Large Amount Of Credit For The Surge Goes To Stephen Hadley- Woodward

**Equilibrium** · 15 Sep 08,, 16:56

And it's easy to forget the nearly universal skepticism that greeted President Bush's announcement of a new strategy in January 2007. Again, it wasn't just Democrats such as Sen. Barack Obama who doubted that a surge would relieve the violence ("in fact, I think it will do the reverse," Obama said), but Republicans such as Sen. Chuck Hagel ("the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out"), war supporters such as the Post editorial board (we labeled the new strategy "very risky") and -- as Bob Woodward's latest book makes vividly clear -- the nation's top generals.

But Woodward's fourth volume on decision making inside the administration, "The War Within," also confirms that Bush never would have been in position to make the hard but correct call had it not been for his national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley.

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**Dreadnought** · 19 Sep 08,, 17:30

IMO The largest amount of credit for Iraq today should go to the soldiers first and then General David Patreaus.

**Equilibrium** · 19 Sep 08,, 22:22

Originally Posted by Dreadnought

IMO The largest amount of credit for Iraq today should go to the soldiers first and then General David Patreaus.

I agree, the ones who undertook the operational part of the surge deserve the lion's share of the credit, along with the timely allegiance of the Sunni insurgents with the GoIr and turning against AQ.

But the political context in the US at the time (2006-07) was so overwhelmingly polarized that many were covering themselves by attempting to disassociate themselves from the policies and the opponents were vocal and in the ascendant.

As someone involved in government at the time, it took great political courage by the senior civilian leadership to find a way to maneuver the bureaucracy of Washington into a position to first support and them implement the idea of the surge. I learned then how much policies depend not on their appeal more than the ability of bureaucracy to accept and implement it.