Posted on 04/26/2007 8:25:23 AM PDT by Ancient Drive
Iraq criticises US pull-out bill
Hoshyar Zebari accuses US legislators of "politicking" Attempts by US Democrats to hasten the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq are "damaging to security" in the country, Iraq's foreign minister says.
Hoshyar Zebari was responding to a vote in the US House of Representatives making further funding of the war conditional on a withdrawal timetable.
The top US general in Iraq said there was still "vastly more work" to do.
The Senate votes on the bill later on Thursday. President George W Bush has promised to veto it.
This is part of the politicking, basically, in Washington Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq foreign minister
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Although the Democrats, who sponsored the bill, control both houses of Congress, they do not have enough votes to overrule a presidential veto.
The Democrats have been locked in confrontation with President Bush's Republicans over the future of the war in Iraq.
Mr Zebari said the bill was "part of the politicking, basically, in Washington, and this has been damaging in fact to the security, political development, not only in Iraq, but in the entire region".
He said a decision to withdraw US troops "should depend on conditions on the ground".
"The moment that Iraqi forces, security, military, are self-reliant, capable of standing on their own, defending their own country, providing security, then definitely there would be a way for the troops to leave."
'Surrender date'
The commander of US forces in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has met US politicians to argue against the bill.
He is overseeing the "surge" strategy, in which thousands of extra US troops are being poured into Baghdad in an attempt to pacify the Iraqi capital.
The aftermath of a bombing in an Iraqi market Gen Petraeus said spectacular bombs overshadowed progress
He did not give a direct opinion on the bill at a press conference in Washington on Thursday, but said the US effort "clearly is going to require an enormous commitment over time".
He said the first few months of the surge had led to improvements in Iraq, but said it had still to get fully into its stride, and admitted that progress was "often eclipsed by sensational attacks which overshadow our achievements".
He described the situation there as "exceedingly complex and very tough", and said "there is vastly more work to be done across the board".
The Democrats' bill provides $100bn (£50bn) in new war funds, if troops start leaving in October, with the withdrawal planned to be complete by March 2008.
"The sacrifices borne by our troops and their families demand more than the blank cheques the president is asking for, for a war without end," said the leader of House Democrats, Nancy Pelosi.
But Republicans said setting a timetable would amount to announcing a "surrender date".
"Al-Qaeda will view this as the day the House of Representatives threw in the towel," said Republican Jerry Lewis.
Mr Bush called it an attempt to "handcuff our generals".
Dutifully forwarded to my Iraq Update List from when I was in Iraq.
Attention Congressional Democrats: If you want to be little generals, you must understand that PR is an important front in any war.
If you want to continue employing the 60’s radical, anti-war counterculture tactics that lead to disaster in Vietnam, continue in your selfishness. The blood of the slaughter of millions is on your hands after the pullout in Vietnam. Your hands will be redipped in blood if you pull the troops from Iraq. The choice is yours. History is watching.
If the idiotic dems continue on their course of defeat and abandonment of our allies, they will not only cause a bloodbath in Iraq and the loss of a strategic and valuable ally, but will also lose our national credibility for another 40 years. This is the only valid comparison between Iraq and Vietnam.
The Democrats are setting their whole party up for a set back they just think they can keep their snow job running full steam long enough to win the White House. There is a coming backlash on Iraq and it isn’t going to hit the President this time. Republicans need to get one thing in their minds when they talk about Iraq and that is our soldiers being slandered by the Democrats, our soldiers being burned in effigy by the Democrats and then they need to unleash their Rhetoric. Allowing the Democrats to address their behavior on “it is just a healthy debate”. There is nothing healthy about spreading poison suggesting the President lied to the American people, suggesting Iraq is an illegal war, suggesting 9-11 was an inside job, and trying to cast our soldiers as Nazis and Saddam as a misunderstood “leader” who was the victim of US aggression.
The majority of the American people love our soldiers and what they have seen is a President unwilling to stand up for them when the chips are down. Instead he and the admin go into retreat on Abugrabe, they go into retreat when in the heat of battle the troops are forced to make unpalatable decisions that sometimes cost innocent lives. Instead they let our troops sit in prison facing a tougher incarceration than the terrorists in Guantanamo who get interrogated in lazyboys. It also wouldn’t hurt if they start bringing grateful Iraqis to the US for Press conferences on a regular basis. The Press hides this and they have an obligation to make the case that the press will not. That has to change.
He and the VP and the whole administration need to speak passionately and from the heart. They need to speak to the heart of the people not the bureaucrats and the press. They need to realize that the reason they are in the predicament they are in now is not because of failure in Iraq but because of a failure to continue to make their case and offer an alternative to the vitriol of the left. The same tired speeches devoid of passion in the face of the hate sound tiny in the ears of liberty. They need to think of what they are fighting for and what they are fighting against. If they can not show passion then how can they expect anyone to feel anything but defeated?
Most sensible Americans hate this bill, too, but honestly, you folks COULD do a little more to help out--like not preventing us from going into Sadr City, or building a wall if the generals think we need one.
Sincerely,
Miz
Don’t worry dems, what does Iraq know?
I’m sure in the fantasy world you live in, when the smoke clears, you’ll be kings and queens of the socialist world.
Nice work comrades!
Apparently Peloser & Dirtbag Harry know more about the war than the Iraqi gummit. His death is of no consequence to them.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Obviously, this is a Bush brainwashing technique to compel the Iraqis to want us to stay there.
/s
Howard Dean won’t respond to this. And the media may let it go. See how often they continue to promote the Howie/Rudy argument though.
What our lazy ass Republican Senators is Viagra and methamphetamine mixed into their late morning omelets. Bush could use some in his early morning one. Cheney is just fine.
The only way the United States can lose this war is by Democrats making the U.S. lose it. That's the point that must be made BOLDLY, REALLY BOLDLY.
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