"It was like going in half-assed and then running away. They hadn't thought about the consequences. It was the same as the way they went to war, and the same way that Bremer operated."
On April 28, Pres. Fredo lied again about the war on April 28, 2004:
Q Mr. President, is it going to take an all out military offensive to put down the insurgency in Fallujah? And can you really have a successful transfer of power in 60 days if Iraq is wracked by violence?
PRESIDENT BUSH: First, we will have a successful transfer of power. I assured the Prime Minister that the June 30th date is a solid date. And I appreciate so very much the work by the United Nations and Mr. Brahimi to lay the groundwork for the transfer of sovereignty.
Secondly, I have laid out a broad strategy that says that Iraq will be as secure as possible; that we will deal with those who want to stop the march to freedom. And that's exactly what's happening in Fallujah. Our commanders on the ground have got the authorities necessary to take action to help the Iraqi people realize a free and peaceful society. And what you must realize is happening in a place like Fallujah is, the closer we come to passing sovereignty, the more likely it is that foreign fighters, disgruntled Baathists or friends of the Shia cleric will try to stop progress. That's what's happening. They want to kill innocent life to try to get us to quit. And we're not going to. And our military commanders will take whatever action is necessary to secure Fallujah on behalf of the Iraqi people.
I'm pleased to -- I had a meeting with General Abizaid today. He's the commander in charge of the theater. He was reporting that there will be joint patrols with Iraqi police in Fallujah. Most of Fallujah is returning to normal. There are pockets of resistance, and we will -- our military, along with Iraqis, will make sure it's
secure.
It's not at all surprising that Fredo lied but Ricks did point out that Gen. Myers, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, went along with the lie. Appearing on FAUX News Sunday on May 2, 20041, he had this to say:
WALLACE: I want to talk to you about one more thing, General -- and I appreciate your coming in today -- and that's Fallujah. Why has the U.S. handed over some, any of the security operation in Fallujah to what, in effect, is a Sunni-Muslim militia under an Iraqi general, a former general of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard?
MYERS: Let me -- I'm going to try to set the record straight. The reporting to date has been, let me just say, very, very inaccurate. Here are the facts.
The goals and objectives in Fallujah have been what they've been all along. We've got to deal with the extremists, the foreign fighters; got to get rid of the heavy weapons out of Fallujah; and we've got to find the folks who perpetrated the Blackwater atrocities against the Blackwater personnel. Those are the objectives.
How we get there is what General Conway on the ground, the three- star Marine commander, General Sanchez in Baghdad, General Abizaid and the rest of us are trying to orchestrate, primarily them, not us here in Washington.
It would be preferable if the Iraqis would deal with this situation. And we've gotten a lot of help from tribal sheiks and from other folks that have put together what we think is a viable way for Iraqis to do that.
The reports of that one general, General Saleh, that you just mentioned, and there's another general as well, Latif (ph), are being vetted as we speak by the minister of defense, the Iraqi minister of defense in Baghdad, by the Coalition Provisional Authority. They have not been vetted. They have not been placed in command. They are not in charge.
There are 600 Iraqis being provided uniforms of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, the uniforms we provide them, weapons, transportation. We think we are very close to having Iraqis help achieve our objectives that I just outlined in Fallujah.
WALLACE: But do you really expect -- and, you know, it's a skepticism a lot of people share -- do you really expect that a group of Sunni Muslims are going to come in to Fallujah and rout out the insurgents who have attacked and killed Americans?
I don't have to tell you that when they went into town yesterday, there was talk about, "We've won," as if they've been rewarded, the insurgents in Fallujah, for the fact that they offered stiff resistance.
MYERS: Yes. You know, we want Iraqis to do this work, and that's -- this is a microcosm of what we want to happen all over Iraq.
The reports that the Marines have pulled back, not true. The Marines are still where they've been. The Marines are prepared to follow through on this action if they have to. It is preferable if we have Iraqis doing it, and it's preferable that we work with Iraqis.
This force, by the way, does not seem to be staying in Fallujah. They're going to do their job, and then we're going to turn it over to the Iraqi police, Iraqi Civil Defense Corps that's in that area.
Now, we think this is far preferable than the U.S. going in there in a very major combat operation to achieve those objectives. If we can do it with Iraqis, that is preferable.
I just talked to Jim Conway, the Marine commander, this morning. He thinks there is a chance this will work.
And again, we're going to have to vet the commanders. The reports that it's going to be this General Saleh, who was a former Republican Guard commander and so forth, he has not been vetted yet, and probably won't be the one in command.
This disgraceful attempt to disguise a defeat brought about not by the local U.S. commanders, but others higher up the chain of command, could've been predicted from Myers earlier lie about the overall state of the war on April 15, 2004:
GEN. MYERS: I would characterize what we're seeing right now perhaps as a -- as more a symptom of the success that we're having here in Iraq. ... We've had lots of success here in Iraq, ...
Myers went even further on May 21, 2004, telling the House Armed Services Committee2:
REP. SKELTON: I have some other questions. These are tough questions, but let me put them to you, Mr. Chairman. The comment was made by a retired four-star general we are on the brink of failure. True or false?
GEN. MYERS: I don't remember the comment. And it was referring to what? Iraq?
REP. SKELTON: To Iraq. Excuse me.
GEN. MYERS: I don't think so. I think that while there are a lot of challenges left and we know people are going to try to disrupt this process, there will be many more killed -- in fact, a government official -- (municipal ?) official in Fallujah was, I think,
assassinated yesterday even though things are generally going fairly well there.
This is going to -- it's going to be tough, but no, I don't think we're on the brink of failure; I think we're on the brink of success here. I think that as the new transitional government stands up, that there will be traction there with the Iraqi people that will be very important to them. And I think we'll continue to move forward.
Myers later defended the failed Iraq war plan on Sept. 7, 2004:
GEN. MYERS: Well, I think the first thing you could say is that in retrospect you can be super-critical about anything you want to be critical about. And so with perfect hindsight, you'd say, well, gee, maybe we should have anticipated this, maybe we should have anticipated that. ... Nobody can predict with certainty the kind of environment you're going to try to find when you go into these places. You just can't do it. You give it your best guess. ... The part I would highlight is we've been very good at adjusting. Could we have been faster, sharper, quicker? Sure, we could have been, in probably many areas it goes without saying, particularly if we have the benefit of looking backwards and not looking forward.
I pointed out below that there were a LOT of warnings from professionals about what to expect in Iraq but they were ignored by Rumsfeld and others.
Finally, on Sept. 29, 2005, near the end of his military career, Myers lies one more time3:
SEN. McCAIN: Mr. Chairman, I felt compelled to just make one comment. General Myers seems to assume that things have gone well in Iraq. General Myers seems to assume that the American people -- the support for our conflict there is not eroding. General Myers seems to assume that everything has gone fine, and our declarations of victory, of which there have been many, have not had an impact on American public opinion.
Things have not gone as we had planned or expected nor as we were told by you, General Myers. And that's why I'm very worried, because I think we have to win this conflict. So you've been bringing in the wrong experts in my view, because the conflict has not gone as it was testified to before this committee by this group of witnesses.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
SEN. WARNER: Our record will remain open for purposes. I will allow you to rebut that on this very important question. Any of the witnesses may supplement it. One last comment.
GEN. MYERS: I don't think this committee or the American public has ever heard me say that things are going very well in Iraq.
1Fox News Network
May 2, 2004 Sunday
SHOW: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (09:00)
Interviews With Richard Myers, Mitch McConnell, Joseph Biden
GUESTS: Richard Myers, Mitch McConnell, Joseph Biden
BYLINE: Chris Wallace
SECTION: News; International
LENGTH: 3608 words
2:Federal News Service
May 21, 2004 Friday
HEARING OF THE HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
SUBJECT: OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM
CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE DUNCAN HUNTER (R-CA)
WITNESSES: GENERAL RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF; GENERAL PETER SCHOOMAKER, ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF; AND GENERAL MICHAEL HAGEE, U.S. MARINE CORPS COMMANDANT
LOCATION: 2118 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
SECTION: PRESS CONFERENCE OR SPEECH
LENGTH: 30551 words
3Federal News Service
September 29, 2005 Thursday
HEARING OF THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
SUBJECT: UNITED STATES MILITARY STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS IN IRAQ AND THE CENTRAL COMMAND AREA
CHAIRED BY: SENATOR JOHN WARNER (R-VA)
WITNESSES: SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD; GENERAL RICHARD B. MYERS, U.S. AIR FORCE, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF; GENERAL JOHN P. ABIZAID, U.S. ARMY, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND; GENERAL GEORGE W. CASEY, U.S. ARMY, COMMANDING GENERAL, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ
LOCATION: 106 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
SECTION: PRESS CONFERENCE OR SPEECH
LENGTH: 28608 words
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