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By Mark Kilmer Posted in Elections — Comments (17) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

This was a more interesting week than I had suspected we would see. John McCain said of General Eric Shinseki: "He was fired." His smile seemed to indicate, though, that he was teasing Russert with the MSM line. On FNS, host Wallace hammed Steve Hadley with Cheney's "last throes" quote ("I think they’re in the last throes of the insurgency") from last May, which has been addressed substantially for seven months.

Also on FNS, Wallace pointed out to Boxer that the President also wanted to withdraw troops as circumstances warranted, and Boxer said that the President lies. On FTN, John Kerry took credit for the policy, discussed by SecDef Don Rumsfeld last weekend, of bringing home troops after the Iraqi election in two weeks. Kerry also suggested withdrawing are troops to "garrisons" so that we could invade Syria and Iran, as well as catch Osama bin Laden.

On LE, Wolf Blitzer – who seems to have become something of a Seymour Hersh groupie – suggested to Hadley that killing al Qaeda #3 Hamza Rabia was a bad thing, that that we could not now interrogate him. He also asked if it were a CIA hit, and don't assassinations require Presidential approval. (Assassinating a terrorist? Is that really Blitzer's mindset?)

On LE, Joe Biden was pretty much agreeable as far as the ideas for which he felt prepared to take personal credit. On TW, Jack Murtha – although Steph apologized for calling him Jack – announced that the Administration was starting to see things his way and that the troops would probably be withdrawn by the end of next year.

read the show-by-show below the fold…

JOHN MCCAIN ON MEET THE PRESS. Ladies and gentlemen, 't is time for straight talk, etc. MTP host Tim Russert spoke with Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), who defined "success" as a "flawed but functioning democracy in Iraq," a repaired infrastructure, and an Iraq security system. He repeated dozens of times that "it's going to be tough." He said that U.S. forces would still be needed to "supplement" Iraqi forces but not to do the primary work. He said that the effects of failure would be "horrific," while the effects of success would be "magnificent."

Russert noted that "not enough troops" were sent to Iraq, and "that was one of the mistakes that were made." He mentioned General Eric Shinseki's testimony that we should have taken more into Iraq. McCain grinned and posited: "He was fired." (It is possible that McCain was teasing Russert with the MSM argument.) Russert countered that not everyone believed that Shinseki was fired, that Shinseki retired when he had long planned.

Russert complained that the Administration had promised that we would need only a limited number of soldiers, the costs would be low, and that we would be greeted as liberators, none of which, he stated flatly, were true. McCain admitted that "mistakes were made" but countered that "we were greeted a liberators in many parts of Iraq." Russert ignored him and began pointing out McCain's own mistaken assertions, such as that the American people would be "unwavering" in their support of the war. Polls show that the Americans oppose the war, Russert insisted.

McCain said that he would probably regret saying this, as Russert could confront him with it by playing it at their next interview, but "we will probably see significant progress [in Iraq] within the next six months to a year." Let's hope that's a no-brainer, but Russert asked McCain if he'd rethink his position that we have to stay if such progress were not made. McCain said that we could not just leave.

McCain said that this statement would be controversial but that he would make it anyway: "This is more important than Vietnam was."

This McCain statement to Russert is actually the controversial one: "I think we should send more troops [to Iraq], but that's not going to happen."

McCain asked himself, "Was the Pentagon too optimistic?" McCain answered, "Of course it was."

McCain talked some domestic stuff, and Russert tried to get the Arizona Maverick to call for a tax increase. (Russert has long been a champion of tax increases, almost as a cure-all.) McCain argued that they must first cut spending, and he specifically included entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security. Russert again called for a tax increase, but McCain again argued that they have to "get spending under control" before they can approach the American people about raising their taxes.

McCain said that he will let Russert know in a year, after the midterms, if he will seek the Presidency. His criterion, he said, was whether or not he was right for the job, both in terms of himself and what America needs.

STEPHEN HADLEY ON FNS. Host Chris Wallace's first guest on FOX News Sunday was National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley. Wallace pointed out the number of military lives lost in various months of this year and asked: "Is that a strategy for victory?" Huh? Anyway, Hadley carefully admitted that the losses are "painful" to the families and to the President, but we should consider "what is at stake." He said that it had long been predicted that the violence would worsen as the democratic process continued. He added that the "strategy for victory" was to continue the democratic process and to train Iraqi security.

Wallace asked Hadley about Vice President Dick Cheney's "last throes" remark of last May: "I think they’re in the last throes of the insurgency." (It comes up every week.) Hadley replied that the President had said that there are three types of resistance in Iraq: the outside terrorists, the Saddamists, and the rejectionists. I had hoped he would say that Cheney was referring to only one of these three, say the rejectionists, who were in their last throes. He did not. Wallace asked him again if the "last throes" remark were a mistake on the Veep's part. Hadley answered that the President indicated that "we do have a strategy." Wallace asked if the "last throes" remark undercut the credibility of the Administration. He again asked if the veep were wrong when he made it. Hadley answered that while there are indications that we are making progress, "clearly there's a lot more work to be done."

BOXER ON FNS. Barbara Boxer was Wallace's next guest on FNS, curiously from the studios of their Chicago affiliate. Wallace pointed out that the President also wants to bring home our troops as circumstances permit, and Boxer countered that BushLied™ -- "What the President says and does are two different things." She accused the President and the troops of "fueling the insurgency."

She pointed out that the twelve Marines who were killed by insurgents in Iraq recently had been based in California.

She pointed out that the President "failed" to mention those casualties of war who were badly wounded to the extent that there lives would be forever changed.

She said, basically, that it is time for us to stop babying the Iraqis and to make them take care of their own problems. (This line should sound great to the fringe, but it does not match reality.) "It's time to tell the Iraqis" that we won't do their work for them.

Wallace asked her what she meant by a "timeframe for withdrawal – what does that mean?" Boxer answered that "withdrawal has to start now… with the National Guard." She explained that we need the National Guard here in the States in case we have a Bird Flu epidemic and because the 9-11 Commission says that we do.

She complained about Judge Samuel Alito, how he wanted to overturn Roe and opposed one person, one vote. Is she prepared to filibuster? "Everything's on the table."

Finally, Wallace mentioned her Boxer's first novel, A Time to Run, reviewed here by National Review's John J. Miller.

HAMILTON AND KEAN ON MTP. Former Chairman Tom Keane and former Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton of the 9-11 Commission were Russert's next guests on Meet the Press. They are evidently going to release another report, but they issued their "Final Report" last year and were officially disbanded on August 21, 2004. There's really no point to any of this.

JOHN KERRY ON FTN. Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer spent the whole show with Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), who ran for President last year and has been unable to let go. He's still reporting for duty. Schieffer argued that Kerry was relevant to use because a shift of fewer than 100,000 votes in Ohio would have made him President. Schieffer was wrong.

Schieffer mentioned that he had asked Rumsfeld if the security of the American people would be damaged if we left Iraq. What did Kerry think? Kerry said that Rumsfeld had terribly mishandled the war and was unaccountable. "I think we need a Secretary of Defense who thinks like John McCain and not Dick Cheney."

Schieffer asked the question again.

Kerry said that General George Casey, our commander in Iraq, warned that a large number of troops in Iraq feeds the insurgency and makes it look like an occupation. He disagreed that leaving would make us less security, explaining that "we're not fighting World War II, Bob." He recommended that we move our troops back "to garrisons," not leave the region, so we can invade Iran if we have to.

Kerry believes the elections in Iraq will be successful, and the next day, the President should announce that he is withdrawing the 20,000 troops built up for the election and call a summit in the region. Schieffer played a clip of Rumsfeld saying that he would withdraw 20,000 after the election. Kerry claimed credit for that policy, saying that this "was the first time they acknowledged what I had said."

Kerry said that we are the "inheritors of the legacy of the British and the French," which he asserted was "not pretty." He talked of benchmarks and making sure we can invade Iran and Syria. He said we should concentrate then on finding Osama bin Laden. (That, to Kerry, is MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.)

Kerry said that there was "so much more that unites Democrats than divides us," then he accused Joe Lieberman of supporting "a policy of failure." He accused our soldiers of breaking into Iraqi homes and terrorizing families and children: "Iraqis should be doing that!" (NOTE: This time Kerry DID NOT go so far as accusing our soldiers of having "personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires with portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan.")

"We don’t need 100,000 troops running around the country, as they are."

Schieffer said that his sources are telling him that Joe Lieberman would be named Secretary of Defense if "Rumsfeld goes" in the next year. Kerry responded that anyone would be better than Rumsfeld.

He said that "success begins with withdrawal," and averred that the President refuses to accept this.

Kerry said that the President has lied about what is going on in Iraq "in so many ways." He had told the American people in his recent speech that the jihadists were the smallest group of insurgents, while they should be the focus of the war on terror. He asserted that the President does not want to empower the Iraqis to fight Zarqawi.

Schieffer pointed out that the President said that he would withdraw based on the advice of the generals, be added that the generals "were being muzzled." Kerry argued that "there has been a chill sent throughout the ranks" because General Shinseki was "sent off to retire." He said that he is "deeply concerned" about the "morale of the troops" to tell the truth.

Kerry said he would not have voted to authorize war if he knew then what he knew now. "Everything since then, Bob, screams mistake, mistake." He does not give the Administration the benefit of the doubt, because they "ignored evidence and kept it from us."

"This Administration hyped the evidence… They misled us and misled the nation."

He believes that the Dems will "retake the House and take some seats in the Senate."

Schieffer played a clip of a member of the Washington press gaggle laughing and asking Kerry if he ever asks himself "how you lost to this guy?" Schieffer, smiling, said this deserves a follow-up: how did you lose? Kerry said he knows how he lost but he is now looking forward.

STEPHEN HADLEY ON LATE EDITION. LE host Wolf Blitzer began his show by talking to National Security Advisor Steve Hadley, ostensibly to ask him about Iraq. Blitzer asked him, however, about the #3 al Qaeda guy, Hamza Rabia, being killed in Pakistan. Hadley said that we don't know for certain, but "if he is indeed dead, it is a good thing." Blitzer, whose been spending a lot of time with Seymour Hersh of late, asked if it were a CIA hit, and Hadley said that "there are conflicting reports" about what happened The details are best left to the Pakistanis, he said.

Blitzer suggested that Rabia's death would be a failure, as he could not be interrogated. Hadley replied that a senior leader of al Qaeda was now, hopefully, out of commission. Blitzer again stressed that it would have been better to capture him, and he asked if a CIA assassination requires Presidential approval. Hadley replied that this was not an assassination; rather, it was action taken against an enemy of the United States. Blitzer then asked, predictably, if we were any closer to finding bin Laden.

Blitzer asked Hadley if the security situation in Afghanistan were "getting worse." Hadley responded that they had forecast that the "violence would go up" as the democratic process moved forward. He pointed out that the terrorist attacks, such as those recently in Jordan, were turning people against Zarqawi.

Blitzer asked about the super secret CIA prisons in Europe. Hadley replied that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was going to Europe and would address this. Blitzer asked if he could infer from what Hadley was saying that we do operate such CIA prisons. Hadley said that he cannot confirm or deny this. Blitzer said that the Europeans were incensed about this and would take a non-answer as a YES. Hadley explained that "renditions" – terrorists found in countries which cannot hold them being moved to countries which can – have been a longstanding practice. Blitzer pointed out that people who are rendered are often tortured. Hadley said that sometimes mistakes are made but steps are taken to repair them when they are. Blitzer wondered how many innocent people had been tortured.

NOW ABOUT IRAQ: "Define complete victory." Hadley mentioned the subtitle of the recent strategy document: "Helping the Iraqi People Defeat the Terrorists and Build an Inclusive Democratic State." That is success, Hadley argued.

Hadley said that our goal was to "get the Iraqis started" on the process of becoming a pluralistic society which does not support terror. The military commanders, he said, would set the timetable for when modifications could be made. He said that the terrorists, the Saddamists, and the rejectionists would keep trying to "derail the political process."

Blitzer pointed out that Hadley once worked for President Bush the elder's NSA Brent Skowcroft, who recently reported that he no longer knew what Dick Cheney had become. Hadley said that the veep is "a terrific resource for the President of the United States."

Blitzer quoted Seymour Hersh, of course, about assassination teams in Syria. Hadley ignored Hersh but said that Syria is a problem. He noted that we had operations near the Syrian border to "stop the flow" of people out of Iraq.

Blitzer asked Hadley about the Joe Wilson Scandal™ and his role. Hadley said that he was not permitted to discuss the investigation publicly.

LUGAR AND BIDEN ON LE. Late Edition host Blitzer next talked to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar of Illinois and ranking Dem Joe Biden of Delaware. CNN news gal Frederick Whitfield, after reading the bottom-of-the-hour-news, stated that Blitzer would talk with them "about a timetable for withdrawing our troops from Iraq." That's what she wants, anyway.

Blitzer read the new TIME poll, in which only 41% of those surveyed liked President Bush, 41% wanted to say in Iraq, and 38% thought the President was doing a good job in Iraq. Lugar suggested that this was not a problem for the President; rather, it was for the whole country. Lugar said that a more stable Iraq, allowing that "stability is a relative term," is coming. Blitzer argued that Iraq was less stable, what with the attacks and the IEDs, etc.

Biden said that there was progress being made, but this could become a civil war. "All the king's horses and all the king's men are not going to put Iraq back together." He said that there have to be concessions from the Shi'a and the Kurds to bring the Sunnis on board, and this was the most important thing.

Blitzer asked Biden about the divisions in the Democrat Party: Murtha put out a plan, Pelosi endorsed, why doesn't he? Biden said that the divisions in the Democrat Party were not what they were being made out to be.

Blitzer played the week-old Iyad Allawi quote, that things are worse now, without him in charge, than they were under Saddam. Lugar pointed out that Allawi was a Shi'ite, and that it is not popular among Shi'ites to discuss the "possible reconciliation" with the Sunnis. He criticized the Shi'ite militias, such as the Badr Militia, which go after Sunnis who are not rejectionists.

Blitzer suggested that the various militias will be "loyal to themselves and not to any new Iraqi government." Biden agreed: "Absolutely." Biden argued that since we did not have enough troops in Iraq to train the Iraqis fast enough, we are "paying a big price for this, Wolf."

NEXT HOUR: He asked Biden about Moqtada al Sadr, pointed out that he was once "terrorist number one in Iraq, with blood on his hands," but now we're trying to deal with him. He asked Biden if this were right. Biden said absolutely we had "to deal with these guys." Lugar agrees also that Ambassador Khalilzad is properly empowered to talk to them. (NOTE: Blitzer has had issues with al Sadr ever since the squat one decided to "become a part of the process.")

Biden is "ABSOLUTELY" comfortable with the conversations between Ambassador Khalilzad and the various leaders, and he added that the Administration should have listened to him and held these conversations a year ago. It is in everyone's interests, he said, "to have stability right now."

Blitzer pointed out to Lugar that he should be alarmed and depressed that the Arab League, in their recent statement, did not thank the United States for what we've done in the region. Lugar doesn't expect praise until the work is finished. He also said that the President should include Congress in this process.

Biden agreed with Blitzer. He added, though, that we've squandered our "half life," as described by General Petraeus, for our force before it can be seen as a liberation force.

Lugar said that he knew nothing of super secret CIA prisons in Europe. Blitzer asked if the White House shouldn't have briefed him, as chairman of Senate Foreign Relations, about these super secret prisons. Biden said that our treatment of prisoners "has been the single most disastrous aspect of our policy" in terms of getting the world to go along with us.

STEVE HADLEY ON THIS WEEK. National Security Advisor Hadley was first on ABC's THIS WEEK, with George Stephanopoulos. Steph wanted to know if our troops had to stay until all of the goals laid out by the President had been met, and Hadley said that we could help but that the Iraqis had to take responsibility for their own security. The President has said this "from the very beginning," he reminded. Hadley said that "as we make progress," as Iraq makes progress, "it will be possible for us to make adjustment in our forces." Who does what and how many.

"If trends continue," Hadley told Steph, the commanders on the ground "will be in a position to make their assessments" which could call for adjustments. Steph played a clip John Kerry characterizing what the President said in his speech and what the generals were telling the President. In response, though he did not use the word, of course, but Hadley basically said that Kerry was lying about both. ("Mischaracterizing," was the word used.)

Steph asked Hadley for a question for Jack Murtha, and Hadley asked: "Why does he think withdrawing our troops now… will advance the security of the American people?"

Steph talked about the LA Times' accusation that the U.S. military was planting stories in the Iraqi press, and Hadley said that the President is concerned about whether this is consistent with U.S. policy. He said that "it's not the kind of policy that America wants to pursue."

Steph asked Hadley about McCain's torture legislation, and Hadley said that we have to protect U.S. interests in a manner consistent with our rules. We do not torture. The White House is working with McCain, he said, to strike the balance of being aggressive with terrorists and "complying with the law."

JACK MURTHA ON THIS WEEK. "John Murtha." Steph apologized for calling him Jack. And Murtha said that Hadley was "starting to come around." Hadley is talking about pulling the troops out, Murtha declared, and he said that Hadley is predicting the troops will be home by the end of next year.

Murtha distinguished between terrorism (Afghanistan) and insurgency (Iraq).

Murtha said: "We've got a civil war going there right now. Our troops are the targets of the civil war." Steph then accepted that there was a civil war in Iraq and began to ask questions of Murtha with that as a given proposition.

Murtha said we went into Iraq with too few troops and our troops "were not doing their job."

Steph asked Murtha why "few top level Democrats have signed on" to his plan. Murtha said that he agreed with Biden, Kerry, Hillary, "about eighteen months ago."

Murtha said that calling for more troops would do no good, because "we don't have enough troops." He called more troops "an impossibility."

Steph asked if Murtha were "willing to put a ceiling" on how much money they'd spend in Iraq. Murtha said no and posited that the "Administration is starting to come around."

Jack Murtha, again, said that the Administration was starting to see things his way and would withdraw our forces from Iraq by the end of next year.

~~~~~

Have at it.