Edited by W. Joseph Stroupe with the mission of explaining world events correctly via strategic analysis & forecasting
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| ►►►December 7, 2006 ►►►W. Joseph Stroupe |
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Bush Determined to Continue "neocon" Foreign Policy Line |
►►►At today's joint news conference Mr. Bush, while striving to give the appearance of taking the ISG report seriously, gave every genuine indication that the fundamental course of his foreign policy will remain unaltered.
►Mr. Bush acknowledged the "importance" of the ISG report, but refused to acclaim it as the roadmap for US policy on Iraq and the Middle East. He repeatedly mentioned other studies commissioned directly by his administration and explicitly stated that he will formulate his strategy based on all such information, not merely on the ISG report.
►Mr. Bush, when pressed on the matter of negotiating with Iran and Syria, stated that US policy on that issue had not changed and will not change as long as he is President. Iran must first verifiably cease its uranium enrichment and Syria must verifiably cease its destabilizing of the Lebanon government before the US will sit at the table with the two. Hence, on this major issue the Bush administration is entirely unmoved by the ISG report and by ever wider calls for it to talk directly to Iran and Syria.
►Mr. Bush, when pressed on the matter of withdrawing US troops from Iraq by early 2008 as suggested in the ISG report, balked and reiterated his stance that any such withdrawal must depend upon conditions on the ground.
►Both Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair repeatedly emphasized the danger posed by the "radicals and fanatics" in Iraq and across the Middle East who wish to destabilize elected governments, acquire and use the energy weapon against the West, and acquire the ability to use nuclear weapons to extract political and geopolitical concessions. Mr. Bush portrayed Iran as a grave threat to the West and to the US and repeatedly warned that his administration will not cave in to such threats. He explicitly stated that his administration now sits in the key position of deciding the future for coming generations with respect to whether the "radicals and fanatics" will be allowed to win and will be able to threaten future generations, or whether they will be defeated now to make future generations safe.
►Contrary to the ISG report Mr. Bush spoke of victory as defined by a stable and democratic government in Iraq that is a close ally of the US in the war on terror, and of the setting up of similar governments across the region, and of complete defeat of terrorists and terrorist regimes such as Iran. Mr. Bush made it abundantly clear that his definition of victory has not changed, nor will it change. He spoke of future historians who would justifiably castigate him for not properly understanding and having the courage to deal with the threat in the event that he allowed a US defeat in Iraq and the Middle East. He pointedly asserted that he will not go down in history as the president that failed in these matters.
►►►When Mr. Bush speaks of "a new way forward" in Iraq and the Middle East he isn't speaking of a fundamental change in the nature and direction of US foreign policy. Instead, he is merely speaking of somewhat new and modified tactics to accomplish the very same goals and strategies he has pursued for the previous six years.
►►►So, what can the US do in the present unenviable situation it entirely created for itself? It cannot afford to change the fundamental nature, course and goals of its foreign policy now while it increasingly stares massive defeat in the face. It will find that it has entirely locked itself into a course along the same lines as that of the past six years, one leading inevitably to the exercise of further military options of colossal consequence and risk.
| Note: This Gold version of the analysis is significantly condensed as compared to the full text Platinum version available only to subscribers. The Platinum version addresses head-on the issues of the ever more potent role of Iran-Syria across the Middle East, why the recommendations of the ISG panel regarding Iran-Syria are fundamentally wrong, and what the Bush administration is already planning to do about the deepening Iran-Syria axis. |
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