In his speech to the nation announcing the escalation of hostilities in Iraq and the addition of 21,500 soldiers there, President Bush cautioned the Iraqis about taking responsibility for their own country.
It would seem that the president was being a bit disingenuous. Follow me below the fold.
Members of the "administration" continue to warn the Iraqis that they have to start doing more to control the violence there. Bush cohorts express doubt that the Iraqis have the heart to police their land. Grumblings mount in the United States that "the Iraqis aren't doing enough." Suddenly the onus is on the citizens of the country we invaded.
Not so fast...
From this morning's Washington Post comes a story about a November 30 meeting between Maliki and Bush.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had a surprise for President Bush when they sat down with their aides in the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman, Jordan. Firing up a PowerPoint presentation, Maliki and his national security adviser proposed that U.S. troops withdraw to the outskirts of Baghdad and let Iraqis take over security in the strife-torn capital. Maliki said he did not want any more U.S. troops at all, just more authority.
There it is...an offer from the Prime Minister of Iraq to assume responsibility for the entire city of Baghdad. Bush turned him down.
The president didn't listen to anyone.
He never seriously considered beginning to withdraw U.S. forces, as urged by newly elected Democratic congressional leaders and the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. And he had grown skeptical of his own military commanders, who were telling him no more troops were needed.
Not the military.
When his generals resisted sending more troops, he seemed irritated. When they finally agreed to go along with the plan, he doubled the number of troops they requested.
Not the Iraq Study Group
White House aides also debated how to respond to the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan, congressionally chartered commission headed by former secretary of state James A. Baker III, a close friend of the president's father, and former congressman Lee H. Hamilton (Ind.), a widely respected Democrat. At first, officials said, they hoped the group would prove a vehicle for bringing the two parties together after a bitter election.
But the panel advanced several key proposals that the White House quickly made clear were unacceptable to Bush, particularly a plan to withdraw U.S. combat forces by early 2008, open talks with Iraq's neighbors Iran and Syria, and condition U.S. assistance on the Maliki government meeting defined political benchmarks.
Not Congress or the American people.
It was a signature moment for a president who seems uninfluenced by the electorate on Iraq and headed for a showdown with the new Democratic Congress. Presented with an opportunity to pull back, Bush instead chose to extend and, in some ways, deepen his commitment, gambling that more time and a new plan will finally bring success to the troubled U.S. military mission.
Once more Bush did it his way, against the advice of almost everyone except a handful of people in his inner circle. He ignored the lesson of the November election, snubbed Congressional leaders (even those of his own party) and overruled his commanders.
Then he went on to blame the Iraqis. Maliki may or may not be capable of policing Iraq. But he wanted to try. Bush denied him the opportunity to do that and now blames him for not doing enough.