Posted on 10/22/2006 7:55:14 PM PDT by blam
America may penalise Iraq if it fails to stop the violence
By Oliver Poole,Iraq Correspondent and Damien McElroy in Washington
Last Updated: 2:20am BST 23/10/2006
President George W Bush met his top generals to discuss the deteriorating situation in Iraq as it was reported that America is considering punishing Baghdad if it fails to meet deadlines to stop the violence.
The new policy would mark a dramatic shift from the previous position that progress could only be determined by the "situation on the ground".
US President George Bush meets with military commanders to discuss the deteriorating situation in Iraq
Instead benchmarks would be set covering progress in the Iraqi military, police and economy that if missed would result in the imposition of "penalties" by Washington.
These would include "changes in military strategy", which could mean troop cuts or redeployment within Iraq, or the removal of ministers deemed incompetent or corrupt.
The revelation comes after Mr Bush indicated on Saturday that the US, which suffered one of its deadliest months in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003, intended to change its tactics.
"Our goal in Iraq is clear and unchanging: our goal is victory," he said in his weekly radio address. "What is changing are the tactics we use to achieve that goal."
advertisementMr Bush, whose policy on Iraq has appeared to unravel amid growing violence just weeks before mid-term elections, insisted that his administration had no intention of withdrawing from the country but admitted that it was "constantly adjusting" tactics.
"There is one thing we will not do - we will not pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete," he said.
Late on Saturday, Mr Bush held talks with Gen John Abizaid, the top commander in the Middle East; Gen George Casey, the US commander in Iraq; Dick Cheney, the vice-president; Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary,; Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser; his deputy, Jack Crouch; and the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.
Nicole Guillemard, a White House spokesman, said the top-level meeting, with Casey and Khalilzad participating via video link from Baghdad, was part of ongoing talks on Iraq policy.
The violence continued yesterday with insurgent gunmen killing 13 police recruits near the town of Baquba and two American soldiers reported dead. More than 80 US troops have been killed this month.
Today the worsening security situation will be raised at a meeting at No 10 between Tony Blair and Barham Saleh, Iraq's deputy prime minister.
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, tried to calm security fears by saying Britain was "quite far down the road" to transferring control of southern Iraq to local authorities.
But Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the Prime Minister's former envoy to Iraq, described the position there as a "mess" and urged ministers to face up to the failure of policy.
In an interview on Sky News, he warned of violence "for many years to come" in the country.
Indicating that America and Britain might now have to deal with Iran and Syria, he cast doubt on the ability of the Iraqi forces to replace coalition troops. "They are not going to take over the rest of the country without several parts of Iraq being full of violence," he said, although he insisted that US and British forces were still doing more good than harm in Iraq.
As for the recent operation by Iraqi forces to dampen violence in Al Amara, he hinted that that had only been possible because of the presence nearby of British troops.
Sounds crazy. The current penalty for failure is death by IED or suicide bomber.
What am I missing here?
I'd guess that you're not adequately factoring in the astounding degree of stupidity involved in all of this from the beginning.
OK, let me see, do I have this correct? Someone talkes to the NYTs without being quoted, now everyone runs with this story as if it were gospel?
I'm I correct, or did someone make an announcement I didn't hear?
I think we should put all of our troops in bases out in the desert where they are safe.
Let the animals eat each other, and when they are done, blow them up one more time.
Our troops are trained to kill, destroy, and burn. They are not trained to drive down busy streets to escort envoys and deliver messages, while civilians are all around them, mixing with terrorists.
The war should have been over in April of 2004 when Fallujah should have been hit with an all-out blitz. But naaaawwww....
The fact of the matter is that the Iraqis are NOT"gettin' it done"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot disagree with you!
"Stop resisting us, or we'll stay longer."
That'll teach 'em.
Bush wants to do something he should stop liberals from emboldening these mutts. It`s no secret the only reason this has been one of the deadliest months is because these terror scumbags want democrats to win. Bush should not forget we are not only fighting a war on terror, but a war on traitors who to date have yet to be held accountable even once for their actions. Well that`s not true, we had John Walker Lindh and that`s it!
What they are trying to do is the exact same thing they did for commies in Vietnam. It`s Jane Fonda times a million today and Bush just ignores it over and over and over and it drives me nuts. Enough of this "freedom of speech" excuse he keeps giving..There is a huge difference between freedom of speech and blatant treason..The New York Times should be torn apart, Pinch or whoever is rsponsible tried and hanged, Michael Moore tried under a revitalization of the sedition act, Ted Kennedy called to task for calling the Iraq invasion a "farce", enough of this butt kissing bullcr*p. How many men and women have we lost already because of the constant goading on of terrorism by the left? It`s been non stop everyday since 911 and enough is enough. It doesn`t take a genius to see why Al-Qaeda repeats almost on a weekly basis what the left says verbatim. Don`t believe me, here is the latest example I posted.....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1720174/posts
The politicians keep rushing to try to install political/diplomatic settlements before the war has been won.
Wars are messy, dirty, bloody. But the politicians need to let the military win the war before they rush in with the diplomacy.
Why are you arguing with yet another BS MSM article?
Let's go to thread that shows Bush's real words and intentions, not the MSM BS interpretation based on hidden sources and their own prejudices ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1723927/posts
Why should Baghdad be punished? Our "leaders" are the ones letting the likes of Moqtada al-Sadr live and then acting astonished when he returns our benevolence with renewed fighting only scant months later on.
We need to start greasing terrorist-supporting imams over there, starting yesterday. And we need to start levelling mosques the minute they're used for attacks on our troops. Enough of this "cultural sensitivity" and multi-culti bullcrap. It's only letting the enemy get stronger and allowing more of our troops to get needlessly killed and injured.
Enough is enough already. Either fight like we mean to win this damned war or get the hell out!
Welcome to 4th Gen Warfare.
Ugly it is.
You speak the truth. We've got to grow some kiwis or the left is going to drag us to hell.
That would certainly help, and it is harder to do it later, rather than earlier.
I agree with the goal Mr. President, but we won't reach it until we acknowledge that Iran & Syria are funding the insurgency, are responsible for a major share of the sectarian violence, and that something serious must be done to bring both of them "up straight"!
Just gradually remove US and British troops from small sections of the country. Put the entire Iraqi Army into those areas if necessary, but get our troops out of them to reduce their profile as targets. Then concentrate our forces in the remaining area and actually make them safe for troops. It's sink or swim time. If the Iraqis aren't capable of that by now, they never will be, and we should just leave.
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