Campaign season kabuki:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush met with senior generals in Washington Saturday for face-to-face discussions on the war in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld joined Gen. John Abizaid, the head of U.S. Central Command; Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and, via videolink from Baghdad, Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, for the White House summit.
No announcements followed the talks, which were described as routine by the administration, though sources said Friday the meeting had only been arranged in the past few days.
The entire theme of the past week or so that the White House has been "rethinking" its failed Iraq stategy is pure fiction.
Time and time again, this White House has demonstrated that it seeks not change, but merely the illusion of change. We saw this White House tactic in full force earlier this year with the so-called "staff shake-up". The media touted the appointment of Josh Bolten as chief of staff as a signal that the White House was ready for "fresh ideas and energy." Months later, the same stale and stubborn White House remains.
Indeed, "stubborn" describes the President's attitude towards this "Iraq policy review" perfectly. After all, does this sound like a President who is willing to listen to the generals around the table?
Bush repeated his vow not to withdraw troops from Iraq before the goals are achieved. "Victory in Iraq is vital for the security of a generation of Americans who are coming up," he said. "And so we will stay in Iraq, we will fight in Iraq and we will win in Iraq."
Bush said the recent spike in violence is largely attributable to a more aggressive posture being taken by U.S. troops, who have been directly confronting militias and others who have been stirring trouble. "In other words, we're on the move," Bush said. ". . . We're engaging the enemies, and they're putting up a tough fight."
Still, he said, the United States has no choice but to stay in the fight. "This is going to be a long struggle, but in order to prevail, it requires perseverance and determination, and a strong belief in the power of liberty to conquer the ideology of hate," he said.
White House spokesperson Tony Snow reiterated the President's refusal to have a completely open mind on Iraq:
What you have is a lot of criticism. The President understands the difficulty in a time of war. And he also understands that what you do is you adjust tactically. I was talking today with General Caldwell, and the way he describes it, the military term of art is you "work the plan." And if things are not achieving the objectives as you wish, you adjust and you work the plan. And he says they're continuing to work the plan in Baghdad and elsewhere. Those are the kinds of tactical adjustments.
What the President has made pretty clear is that there are a handful of things that he has ruled out. He is eager to hear about other ideas; but leaving is not going to work, and partition is simply off the table.
I guess the principle of "all options are on the table" applies only to making war, not ending it.
And so, there he sits, Commander-in-Chief, surrounded by uniformed men in a room where the air is thick with the unspoken admission of failure...listening not to their words, but to the unrelenting ego squealing inside his head that implores him never to admit mistake or responsibility...and above all, seeing no need for change. After all, the illusion of change should suffice to keep the media hounds off the trail of failure for another 17 days or so.
That's the plan, and he's sticking to it.