Iraqi PM: I Want a Timetable
| Tue Jul. 8, 2008 7:09 AM PDT
What degree of agency do we give the Iraqi government? The AP:
Iraq's prime minister said Monday his country wants some type of timetable for a withdrawal of American troops included in the deal the two countries are negotiating.
It was the first time that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has explicitly and publicly called for a withdrawal timetable — an idea opposed by President Bush.
He offered no details. But his national security adviser, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, told The Associated Press that the government is proposing a timetable conditioned on the ability of Iraqi forces to provide security.
This is more a change in rhetoric than a change in substance. A timetable for withdrawal tied to unspecified benchmarks of Iraqi troop readiness is a recipe for staying in the country indefinitely. But it does represent a break from the Bush Administration, and if Maliki backs up this new language with specifics, we'll have a situation on our hands.
Obama, for the record, wants combat troops out in 16 months. I wonder if in his upcoming trip to Iraq, he'll meet with Maliki.
Update: Bush's statement on the sovereignty of the Iraqi government after the jump.
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We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation. Twelve million people went to the polls to approve a constitution. It's their government's choice. If they were to say, leave, we would leave.
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ISRAEL'S SUSTAINABLE PARASITISM ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
Israel and the American Neo-Con/Neo-Lib Diaspora notoriously donate thousands of dollars to elect corruptible American presidential and congressional officials, who then repay Israel a thousand fold from precious tax revenues; with millions of dollars worth of technologically advanced military equipment and services, and with the priceless lives of thousands of young patriots. In the case of the un-Constitutional Iraq War, Podhoretz Neo-Con Bush sacrificed over a trillion dollars and the lives of 4,000 young patriots, to sole benefit of Israel.
of course bush would be opposed....he doesn't want to see the war ended....he wouldn't get so much money for the oil we have to send over there to fuel the tanks, planes, and such. that's why he wanted this war in the first place....remember he said....'i'm a war president' was anyone listening? it doesn't appear so....he was elected into office twice....and now look what we have to put up with. i think i would shoot myself if this country had to put up with more years of bush...i just hate stupidity
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