‘We are not blinking!’

June 2, 2008

Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the onetime commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, in his new book, shares an anecdote about the president that probably won’t surprise anyone, but is nevertheless discomforting.

Among the anecdotes in “Wiser in Battle: A Soldier’s Story” is an arresting portrait of Bush after four contractors were killed in Fallujah in 2004, triggering a fierce U.S. response that was reportedly egged on by the president.

During a videoconference with his national security team and generals, Sanchez writes, Bush launched into what he described as a “confused” pep talk:

“Kick ass!” he quotes the president as saying. “If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can’t send that message. It’s an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal.”

“There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!”

The White House had no comment when asked about Sanchez’s anecdote. I can’t say I’m surprised — how does one respond to presidential remarks like these?

Melissa McEwan added, “I wonder if they were actually on the phone with Bush, or if he was off riding his bike, leaving behind a lackey to pull the string on the back of the slogan-chanting Bush action figure.”

The similarities are striking sometimes.

Tom Engelhardt added:

[T]he President “launched” what an evidently bewildered Sanchez politely describes as “a kind of confused pep talk regarding both Fallujah and our upcoming southern campaign [against the Mahdi Army].” Here then is that “pep talk.” While you read it, try to imagine anything like it coming out of the mouth of any other American president, or anything not like it coming out of the mouth of any evil enemy leader in the films of the President’s — and my — childhood….

Keep in mind that the bloodlusty rhetoric of this “pep talk” wasn’t meant to rev up Marines heading into battle. These were the President’s well-embunkered top advisors in a strategy session on the eve of major military offensives in Iraq. Evidently, however, the President was intent on imitating George C. Scott playing General George Patton — or perhaps even inadvertently channeling one of the evil villains of his onscreen childhood.

Only 231 days to go.

Shrieks from inside the Koolaid-filled bubble.

Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!”

Hitler’s aides would recognize the sentiment, if not the exact words.

  • There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!

    While you read it, try to imagine anything like it coming out of the mouth of any other American president

    Actually, as I read it the first time I lost track and though I was reading another post about Hillary.

  • 1. Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!”
    2. ???
    3. Profit!* Democracy in Iraq!

    * (c) Underpants Gnomes, Inc.

  • While you read it, try to imagine anything like it coming out of the mouth of any other American president, or anything not like it coming out of the mouth of any evil enemy leader in the films of the President’s — and my — childhood….

    Seriously, that sounded like something that would’ve been said by the evil master in a kung fu movie. “Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!”

    The speaker’s skill with the English language was about the same, for sure.

  • “Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!” — The Stratergeric Deciderer

    Sadly, I can picture the same sort of thing coming from McCain — just with more profanity and racial epithets.

  • I have more from Sanchez. Apparently he’s not too happy with GWB’s incompetent leadership putting politics over the judgment of Generals. Can’t blame him, though.

    Here’s Sanchez unplugged on the first battle of Fallujah:

    “But Sanchez said he is sure one other factor was in play: worries about how a political breakdown in Iraq would affect Bush’s 2004 re-election hopes.

    “The domestic political issue is the concern with the polls and the attitude of the American people about what has happened to us in Fallujah, and the concern with the impact that would come from our inability to transfer sovereignty,” Sanchez told the Express-News.

    Two days after the offensive began, Bremer ordered Sanchez to withdraw the Marines. He refused, warning that if the Marines pulled out under fire, it would be seen as a U.S. defeat, Sanchez wrote in the book. “You’ve got to withdraw! The transfer of sovereignty is in danger!” Bremer said.

    “I won’t do it!” Sanchez replied.

    They were shouting at each other. Sanchez turned to Abizaid, who oversaw wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at the time. Abizaid, now retired, did not respond to an interview request.

    “Look, sir, I am not going to issue that order,” Sanchez told him. “If you want that order issued, you will have to find another commander.”

    The impasse was settled when Sanchez suggested a unilateral cease-fire. Bremer, he wrote, revealed the decision the next day — April 9. Four days after Bush’s re-election that fall, the battle would be fought again at a much higher cost.

    “Amid media speculation of incompetence. .. Fallujah came to stand for a failure to achieve clearly stated and defined missions,” Sanchez wrote, adding that his last orders to the Marines were to fight if attacked and eliminate resistance.

    “The administration wanted us to cut and run. But from the warrior’s perspective, we did not withdraw our forces under fire,” he continued. “We held our ground. In other words, we cut, but we did not run.”

    Bush wanted to “Cut and run.” Them’s fighting words!

    Yep. Only 231 days to go.

  • Evidently, however, the President was intent on imitating George C. Scott playing General George Patton

    I thought “Buck Turgidson”, myself.

  • George still thinks he’s a cheerleader like in his college days. But his pep talk shows how he feels about Iraq. “Kill them!” No wonder White House spokesmen had no comment. What can they say?

  • Gotta love how he says the Vietnam “stuff” isn’t even close. “Pay no attention to that war I weaseled out of, Iraq is the real deal!” And that high-pitched yapping you hear is the fRightWing gearing up to attack Phony Soldier Sanchez.” Cry Havoc, let fly the slipper dogs of war!”

    [Brief threadjack]

    In happier news, Kennedy came out of surgery cracking jokes:

    A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Democrat says Kennedy spoke with his wife, Vicki, right after surgery. He told her: “I feel like a million bucks. I think I’ll do that again tomorrow.”

    Not only is it good to know he came out all right but one concern with this type of surgery was damage to the brain’s speech center.

    [/Brief threadjack]

  • CCR’s Fortunate Son:
    Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
    Ooh, they send you down to war, lord,
    And when you ask them, how much should we give?
    Ooh, they only answer more! more! more! yoh,

    W as GI Jackass with flight suit, talking speech and shit stained undies.

    Couldn’t W have thrown in an “air assault”, too?

  • If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them!

    Make no mistake, this is us-against-them Fascism talk — plain and simple. He sounds more fanatical than Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein or Ahmadinejad. More feeble than Jerry Falwell or Mel Gibson.

    He might as well have been saying: “We’re going to free the shit out of these people! We’ve got to democratize them back to the Stone Age!”

    With this “bend to our will or die!” attitude, is it any wonder his administration has blundered our asses into Iraq, killed thousands of civilians, impoverished millions more and sunk all our tax-payer into Green Zones and the corporatist agenda? How can you possibly encourage a society to change their millenniums-old national system of governance to yours when you obviously don’t give a shit about the people you are pretending to help?

    The statement above is the Bush Lie laid bare like it has never been exposed before. “Enemies of freedom,” my ass. Enemies of free markets, more like. And what could be worse to a greedy asshole like “W”?

  • Reminds me of Anakin Skywalker in Episode Two (I think) – “I killed all of them, men, women, children”. This is the fear/anger/hate that Yoda talks about, and it applies *exactly* to Bush and McCain’s psychology.

  • “Es gibt eine Serie von Momenten und dies ist Ein von ihnen. Unser Wille wird geprüft, aber wir sind entschlossen. Wir haben einen besseren Weg. Bleiben Sie stark! Halten Sie durch! Töten Sie sie! Seien Sie vertraulich! Herrschen Sie vor! Wir werden sie auslöschen! Wir blinken nicht“!

    See? I told you—Bush sounds just like the guy his granddaddy used to work for….

  • The man is unfit to be president and were it not for daddy, never would have been. The spoiled little brat isn’t done yet.. How many have to die to get impeached around here?

  • I was pointing out to an acquaintence who was bemoaning al Sadr and his opposition to us that in fact al Sadr wants the same thing the majority of Americans want…

    … to get the Americans out of Iraq.

    This is the guy that BGII wanted to kill. Only because al Sadr wants what Americans want, to take BGII’s war out of the ‘Maybe Win’ column and put it in the ‘I don’t care if I’ve lost’ column.

    Of course, if you don’t get hung up about some al Qaeda in Iraq scum crawling out of a spider hole after we leave proudly (right) declaring “bin Laden’s Won” we could declare victory (Saddam dead, WMD found (all 500 1980’s artillery shells), Nuclear Program uncovered (and triggering instructions, in Arabic, posted on the Internet by our wise Republican’t congressmen), multiple elections held) as our great Military has done all we asked it to, in 2003.

    But no, we have to stay in Iraq until everybody who wants us to leave is DEAD.

    And then we could leave, right?

  • It was obvious to me at the time of the 2000 campaign that Bush was a shallow simpleton. Having seen the country give two terms to Reagan, it wasn’t shocking that Bush managed to be taken seriously (though it was a shock to see the SCOTUS steal the election so blatantly). Now after nearly 8 weary years of hearing the man, it’s no surprise to read that this stream of ridiculous drivelcame from him.

    My main interest in hearing it was wondering what was going through the heads of the others as they saw their putative leader being such an ass. (I’ve been there myself, though never at a time that the stupidity I was witnessing was about to get a lot of people killed for nothing.)

  • So said the asshole who skipped out of Vietnam, from a nice safe, secure bunker under the White House thousands of miles away from the fighting.

  • Every last drop of Republican compensation for their Vietnam cowardice and disdain for prior military service is in those two paragraphs. The idea that a failed, AWOL National Guard pilot feels the need to fire up the Marines is beyond pathetic. All for leveling a city the vast majority of inhabitants had nothing to do with in the original offense.

    Keep in mind the original screw-up of that lost patrol that ended up with 4 dead mercs. (Aren’t the families of some of the men suing for the stupidity?) This is cluster on top of cluster on top of cluster…

    Remember the administration consensus that the Arabs will only respond to fear and brute force. We have to be “tougher than hell.” We will “not blink.”

    You know, I can appreciate having a military that will take care of business and put the whomp on the enemy, to the point of decimation. But this sort of rah, rah in this particular context shows an utter lack of class. The Marines know what to do and how to do it, that’s their job, but it would be much better for all concerned if the President didn’t sound like the most mindless, hoo-ah grunt in the room. The words “Viennese corporal” comes to mind.

    You’re right, Mr. President, it’s all just a “mind-set.” My mind is set on where this piece of human garbage belongs.

  • Lance,

    Unfortunately, as far as the current admin is concerned, our troops as well as the nearly 160,000 foreign contractors and workers that are there, aren’t leaving until all the oil underneath is gone. The neo-cons are like college-dropout stoners living in their parents’ basement. They never had an exit strategy because they’ve never had any intention of leaving. Doesn’t matter who dies, who hates us, or who gets the blame. Iraq [and very soon Iran] are merely a neo-con attempt at a man-made Rapture. Bring about the “final strife” of a prolonged war. And the neo-con faithful get to spend eternity in the safety and luxury of the Green Zone.

    When they talk about “surrender” and “cutting and running” they are talking about surrendering the oil. No more and no less.

  • After reading your post and linking to its sourced material, I can only say George Bush may have stayed a bit too long in front of the TV cartoons he must have watched as a youngster. My estimate is he stayed in front of the cartoon world until well into his adult life.

    Bush’s social, political and humane development is not quite up to snuff if he delves into such a low-brow “pep-talk” to export our “democratic” ways. He sounds more like a man out to win a blood feud than one who truly knows the worth of freedom and democracy. -Kevo

  • Who was it blinked on that “wanted dead or alive” thing and ended up in the wrong country? Talk about surrendering to the enemy.

  • During a videoconference with his national security team and generals, Sanchez writes, Bush launched into what he described as a “confused” pep talk:

    Did the videoconference take place at 3AM? Bush should never — but never — be allowed to ad-lib; he mangles the lines written especially for him (ie for his level of understanding and vocabulary) badly enough…

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