John Kerry, Jack Reed to Hold Press Conference on Iraq Tomorrow
by Pamela LeaveyGeorge W. Bush is scheduled to give another speech on Iraq tomorrow (at 9:45 a.m., est), before a captive audience. As I noted below, Bush has already made it clear today, that “We’re not going to cut and run.” So, it appears we can expect another staged photo-op of Bush posturing with the troops in attempts to try to shore up the flailing support for the war in Iraq.
Senators John Kerry and Jack Reed will also be holding a press conference on Iraq tomorrow – Wednesday, November 30.
Earlier this month, Kerry introduced his Strategy for Success in Iraq Act (S. 1993) – a comprehensive new strategy to complete the mission in Iraq and redeploy the vast majority of American combat troops as specific benchmarks to transfer responsibility to Iraqis are met, beginning with the draw down of 20,000 U.S. troops after successful Iraqi elections in December.
The goal of Kerry’s plan is to undermine the insurgency by simultaneously pursing a political settlement and the military draw down of American forces linked to specific, responsible benchmarks. If followed, the process will be completed in 12-15 months.
Tomorrow’s Kerry/Reed press conference will be held in the Mansfield Room at the U.S. Capitol, S-207, between 11:00 – 11:30 a.m. est. C-Span schedule notes that they will be broadcasting the press conference live, after Bush’s speech. This should be very interesting…
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Anyone want to wager on whether or not ShrubCo will design a late a.m. diversionary stall tactic? Or a late afternoon surprise announcement (or leak) to make sure they have command of the 6 and 11 p.m. news?
I love Jack Reed!
…not to leave John Kerry out… I love him too, but I thought it was obvious… hehe
This should be good…
I predict a “package” will cause Havoc tomorrow- as Bush doesn’t want the Attention diverted from his recycled speech ( remember that the Oct5 and Vet day speech were One and the Same..) Rove will phone in Some Sort of Distraction….I am very curious to see what Kerry presents…And the polarity of these two back to back…Kerry is showing some real guts- let’s see how the speech plays- I hope it is like the one he gave after Murtha
Just found this little ditty from Senator Reed buried in an MSNBC piece:
“Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, a member of the Armed Services Committee and a former Army Ranger who visited Iraq last month, said the president must give “an honest assessment” pointing out not only the successes in Iraq, but the remaining pitfalls.
“We have to go forward with a plan, not just slogans,” he said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10253079/page/2/
Yes, I do believe JK and Reed are up to something…
I’m a Veteran (Infantry Hospital Corpsman, USMC/USN) and a songwriter opposed to Bush’s war. I wrote “BushWhacked” last week. Feel free share this with a friend (or foe).
High res. 9.3 MB
http://www.tomsongs.com/images/Bushwhacked_0001.wmv
Low res. 4 MB
http://www.tomsongs.com/images/Bushwhacked.wmv
Song only 3.4 MB
http://www.tomsongs.com/images/BushWhacked.MP3
BushWhacked
I served my time far away from the front lines
But I’ve seen them come and I’ve seen them go
Bullets fly when politicians lie and soldiers die that’s war
Their fathers and mothers wake up crying in the middle of the night
Their hearts jump at every knock upon the door
Young Americans bleeding and dying in the middle of this fight
Still trying to figure out what the hell they’re really dying for
Bushwhacked and another soldier dies
They’ve been Bushwhacked
By a whitehouse war built on whitehouse lies
Bushwhacked
And by the time we realize we’ve all been Bushwhacked
Another roadside bomb another soldier dies
If you close your eyes force yourself to look inside
Read between the whitehouse lies that we’ve all been fed
In the name of humanity they peddled our democracy
Claim they’re trying to set Iraqis free
So far we’ve freed a hundred thousand dead
And their fathers and mothers wake up crying in the middle of the night
Their hearts jump with every knock upon the door
Soldiers and civilians bleeding and dying in the middle of this fight
Still trying to figure out what they’re really dying for
They’ve been Bushwhacked and another soldier dies
They’ve been Bushwhacked
By a whitehouse war built on whitehouse lies
Bushwhacked
And by the time we realize we’ve all been Bushwhacked
Another roadside bomb another soldier dies
Bushwhacked and another soldier dies
They’ve been Bushwhacked
By a whitehouse war built on whitehouse lies
Bushwhacked
And we’re gonna lose a thousand more
Yeah we’ve been Bushwhacked
Maybe George should fight his own bullshit war
I dont think You will here all that much from Bush, except that he will be building up how far Iraq has come and that they are going in the right direction. He will talk about there troops and how they are getting ready to take over there country. He will stick to his guns abour our troops “the troops will not leave until iraq can stand on its own”. Expect alot of raw raw bull crap. They will say some troops may come home next year ” around election time no doubt”. I think John Kerry and Jack Reed will blow this speech the President makes away.
The missing link is going to give a speech to a CAPTIVE AUDIENCE. I guess he has to resort to tying people up to listen to his lies.
Anyone watch the press conference? What was said?
I’m at work with shpilkes, that’s yiddish for nervous energy, on pins and neddles, about the EVENT. So new?
Hi Marjorie – According to some DU posters -the press conference went very well.
http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/story.asp?S=4183208&nav=8…
Democrats say Bush didn’t deliver
CAPITOL HILL Senate Democrats say they didn’t get the answers they were looking for from President Bush during his speech on Iraq today at the U-S Naval Academy.
Jack Reed of Rhode Island says Bush delivered a “laundry list” of past accomplishments, but not a clear outline of what’s ahead. He says Americans need to have a sense of how long the mission will take, and what it will cost — particularly in terms of the lives of U-S troops.
John Kerry says Bush is falsely trying to suggest that Democrats want to set an artificial date for a pullout. Kerry says that’s not the case — and that they just want an “estimated timetable” for success.
He also says Bush is still failing to deal with the “fundamental reality” of the insurgency in Iraq — and that he’s ignoring his own commanders who say that the high U-S troop levels in Iraq are helping to fuel that insurgency.
Sorry gang I had wanted to live blog the press conference and I had connectivity issues this morning.
DU thread on JK & Reed’s press conference:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104×5483895
To my ever reliable friend, FD, thanks.
Gee, connectivity issues says a lot, but know what you mean. Darn.