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-- US Troops set to leave by end of next year
US Troops set to leave by end of next year
One could say it's political pressure to get out or the Iraqi people really are that close to being ready; either way could be argued.
Either way is a good thing in the end.
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Handover to Iraqi Army 'set for the end of next year' By Ned Parker, Michael Evans and Richard Beeston American and Iraqi officials have set a date for giving Iraq�s forces responsibility for security across the country. Under a plan to be presented to the UN Security Council next month, the Iraqi Government would assume authority from coalition troops by the end of next year. Only hours after Donald Rumsfeld was replaced as US Defence Secretary, American, British and Iraqi officials spoke openly about accelerating the handover process. Baghdad made clear that it would use the Democrat victory in congressional midterm elections to push President Bush for concessions. Confidants of Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, said that they hoped defeat would make Mr Bush more open to ideas that he had previously rejected. However, Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, sought to play down the impact of both the Republicans� mid-term election losses and the dismissal of Mr Rumsfeld. She said that it was unlikely that there would be a �major upheaval� of US policy in Iraq. In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute think-tank she said: �We will leave when they are confident that they can take the role of security in the country on their own shoulders. �I ask those who are calling for more precipitate action to consider the consequences of such action: we would be leaving the Iraqi Government without the means to prevent a further escalation in the violence, without the tools to enforce the rule of law and without the authority to prevent their country from turning into a base for terrorism.� All sides said that Mr Rumsfeld�s departure provided an opportunity to set a clearer timetable for withdrawing all foreign forces. A new tone was set by President Bush. He said that he was open to ideas that would help the US to achieve its goals of defeating the terrorists and ensuring that Iraq�s democratic Government succeeded. The plan being drawn up in Baghdad, with Washington�s approval, seeks a one-year extension of the UN mandate for foreign forces in Iraq. But it also states that by December 2007, security in the country�s 18 provinces, apart from the most violent, be handed over to the Iraqi Army and police. US and British troops would play a support role. The process has already begun in the South, where British forces have handed over two provinces this summer and hope to complete the transfer of a third by the year end. British military sources said that the downfall of Mr Rumsfeld had given the coalition a golden opportunity to �rebrand� its strategy in Iraq. Under his era at the Pentagon, one senior British official complained, there was �very little flexibility�. The two key aims of the strategy, training the Iraqi Army to take over security and helping the Baghdad Government to spread its influence throughout the country, remained unaltered. But it would be possible now to make clear to the whole Middle East that US and British forces intended to leave Iraq and that the countdown had begun. Until now Washington and London have rejected setting out a timetable for a withdrawal of their forces. But yesterday British military officials suggested that it could be completed in the next year and a half. Haidar al-Abadi, an Iraqi MP and member of Nouri al- Maliki�s inner circle, said that the Government hoped to raise the issue of a timetable with the US Administration, which rejected it during negotiations in June. Iraqi officials believe that Washington will be more receptive now because the Admin istration is �weaker� and less stubborn. Mr al-Abadi said that a timetable would help to destroy the popular support of armed groups, who claim that American troops will never leave the country. Insurgent groups have repeatedly called for a date for a US withdrawal as their precondition for stopping attacks. |
I love how having an approval rating in the low 30's never bothered Bush. But now that he can actually be held accountable (impeachment, anyone?) he wastes no time in listening to the people's will.
And to think that if they had done this a couple of weeks ago (fire Rummy and make this announcement) they probably could have kept the Senate, and the House could have been very different as well (although Dems would have probably got that no matter what).
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| Originally posted by Dj Tomer I love how having an approval rating in the low 30's never bothered Bush. But now that he can actually be held accountable (impeachment, anyone?) he wastes no time in listening to the people's will. |
Yeah, the best thing the democrats could do is show the Republicans who's more concerned with the people's best interest and not meaningless partisan hackery. Not impeaching Bush, who clearly deserves to be, after they worked so hard to impeach Clinton for something so idiotic will show them who's the "bigger man".
it's good that they are recognizing reality of things or this could be just another bluff as in cutting the losses , either way the war is far from and this looks more an end of beginning than beginning of the end
Al Qaida Leader Praises Democrat Win and Vows to Blow up White House
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl...ld/4326810.html
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| BAGHDAD, Iraq � A new recording Friday attributed to the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq mocked President Bush as a coward whose conduct of the war was rejected at the polls, challenging him to keep U.S. troops in the country to face more bloodshed. "We haven't had enough of your blood yet," taunted terror chieftain Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, identified as the speaker on the tape. He gloated over Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation, claimed to have 12,000 fighters under his command who "have vowed to die for God's sake," and said his fighters will not rest until they blow up the White House and occupy Jerusalem. It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the 20-minute recording, posted on a Web site used by Islamic militants. The CIA said technical analysis was being conducted on the tape. Al-Muhajir, an Egyptian also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, boasted that al-Qaida in Iraq is moving toward victory faster than expected because of Bush's mistakes. White House spokesman Tony Snow said the Bush administration had no comment on the tape. The tape and its often far-fetched claims came as the U.S. military announced the deaths of five more service members in the 44-month-old conflict, which has grown increasingly unpopular at home. Twenty-six American service members have been killed in Iraq so far this month. At least 59 Iraqi civilians were killed or found dead Friday as the violence threatens to spiral into all-out civil war. In one of the day's bloodiest incidents, a suicide bomber in an explosives-rigged car killed six Iraqi soldiers he had lured from behind a checkpoint. Just hours earlier, Iraq's army said it captured the Egyptian leader of an al-Qaida cell in Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold. The audio message appeared to be an attempt to exact maximum propaganda benefit from the results of Tuesday's midterm elections, in which the Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress, in part because of the war. Al-Muhajir praised the American people for handing victory to the Democrats, saying: "They voted for something reasonable in the last elections." He also said Bush was "the most stupid president" in U.S. history. "We call on the lame duck not to hurry his escape the way the defense secretary did," al-Muhajir said in reference to Rumsfeld's resignation as Pentagon chief on Wednesday. "Remain steadfast on the battlefield, you coward," said al-Muhajir, who took over leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June. "We will not rest from our jihad (holy war) until we are under the olive trees of Rumieh and we have blown up the filthiest house _ which is called the White House," al-Muhajir said. The "olive trees of Rumieh" appeared to be a reference to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, or to Christendom as a continuation of the Roman empire. Al-Muhajir also told Iraqi Sunnis to ally with a shadowy mini-state that militants claim to have established last month under a man identified as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. "I vow allegiance to you," he said, addressing al-Baghdadi as the "ruler of believers " and placing al-Qaida in Iraq fighters under his command. Friday's civilian death toll was little changed from previous days. The United Nations estimates about 100 Iraqis die in violence each day, while Iraq's health minister on Thursday estimated up to 150,000 civilians had been killed in the war _ about three times previously accepted estimates of 45,000-50,000. At least 33 bodies were found Friday, most the victims of roving sectarian death squads that usually torture their victims before shooting them. Among the latest victims was a Sunni imam, Akram Jassim, 60, gunned down at the front entrance to his mosque in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, said Brig. Abdul Kerim al-Jubori, a spokesman for the provincial police. Meanwhile, Bush and his national security team will meet Monday with members of a blue-ribbon commission trying to devise a new course for the unpopular war. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton of Indiana, is expected to report its recommendations before the end of the year. Members of the group will have a joint conference at the White House with Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. |
What a load of crap! We won't be out of Iraq for another 4yrs. Don't get your hopes up, that the troops will all be coming home soon.
Finally, can we see the end of this debacle?
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| Originally posted by Krypton Finally, can we see the end of this debacle? |
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| Originally posted by Purple Or maybe a new begining to it? |
The joke of a democracy the US installed there will be all but gone within 5 years. Then "History will be the judge" as bush likes to say whenever he is asked a question that's too tough to answer.
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| Originally posted by Krypton For the Iraqi's yes. For america, good riddance. The Iraqi's want us out anyways, and we don't want to be there anymore. |
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