So much for listening to the "experts"

Bush went on his little listening tour, but forgot to, like, ya know, actually listen.

As President George W. Bush weighs options for changing course in Iraq, his administration is split over the concept of sending in more troops, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

White House officials are aggressively promoting a short-term increase in U.S. troop levels in Iraq over the unanimous disagreement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the newspaper reported, citing officials familiar with the debate.

The chiefs of the military services think the White House still does not have a defined mission and is latching on to the idea of a surge of troops in Iraq, in part, because of limited alternatives, the report said, citing the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Joint Chiefs have warned that a short-term mission could give an edge to the armed factions in Iraq without providing a lasting boost to the U.S. military mission or to the Iraqi army, the report said.

Sending 15,000 to 30,000 more troops to Iraq for six to eight months is one proposal under consideration as the White House looks for ways to halt the worsening situation in Iraq, the officials told the Post.

The officials were quoted as saying that the idea of a much larger deployment for a longer mission was virtually off the table, mainly for logistics reasons. [emphasis mine]

Note that was unanimous disagreement. Pretty unusual for that group of old war horses.

(read more)