The War Within - The Gulf States Pushed for the Surge

On page 257 to 259 of Bob Woodward's The War Within, it talked about Secretary Rice went to the Gulf Cooperation Council to meet with foreign ministers of the Gulf states. In that meeting, many of the foreign ministers were convinced the U.S. would pull out of Iraq. One was quoted of saying "You don't need to be thinking about pull your forces down. You need to think about doubling your forces."

When Rice returned to brief Bush, she was quoted, "I came out of that meeting convinced that not only did they believe that we were about to fold in Iraq, but that that was going to be the end of American power in the Middle East." She went on to say, "The very act of increasing American forces would have a salutary effect, whether or not it achieved population security. The fact that the president of the United States, against all odds, against all voices, would in effect double down, would have a hugely important effect on the region."

Taken these quotes together, you can see a sub-plot that the "surge" strategy is not just the President's strategy, not McCain's strategy, or General Petraeus' strategy. In fact, the "double down" strategy is, in some way, forced on the President by the Middle East states. It was done with "a salutary effect" and "whether or not it achieved population security." It was more a show of power than security.

Despite all the hoopla about the debate of the strategy, who is for and against it. It turned out the oil rich gulf states did have a say in this matter and they were for it. The "oil man" Bush did not want to lose influence at the Middle East and probably became one of many reason they went along with me. Again, let's face it, this war is not about freedom, or democracy, or WMD. It is about oil.

One last point. I admit that I was never impressed by Condi Rice. But as the Secretary of State and the country's chief diplomat, if someone is to ask her to double our force, at minimum, I would expect her to say, "So, how many of those extra troops would your country willing to commit?"

I know that I would that and I am not even a diplomat. And I bet you and no one would ever able to pull that off with former Secretary of State, James Baker.