Bush Advisors for Iraq Shift Decision are Same NeoCon Hawks Who Created the Quagmire. Troop Buildup is Now Imminent

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

The Iraq Study Group (ISG) didn't tell George W. Bush what he wanted to hear, so now Bush is doing what any spoiled brat would: he is asking someone else instead in hopes of getting a different answer. For the last few weeks, Bush has been arranging carefully staged meetings with various "experts," and all of these folks just happen to share his views on Iraq: boost troops and escalate.

Take a look at the bunch Bush met with on Monday, consisting of two academics and three retired generals. Think Progress highlights how all five reject the ISG report and are, overall, in favor of increasing the American presence in Iraq. One of these men is Eliot Cohen, a professor described as "the most influential neoconservative in academe" and is a protégé of Paul Wolfowitz. Though he has been mildly critical of the Administration's handling of Iraq, Cohen was influential in pressing for the invasion and still thinks it was the right thing to do. A self-proclaimed hawk, Cohen also thinks the "war on terror" should be considered the next World War.

Cohen is entitled to his opinions, but Bush has no business talking to him anymore. Reality is showing - and Americans are increasingly realizing - what we have known for years: Bush was wrong, and we need a new direction. After the election, it actually started to look like Bush would start considering new ideas from different viewpoints in hopes of formulating a better strategy. Unfortunately, it was all a ruse.

Consider this Washington Post excerpt describing White House knavery on overcoming the ISG report's critical findings:

"When the White House review began, the interagency group debated whether to try to beat the Iraqi Study Group's report or let it play out and then look "bigger and better" by doing a report later, said an official familiar with the discussions. It was agreed to wait. But the emphasis throughout the month-long process has been to produce a strategy that would be deliberately distinct, the official added."

Sure enough, Bush has pushed back the date for his big announcement for a new strategy into the new year - once people have forgotten about the ISG. Leaks are beginning to suggest that the change will actually be a substantial buildup in troop levels, as John McCain advocates.

Leave it to the very people that got us into this quagmire to endorse escalation as a way out. Leave it to Bush to listen to them yet again. The man is trying to dig his way out of his own hole, and he isn't even using a different shovel from the one that got him there to start with.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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