Posted on 01/27/2005 1:13:48 PM PST by ken21
Kennedy Calls for U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq
1 hour, 32 minutes ago
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By Vicki Allen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should start to withdraw militarily and politically from Iraq (news - web sites) and aim to pull out all troops as early as possible next year, Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) said on Thursday.
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After Sunday's Iraqi elections, Kennedy said President Bush (news - web sites) should state he intends to negotiate a timetable with the new Iraqi government to draw down U.S. forces.
At least 12,000 U.S. troops should leave at once, Kennedy said, "to send a stronger signal about our intentions to ease the pervasive sense of occupation."
The Massachusetts Democrat, who opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, became the first senator to lay out a plan for Bush to start withdrawing troops a day after the Pentagon (news - web sites) warned lawmakers that strikes by insurgents may increase after Sunday's elections.
Besides ending its military presence, Kennedy said the United States must stop making political decisions in Iraq and turn over full authority to the United Nations (news - web sites) to help Baghdad set up a new government.
He said an international meeting led by the United Nations and Iraq should be convened immediately in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East to start that process.
"We now have no choice but to make the best we can of the disaster we have created in Iraq," Kennedy in a speech to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. "The current course is only making the crisis worse."
He said the indefinite presence of U.S. troops is "fanning the flames of conflict" in what has become "a war against the U.S. occupation."
The Republican National Committee (news - web sites) criticized the Senate's leading liberal for delivering "such an overtly pessimistic message only days before the Iraqi election."
"Kennedy's partisan political attack stands in stark contrast to President Bush's vision of spreading freedom around the world," RNC spokesman Brian Jones said.
Kennedy emphasized that Bush must also make it clear that the United States does not intend to have a long-term presence, and announce that it will dramatically reduces its embassy in Baghdad, which is the largest in the world.
While many in the Republican-led Senate have expressed dismay as the death toll of U.S. troops stands at more than 1,400, Kennedy is the first to lay out a plan for a troop withdrawal, his office said.
In the Republican-led House of Representatives, 24 Democrats this week introduced a resolution calling on Bush to begin an immediate pullout.
The administration has refused to offer a timetable for pulling troops, and Bush on Wednesday said the United States would remain until the new government can defend itself.
Democrats like Kennedy have been the strongest critics of the war but many Republicans are also concerned, in part because Iraq is costing more than $1 billion a week and has put a great strain on America's military and its budget.
After being informed that scotch is illegal in Iraq, Kennedy demanded the immediate withdrawl of all US Troops and US Senators!
I'm sure Mary Jo called for a withdrawl from the water but she apparently didn't get it.
Keep it up, Ted. You and your minions just look more and more clueless by the day.
And I call on the Mass. attorney general to bring culpable homicide charges against Senator Kennedy.
it's like a nightmare -- the vietnam democrats just don't go away.
But wasn't their complaint last week that we didn't have enough troops in Iraq? I'm confused.
u're supposed to emote,
not think!
The President and Rumsfeld have both noted we should be able to start pulling out troops next year. Kennedy is blathering so as to take credit for existing plans.
Kennedy is a fool. All the contracts his family gets from the government need to be audited and go out to new bid.
Hmm, it sounds as if Fat Teddy's been at the bottle again.
Nice point! These a-holes change the rules every week just so they can oppose the President.
Liberals think fat Teddy is revered throughout the country. Not true. Outside of Boston, NYC and DC, the guy is a joke.
I call for Kennedy to drive off the bridge again....this time alone.
sad.
My God is this loser still breathing? Someone put him out of his misery! Poor befuddled teddy hiccup!
Click here for the 'tator take on the Bush Foreign Policy
Does anyone besides the Democrats believe that a strategy of disloyal opposition is the way to return to political power?
Ya beat me to it!
Yesterday, O'Reilly dared that Democrat strategist from California to just go ahead and have a Senate Democrat call for immediate troop withdrawal, and the guy said that he thought he would just do that. I guess he did.
O'Reilly was being facetious, thinking that it was just stupid to pull the troops out as soon as the election was over. O'Reilly was trying to make the point that the Democrats were playing partisan politics with the State Dept. I guess he didn't do such a good job.
I think you ought to do what John Kerry did -- take a couple of years off work and get paid anyway.
Only instead of wearing yourself out on the campaign trail, or running of to commiserate with enemy dictators in the Middle East, perphaps you should take the time to just relax at home.
I suggest you pour yourself a couple of belts of your favorite libation, slip your shoes off, lay back on your recliner, flip on the old DVD.
Then you can relax and watch what I am sure is your favorite movie, a scene from which I have thoughtfully provided below: 
Pleasant dreams, you traitorous coward.
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