Crowe Says Staying Course Requires 'Heroic Assumptions'

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the Bush administration's plan to stay the course in Iraq requires, quote, ``heroic assumptions,'' including the support

Thursday, October 5th 2006, 6:22 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the Bush administration's plan to stay the course in Iraq requires, quote, ``heroic assumptions,'' including the support of the vast majority of Americans.

Retired Admiral William J. Crowe Junior says the November elections will be very important in giving the government and everyone else some readout of the public's pulse in the debate over staying the course or developing a different exit strategy.

While he said supporters of the war like to say the United States should never, quote, ``cut and run,'' such a policy since World War Two is not unprecedented if you look at Korea, Vietnam and Lebanon.

The 81-year-old Crowe says that there have been times the United States had to exit before obtaining its objectives, and that those exits were because of reality.

Crowe's comments to reporters came before an off-the-record talk at the Oklahoma Capitol involving state government, business and education officials.