Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Powell says we should not wilt in the face of an insurgency

Reuters:

Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday the United States cannot wilt in the face of the Iraqi insurgency and suggested critics of the war in Iraq were becoming rattled and defeatist.

Powell spoke after senators from President Bush's Republican party criticized U.S. policy in Iraq, where a U.S. hostage was beheaded on Monday and his captors threatened to kill an American and a Briton if their demands are not met.

"We can't just wilt in the face of this kind of challenge, we have to meet the challenge," Powell told ABC's "Good Morning America" program.

...

"It is a difficult struggle that we are in right now. There is no question about it. Insurgencies are tough," Powell said. "But to say that we can't deal with it, this sort of attitude that we are on the verge of defeat, is absolutely wrong."

"This is the time to not take counsel of our fears and say everything is falling apart," Powell added.

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A U.S. intelligence report prepared for Bush in July and leaked to the media by U.S. officials last week offered a gloomy outlook for Iraq through the end of 2005, with the worst scenario being a descent into civil war.

Asked whether the administration was being candid on Iraq, U.S. national security advisor Condoleezza Rice said the assessment was an attempt to look at the big picture.

"That is no evidence that the Iraqis are falling into civil war. Quite the opposite. Kurds and Shia and Sunnis are working together to build a new Iraq," she told NBC's "Today" show.

"This insurgency has no political program. This is an anarchist insurgency. They simply either want to take Iraq back to the old days of Saddam Hussein or to turn Iraq into the Taliban," she added.

Lockhart's clever answer to Burkett question

Lockhart told Fox News that he did not discuss the CBS documents with Burkett when he called him. What that answer left unstated was what the CBS producer told him to persuade him to make a call to Burkett. Could it be that Mapes suggested to Lockhart that if he would make the call to Burkett, then Burkett would give documents to CBS that would challenge President Bush record in the Air National Guard? That if CBS got the documents they would be running a 60 Minutes piece that included a segment with major Kerry backer, Ben Barnes. Or, did she just say, Joe I know your busy, but do me a favor and call this guy.