Adapting to win

Adapting to win is the most recent Bush administration talking point on the war in Iraq, apparently replacing stay the course.

In an August 9, 2006, conference call with bloggers, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, in response to the question by "Mirengoff" of Powerline Blog: "Public opinion on war changing, if not defeatist, at least unhappy with progress - what can Repubs do?", responded that "war is difficult, answer is not to give terrorists a victory. Highlight consequences of failure. Issue is not a choice between cut-and-run and stay-the-course, but should be adapt-and-win. ..." (emphasis added)

Speaking on the Sunday, August 13, 2006, edition of Meet the Press, Mehlman said:


 * "Look, the fact is our mission in the war in Iraq is critical. We agree on that, we agree that it's wrong to cut and run. But look we're not coming in and saying stay the course. The choice in this election is not between stay the course and cut and run. It's between win by adapting and cut and run. Let me tell you what we're doing. The fact is before the successful Iraqi elections, the number of troops went up from 137,000 to 160,000. That's adapting to win. Recently we increased troops in Baghdad, adapting to win. We changed how the training of Iraqi forces occurred to involve more Iraqis. That's adapting to win. We've involved the international community more, the EU, the UN." (emphasis added)

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Bush administration propaganda and disinformation
 * Exit Strategy from Iraq
 * Iraq Study Group
 * rebranding
 * revolution in military affairs
 * war propaganda