to the Defense Department, “the three brigades that came to Baghdad were understaffed and poorly trained causing a major delay in Baghdad security operations.” Only “one-half to two-thirds” of the promised 330,000 Iraqi security forces have arrived. [LINK]
CLAIM: “The Government of Iraq with substantial Coalition assistance has made satisfactory progress toward reducing sectarian violence…”
FACT: According to the Brookings Institute, “sectarian violence has remained constant despite the ’surge.’” [LINK]
CLAIM: “The Government of Iraq — with substantial Coalition assistance — has made satisfactory progress toward establishing the planned Joint Security Stations in Baghdad.”
FACT: Iraqis living nearby such “Joint Security Stations” say they “feel less safe now, because many of the bases have quickly become magnets for rocket and mortar attacks.” [LINK]
CLAIM: “The Government of Iraq has made satisfactory progress toward ensuring that the rights of minority political parties in the Iraqi legislature are protected.”
FACT: “The Sunnis — one of the largest and most important minority groups — are currently boycotting the government. [LINK]

Kind of puts a different spin on the glowing review the President portrayed.

Despite fighting Al-Qaeda for half a decade, the group continues to grow.

Bachmann compares withdrawal strategy to a football game. In doing so, she continues to show just how disconnected to reality she really is.

"If you set a date certain on withdrawal, it's kind of the military equivalent of a football team giving the opposing team the play book," she said. "Why would you signal your endgame to your opponent?"

True. We want to maintain OPSEC (Operational Security) and ensure that those we are fighting have no idea what's going on.

However, football games also have scoreboards with pertinent info. The score, time remaining etc...

In case we have forgotten, 3,611 is on one side of the "scoreboard".

In the eyes of the American public, time has expired.

What "playbook" were the Republicans running the show under when they controlled both houses of Congress?

It's pretty clear that through the US Attorney Scandal, Walter Reed, Iraq, wiretapping, that the "playbook" the Republicans are using does not sit well with the majority of Americans.