Bush and Sanchez: this is what we call "foreshadowing"
The Washington Post's Michael Abromowitz on a passage in Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez's new book, Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story, describing a "'confused' pep talk" given by President Bush to the Iraq War's military leadership following the killing of four contractors in Fallujah in 2004:
"Kick ass!" he quotes the president as saying. "If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal.""There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"
*Matthew Yglesias, The Atlantic
