Coming or Going?

by digby

Bush gave another incoherent interview to Jim Lehrer today, which I will have to go back and parse later because I’m tied up. For right now, I wonder if someone who knows more about this would care to comment:

MR. LEHRER: What does success mean in these terms now, Mr. President?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Yeah, well, success, Jim, means a government that is providing security for its people. A success means for the American people to see Iraqi troops chasing down killers with American help initially. A success means a Baghdad that is, you know, relatively calm compared to last year so that people’s lives can go forward and a political process can go forward along with it. Success means the government taking steps to share the oil wealth or to deal with a de-Baathification law, to encourage local elections. Success means reconstruction projects that employ Iraqis. Success also means making sure al-Qaeda doesn’t get a foothold in Iraq, which they’re trying to do in Anbar province. So success is measurable; it’s definable; and last year was a year in which there was a setback to success.

(What a long way we are from the Democracy Domino Theory…)

Later in the interview he said this:

And then the final option is secure the capital and at the same time chase al-Qaida into Anbar.

He also says that four thousand of the new troops are assigned to Anbar.

So what do you suppose this is really all about? He says that al Qaeda is trying to gain a foothold in Anbar and then says that the plan calls for the troops to chase Al Qaeda into Anbar. Assuming there’s some way of making sense of that — is it wise to say it publicly?

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