Posted on 06/17/2005 12:10:49 AM PDT by Destro
'Freedom fries' politician calls for Iraq pullout
17 June 2005
WASHINGTON: North Carolina Republican representative Walter Jones, who previously had pushed for french fries to be renamed "freedom fries", backed a congressional resolution today calling for a US troop withdrawal from Iraq in a reflection of growing American unease, but the White House and the Pentagon rejected the idea.
The resolution, also backed by Hawaii Democratic representative Neil Abercrombie, calls for the Bush administration to develop a plan by the end of this year to pull out all American troops from Iraq and to begin the withdrawal by October 1, 2006.
Jones said US forces had removed Saddam Hussein, given Iraqis a chance at democracy and were training their military.
"After they're trained, what else should the goals be? Do we want to be there for 20 years or 30 years?" he said.
In 2002, Jones voted for the resolution that gave Bush the authority to launch an invasion of Iraq. He also wanted the House cafeteria to rename french fries "freedom fries," as a snub to France because of its opposition to the war.
Today's resolution on Iraq withdrawal was introduced in the House of Representatives as White House aides said President George W Bush plans a more determined effort to defend the Iraq war amid growing public doubts.
Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said setting a withdrawal date would send the wrong message to Iraqi insurgents.
"This message would say to the terrorists: 'All you have to do is wait until that day when our troops leave and then you can start carrying out those attacks and just hold out.'" he said.
The resolution is not expected to get far in the Republican-led Congress, which, though critical of aspects of the war, has supported the president's efforts.
About two-dozen House Democrats held their own hearing on a British government memo that says that by July 2002 US intelligence was being "fixed" around a policy that would inevitably lead to war with Iraq. US-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003.
"If these disclosures are true. . . they establish a prima facie case of going to war under false pretenses," said representative John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the House judiciary committee who led the forum.
Conyers showed up at the gates of the White House with several other members of Congress to deliver the signatures of 122 congressional Democrats and 560,000 citizens on petitions seeking a response on the memo.
"We want an answer to our letter and if we have to send him 1 million signatures or 10 million, we're going to keep collecting them," said Conyers, who asked to deliver the bundles of documents in person but was told instead by White House staff members to pass them through the gate.
Dozens of protesters shouted "Let Conyers in" as they carried signs that said "Bushame on you. You lied, they died."
THE PENTAGON AND THE PUBLIC
At the Pentagon, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the military's Joint Staff, also did not support any deadline and expressed disappointment over opinion polls showing waning American support for the US presence in Iraq.
Bush is facing some of the most pessimistic views on Iraq since launching the war two years ago. A poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press said this week that American support for an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is inching up – from 36 per cent last October, to 42 per cent in February, and 46 per cent now.
Bush will play host to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari at the White House on June 24 and will deliver a speech about Iraq on June 28 to mark the first anniversary since the transfer of sovereignty from a US-led coalition to Iraqis.
The Bush administration has offered a conflicting picture of events in Iraq.
Vice President Dick Cheney boldly asserted recently that the Iraqi insurgency, which is killing dozens of people daily with brazen suicide attacks, was in its "last throes." Bush has offered a more sober picture while stressing progress is being made.
Jones voted for the October 2002 congressional resolution that gave Bush the authority to launch the invasion of Iraq the following March.
PS: I am not a German.
And why is that, exactly?
See #41
Changing the name of a food product is on par with that Orwellian warning of how language can be used as a tool against free thought.
Oh lighten up, for Pete's sake, or better yet, have a drink- it's Friday. I think it was rather bold of her to do that in an academic environment, as we all know where they normally stand on poltical issues.
You clearly haven't read Osama bin Laden's insane rants about the West "stealing the wealth of the Ummah."
What in the dickens do you think he's talking about, dates? Carpets?
If I remember correctly, wasn't it that dimwit Sheila Jackson Lee who called for the fries to once again reference the cheese eating surrender monkeys? (not her words)
"Delays in rebuilding good will are costing Americans lives" ( 9/17/2003 ) "President Bush is now urging that all parties put aside 'past bickering.' Delays in rebuilding international good will are costing Americans lives in Iraq, and billions of dollars to the American taxpayers," Lee wrote last week in a letter first reported by the congressional newspaper Roll Call. "A symbolic start to that effort would be reinstating foods in the House cafeterias and dining halls and their traditional 'American' names — french toast and french fries." But House Administration Committee Chairman Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who initiated the menu change with Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., said they'll continue to fight for their freedom fries. Ney said that the day after Jackson Lee wrote her letter the French came out with an untenable timetable for elections in Iraq, confounding U.S. efforts to win United Nations backing for the reconstruction effort. "They were noncooperative and arrogant then," before the war, "and they are again noncooperative and arrogant," Ney said. "I haven't seen a huge change." Ney said that was originally a gesture toward the French "has become an international food fight. It means something to a lot of people." "The whole premise behind the gesture was to support our troops in Iraq," said Lanier Swann, spokeswoman for Jones. "The congressional passion in support of them has not waned and the French position has not changed." Source: Fox News 91 Comments
So what you're saying is that Europe and Japan was just one big whore house??
Sorry pal .. but not everything is about sex
They start a war and and we are a disgrace because of a name change on food??
PS ... My Grandfather was gased by the Germans in WWI
I clearly don't give a damn what Bin Laden thinks nor says
Which is pretty irrelevant to the main point.
But it doesn't really matter. The oil is ours (the West's) and we are going to be in Iraq for the next 30 years, minimum, to ensure access to it.
The Arabs have proved beyond measure that are not currently the proper custodians for the world's largest oil reserves.
The German lynched in St Louis in 1916 had nothing to do
with the war. He was killed simply for being a German
and that is inexcusable.
The German lynched in St Louis in 1916 had nothing to do
with the war. He was killed simply for being a German
and that is inexcusable.
I am not aware of that story ... but yes that is inexcusable
However, I don't know what tha has to do with my post
Germany did not start a war with America - we declared war on Germany for bogus reasons. Lastly, German culture and language and German Americans did not declare war on us so there was no justification for "socializing" the language for political purposes.
For bogus reasons???
Words fail me
The Lusitania was indeed carrying war supplies to Britain.
What were the reasons we declared war on Germany in WW1?
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