The Associated Press reports:
"The situation there is one that needs adjustments, that needs changes in tactics. We need to adapt to the situation on the ground," Allen said at a campaign event Friday morning with GOP leaders of the state legislature.
Even so, Allen, whom polls show to be in a tight Senate race with Democratic candidate Jim Webb, has yet to reject or criticize the hard line on Iraq that he had touted for months and that President Bush repeated Thursday at an Allen fundraiser.
As the Washington Post charitably put it: http://www.washingto...
He said Friday that the United States "must adjust" its tactics in Iraq, a departure for a politician who a month ago said it was wrong to "second-guess" his decision to support the war. "Mistakes have been made, and progress has been far too slow," Allen told reporters. "We can't expect to keep doing the same things and get different results."
So now we know from Allen that GÇ£mistakes have been made,GÇ¥ though Allen does not directly reveal who made them. Anyone have an idea who could have made them?
Maybe we can find the answer lurking in Allen's prescription for change:
GÇ£Asked what mistakes have been made, Allen said the Bush administration waited too long to hold elections. He also said U.S. and Iraqi forces need to do more to disarm the militias that are terrorizing Baghdad.GÇ¥
Apparently, in AllenGÇÖs view, the cause of the insurgency is that Iraqis were so bursting with the need to have democracy that they became permanently enraged when elections were delayed?
And, he says, we must disarm the militias. I wonder who we could send there to disarm them. Perhaps his A Team? Many of them are under 42, the enlistment age.
In trying to nail down AllenGÇÖs policy de jour, perhaps we could go to his campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, who told the Post:
Wadhams also discounted suggestions that Allen has changed his thoughts about the war. "There has been no change," Wadhams said. "He and Senator [John W.] Warner have made their positions clear, and they agree with each other."
But Wadhams canGÇÖt be right because just the day before the Post quoted Allen as saying:
"The president has his ideas on Iraq, John Warner has his and I have mine," Allen said.
This indicates Allen has a policy different from the PresidentGÇÖs and John WarnerGÇÖs.
Then to further confuse matters:
A few minutes after saying that a new approach may be needed, Allen dodged reporters' questions by saying he does not want to "Monday-morning quarterback" the management of the war.
I thought you might help me in my search. Maybe you could contact Sen. John WarnerGÇÖs office and ask if they know what George AllenGÇÖs policy is: http://www.senate.go...
I decided to hire someone on my own dime, so I called the GÇ£WhereGÇÖs WaldoGÇ¥ detective agency, and they sent me Waldo himself, dressed appropriately, he said, because he was going to have to visit lots of Republican offices.
We sent Waldo first to the White House, but the guy at the gate said Bush was working on something really big and couldnGÇÖt talk to us:
We sent Waldo to the State Department, but no one there knew what anybodyGÇÖs Iraq policy was.
Waldo tried the CIA, but they said they GÇ£were into a different realityGÇ¥ right now.
We tried the neoconsGÇÖ favorite hangout, the Heritage Foundation, but the receptionist said they were reformulating the policy.
We sent Waldo to Dick WadhamGÇÖs office, but Waldo got pretty scared and came back:
LaCivitaGÇÖs receptionist wouldnGÇÖt let Waldo in:
Waldo paid a visit to the Republican National Committee headquarters, but they said they were too busy right now to worry about policy.
Waldo came back empty handed in his search. He opined that maybe we were asking the wrong question:
What do you think?
Do you have any other ideas where we might find George AllenGÇÖs Iraq policy?
Maybe e-mail the A Team?