[Vision2020] Bush's Smoke and Mirrors

[Be Responsible]

>From Moveon.org

-------------------------------------------------

To hear President Bush tell it, Iraq is a bed of roses: "Our strategy is 
succeeding," he said last week. Yesterday at the U.N., he said Iraq is "on the 
path to democracy and freedom."

Yet the CIA told Bush recently that the scenarios we're really facing there 
range from a quagmire to a bloodbath. The CIA's July report outlines three 
possibilities for Iraq, ranging from "an Iraq whose stability would remain 
tenuous" to "civil war," according to the New York Times. [1] 

Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) is calling on Bush to level with us, by releasing the 
report, formally called a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), to the public. 
Graham, the former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has read the 
NIE, and he thinks we all should see it too. 

Join Senator Graham in demanding that President Bush to face the facts and tell 
us the truth about Iraq, by releasing the NIE, at:

http://www.moveon.org/tellthetruth/

It's not just Democrats who are questioning the President's grip on reality. 

Senator Chuck Hagel (NE), a Republican, says: "The worst thing we can do is 
hold ourselves hostage to some grand illusion that we're winning. Right now, we 
are not winning. Things are getting worse." [2] "The fact is, we're in trouble. 
We're in deep trouble in Iraq." [3] 

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) also supports releasing the NIE [4] and says: "We made 
serious mistakes right after the initial successes by not having enough troops 
there on the ground, by allowing the looting, by not securing the borders." [3]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), says "he believes the situation in Iraq is going to 
get worse before it gets better, adding that he believes the administration has 
done a 'poor job of implementing and adjusting at times.'" and says "We do not 
need to paint a rosy scenario for the American people...." [3]

Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) says it's "exasperating for anybody look at this 
from any vantage point." [1] 

Those are Republicans talking. Here's what the generals and national security 
experts are saying, in a terrific recent piece in the UK's Guardian newspaper:

Retired general William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency, 
said: "Bush hasn't found the WMD. Al-Qaida, it's worse, he's lost on that 
front. That he's going to achieve a democracy there? That goal is lost, too. 
It's lost." He adds: "Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin 
Laden's ends."

Retired general Joseph Hoare, the former marine commandant and head of US 
Central Command, [said]: "The idea that this is going to go the way these guys 
planned is ludicrous. There are no good options.... The priorities are just all 
wrong."

Jeffrey Record, professor of strategy at the Air War College, said: "I see no 
ray of light on the horizon at all. The worst case has become true..."

W. Andrew Terrill, professor at the Army War College's strategic studies 
institute -- and the top expert on Iraq there -- said: "I don't think that you 
can kill the insurgency"... "The idea there are x number of insurgents, and 
that when they're all dead we can get out is wrong. The insurgency has shown an 
ability to regenerate itself because there are people willing to fill the ranks 
of those who are killed"... "Most Iraqis consider us occupiers, not 
liberators." 

General Odom [also] said: "This is far graver than Vietnam. There wasn't as 
much at stake strategically, though in both cases we mindlessly went ahead with 
the war that was not constructive for US aims. But now we're in a region far 
more volatile, and we're in much worse shape with our allies."... "I've never 
seen [tensions] so bad between the office of the secretary of defence and the 
military. There's a significant majority believing this is a disaster." [5]

Just as important are the opinions of those whose loved ones are serving in 
Iraq, like Martha Jo McCarthy, whose husband is on National Guard duty there. 
She says:

"Everyone supports the troops, and I know they're doing a phenomenal job over 
there, not only fighting but building schools and digging wells. But supporting 
the troops has to mean something more than putting yellow-ribbon magnets on 
your car and praying they come home safely." 

"I read the casualty Web site every day and ask myself, 'Do I feel safer here?' 
No. I don't think we can win this war through arrogance. Arrogance is different 
from strength. Strength requires wisdom, and I think we need to change from 
arrogance to solid strength." [6]

Join Senator Graham now in calling on President Bush to face the facts and 
level with us, by releasing the CIA's report, at:

http://www.moveon.org/tellthetruth/

President Bush has got to tell us the truth about Iraq. No weapons of mass 
destruction. No Saddam-al Qaeda connection. The mission is not accomplished. 
The transition has not been peaceful and stable. Attacks on our troops are 
increasing, not decreasing. These failures lie solely with the president, and 
he owes us an honest explanation.

Thanks for signing our petition today, and for everything you do.

Sincerely,

--Carrie, Joan, Lee, Marika, Noah, Peter, and Wes
   The MoveOn.org Team 
   September 22nd, 2004

Footnotes:

(See our website for links to these articles)

[1] New York Times: U.S. Intelligence Shows Pessimism on Iraq's Future
September 16th, 2004

[2] Washington Post editorial: Mr. Bush and Iraq
September 18th, 2004

[3] Washington Post: Three GOP Senators Urge Refocusing of Iraq Policy
September 19th, 2004

[4] 'FOX News Sunday', September 19th, 2004, transcript

[5] The Guardian (UK): Far graver than Vietnam (opinion piece by
Sidney Blumenthal, Washington Bureau Chief of Salon.com)
September 16th, 2004

[6] Washington Post: Quiet Calls for Change (column by David Broder)
September 16th, 2004


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