History Schmistory
And the rewriting of history continues …
A senior aide said later that Bush would not let the military decide the matter. “He’s never left the decision to commanders,” said the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so Bush’s comments would be the only ones on the record. “He is the commander in chief. But he has said he will listen to those commanders when making these decisions. That hasn’t changed.
Well, yes it has. The script Bush has been reading from for the last three years is liberally peppered with genuflections to the commanders in the field, who we were told had ultimate authority to decide how many troops we need. Here he is, in May:
I have said to the American people: As the Iraqis stand up, we’ll stand down. But I have also said that our commanders on the ground will make that decision.
This is only slightly less outrageous than Bush’s claim (made by Bush himself this time, rather than some anonymized factotum) that he’s never advocated for staying the course in Iraq:
Well, hey, listen, we’ve never been “stay the course,†George. We have been — we will complete the mission, we will do our job, and help achieve the goal, but we’re constantly adjusting to tactics. Constantly.
They’re constantly adjusting something, but it’s not tactics.
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