Barnes, NYT's Gordon assigned blame for failed strategy to generals, not Bush

SUMMARY: New York Times chief military correspondent Michael Gordon asserted that "President Bush did listen to his generals over the past year and a half, and he did as -- implement the strategy that General [George W.] Casey [Jr.] advocated, and it didn't work." Fox News host Fred Barnes asserted that "the president is not doing what his commanders on the ground have urged, mainly because their policy has failed." But these assertions ignore reporting that Bush had been determining troop levels in Iraq and has "never left the decision to commanders."

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