BUSH PLEDGES TO WITHDRAW TROOPS IF ASKED BY IRAQPresident Bush said in an interview on Thursday that he would withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq if the new government that is elected on Sunday asked him to do so...
Posted on 01/27/2005 7:06:00 PM PST by Minus_The_Bear
Edited on 01/27/2005 7:24:37 PM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]
BUSH PLEDGES TO WITHDRAW TROOPS IF ASKED BY IRAQ
President Bush said in an interview on Thursday that he would withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq if the new government that is elected on Sunday asked him to do so...
How is this "Breaking News"? Bush has said that from the beginning.
LOL, OK remind me when you post the thread and when Jim starts shipping them I'll keep my promise :-)
We made the same exact promise when the Alawi government took the reins.
It is the truth, we stay at their discretion. That is and has been the agreement.
Old News
He and others in the administration have long stated this fact.
Well .. I believe the President says what he means and means what he says.
However .. I am confident that Iraq is very well aware that it is not ready to defend itself and will not be foolish enough to ask us to leave.
Translation- He's going to hit these politicians hard while he has the American people's attention.
But even while acknowledging that Iraq is at a pivotal point in its history, Mr. Bush appeared far more relaxed than he was in August, when he was last interviewed by The Times, in a changing area off a men's room, during a campaign stop in New Mexico.
Gee, wonder why he was more relaxed? LOL
"I don't know what you think the world is like, but a lot of people don't just sit around reading Foreign Affairs," he said, chuckling. "I know this is shocking to you."
hehe. I love his treatment of the press.
"I also view that as pretty hopeful that there is nationalistic sentiment, that 'this is my country.' To me that's a positive sign."
Ah-Ha! I made this point a few days ago after reading a NYT's? piece. To the extent that Iraqi's resent any presence, including ours, in their country is rightly interpretated as good news. They wish to be the authoritative voice in their country's affairs. This bodes well for their future.
Asked if at the end of eight years he wanted to leave the presidency more powerful than the way he found it, he replied, "I don't think you want to weaken the presidency."
SLAM!
But as president, he noted, he "oftentimes doesn't get to set the timer" on democratic revolutions. What he can do, he said, is "speak clearly and be mindful that certain activities can prop up tyrants and cause tyrants to have a legitimacy that they don't deserve."
Doesn't sound like he's backing down at all from his Inaurgural, not that I thought he would. Good for him.
This is United States policy. It is honest and has been made plain and communicated to the Iraqi People. They know they need help at this moment in time and we will stay until they are able to pick up things on their own, then we go away to a large extent. It takes time. It will also help to create a deep friendship with a culture that was fraught with fascism for so many years. Saddam was a disciple of Stalin and Hitler. That was the nature of the BA'ATH party.
So now it's news to actually keep the promises that we make? It's always been Bush's policy that if the elected government of Iraq asks us to leave, we will leave.
-PJ
I am assuming this is fron the NY times interview Bush is doing with them. I am sure the rest of the sentence says "but I am confident they will need our help until Iraqi forces are strong enough to defend themselves" Why is this news?
That's what an Army like us could require!
Sounds reasonable to me. If the government of Iraq, duly elected, wants us out, we should get out.
Except for one thing ... we want to keep a huge airbase somewhere in the southern part of the country.
But other than that, we should leave.
On second thought..... FReepmail Jim for just 2 Coffee Mugs :-)
that is funny! much ado about nothing. Bush said essentially that long ago.
Nothing worthy of a siren here. They've said all along we would leave if asked... but qoute "they won't ask us to leave until things are stable, but hypothetically speaking? sure we'd have to leave... but that isn't going to happen".
see post 73
"Except for one thing ... we want to keep a huge airbase somewhere in the southern part of the country. "
I was wondering if anyone was going ot point out how important land-based air power deployment was for the US. The vulnerability of carriers now (mach-x missiles?) renders them far too vulnerable for much of what the US may need.
There are many people that are not members that would also buy coffee cups. I found out many are in congressional offices. Or other elected offices around the fruited plain.
So, I'll toss the idea up and see what happens. But not now. In a few weeks. If you don't see it, YOU toss it up. Who knows? FR coffee cups could be in every 7-11 worldwide! You never know how things work out until they're tried:)
THEN, we'll really be feared:):)
That's what I was thinking, too. Get the elections done, help the govt. get up and going, then pull out and let the new Iraqi govt. handle things.
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