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White House rebuffs call for troop withdrawal in Iraq
CNN.com ^ | 5:00 p.m. EST, November 13, 2006 | cnn

Posted on 11/13/2006 4:22:00 PM PST by Tulsa Ramjet

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With a top Democrat calling for a "phased redeployment" of U.S. troops in Iraq, President Bush met Monday with a commission studying the war and said conditions in Iraq, not politics, would dictate troop levels there.

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, who is expected to chair the Armed Service Committee in January when Democrats take control of Congress, said redeploying troops would prompt the Iraqis to take more expeditious steps to ending the war.

"We cannot save the Iraqis from themselves," Levin said. "We've been told repeatedly by our top uniformed military leaders that there is no purely military solution in Iraq; there is only a political solution in Iraq." (Watch how Levin suggests proving U.S. troops will not be in Iraq forever -- 1:27 )

The Michigan senator said only Iraqis could determine the course for their country: "They and they alone are going to decide whether they're going to have a nation or whether they're going to have an all-out civil war."

White House press secretary Tony Snow conceded Monday that conditions in Iraq are "not getting better fast enough," but he insisted "the strategy for victory is working."

Snow further disregarded Levin's call for troops to be withdrawn in months, saying the proposal "doesn't have any meat and bones to it."

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: iraq; troop; withdrawal
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To: caisson71

"We no longer have the will to win in Iraq and all our troops should come home, immediately."

Our generals whined because of Rumsfeld. No excuses now, so they can make their requests and get to work.


21 posted on 11/13/2006 4:49:29 PM PST by Tulsa Ramjet ("If not now, when?" "Because it's judgment that defeats us.")
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To: LibLieSlayer

You are right. In their desire to destroy the right and usher in their "perfect" U.S.S.A., they will do anything. If it destroys a party that does value a capitalist system, so much the better.


22 posted on 11/13/2006 4:52:12 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Victory will never be achieved while defining Conservatism downward, and forsaking it's heritage.)
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To: Billthedrill

Here is the plan. This plan is not going to change. The only way this will change is if the Congress cuts all funding.

The Democrats do not have the votes.

ALL this Noise is simply PR. PR so Old Boy Washington can claim credit for "Fixing" Iraq rather then admit they have been wrong all along.

The Insurgency's back is broken. All that is Left is mop up and tying up loose ends like Mookie. Some of you are not going to like it but one of those loose ends will probably be bringing Mookie into the Govt. Make him part of the system instead of outside it.

Also, there is regular gang violence in Egypt, there is daily violence in Saudi Arabia. There is regular violence in Lebanon, there is routine violence in Israel, there is daily violence in Russia, there is rival tribes violence in Syria, there is daily violence in France. There is even daily violence here in the USA.

The idea that some how "Iraq is a failure" because everything is not exactly perfect is utterly absurd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Security_Forces



23 posted on 11/13/2006 4:54:29 PM PST by MNJohnnie ( People who see the glass half full win, those who see it half empty lose)
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To: Tulsa Ramjet

No, no, no!! Troops home now, before Christmas. This is what America wants. It is not worth one more soldier's life to continue with an "illegal" war we are not resolved to win.


24 posted on 11/13/2006 5:00:04 PM PST by caisson71
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To: caisson71

"No, no, no!! Troops home now, before Christmas."

Never happen. Who wants that on their legacy?
Besides, all those care packages have already been mailed out. Someone needs to be their to get them.


25 posted on 11/13/2006 5:03:28 PM PST by Tulsa Ramjet ("If not now, when?" "Because it's judgment that defeats us.")
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To: caisson71

I've been thinking the same thing since last Tuesday. If the country doesn't support the war, then it's over. Just like Viet Nam. The politicians are refusing to allow the military to win, so bring them home. Now.


26 posted on 11/13/2006 5:12:13 PM PST by Jrabbit (Scuse me??)
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To: Tulsa Ramjet

Legacy? By the time the Dimocraps finish with President Bush, it'll make Slick Willy look like a choir boy. The Dimocraps want to make an example of Bush and Americans, as well as the MSM, have given them the means to do so.


27 posted on 11/13/2006 5:12:23 PM PST by caisson71
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To: Jrabbit

"The politicians are refusing to allow the military to win, so bring them home. Now."

What, so they can be stationed down on the border to arrest Jose and his truck full of compadres looking for work? I don't think there were many mexicans in those planes on 9/11.


28 posted on 11/13/2006 5:15:46 PM PST by Tulsa Ramjet ("If not now, when?" "Because it's judgment that defeats us.")
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To: Tulsa Ramjet

I have to wonder if the jerks who sat out the election in "protest" are now saying "what have we done"?


29 posted on 11/13/2006 5:18:31 PM PST by diamond6 (Everyone who is for abortion has been born. Ronald Reagan)
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To: Jrabbit

That's the way I feel. This is like that POS Kerry's testimony before Congress where they took him at his word, lies, distortions, everything. After TET, hundreds of American lives were lost while America quit and abandoned it's military, leaving politicians to cover their asses. That is too much a price to pay again.
This time, when we acknowledge that all the lives lost, maimed and wounded is for nothing, we should dismantle our military and destroy our weapons because we're not worth maintaining a standing Army.


30 posted on 11/13/2006 5:18:44 PM PST by caisson71
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To: Tulsa Ramjet

The border? I don't know what you mean?

Do you think we can really win this war if the country is against it? Were you around when our Viet Nam heros came home and were spit at? Maybe I'm just too emotional remembering what happened back then.....but this is starting to remind me of the same thing that was going on.


31 posted on 11/13/2006 5:24:24 PM PST by Jrabbit (Scuse me??)
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To: Tulsa Ramjet
"We've been told repeatedly by our top uniformed military leaders that there is no purely military solution in Iraq; there is only a political solution in Iraq."

I agree with the first part but notice how in the second part he went to the opposite end of the spectrum and said "only a political solution". I doubt the military men said that. What they said was there is no pure military solution and that viable solutions must involve political as well as military components. Communists used these types of half-truth distortion tactics.

32 posted on 11/13/2006 5:25:12 PM PST by plain talk
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To: caisson71; ohioWfan

NO!.....they will come home when their mission is complete...I and thousands like me have not sacrificed our loved ones tours for them to come home defeated...and defeated they will be.

My hubby spent 15mos there and will return in 07...my son is currently there.....when their CinC says they have completed their mission they will return with their helds held high, not on a retreat!


33 posted on 11/13/2006 5:30:40 PM PST by mystery-ak (My Son, My Soldier, My Hero........God Speed Jonathan......)
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To: MNJohnnie
...but one of those loose ends will probably be bringing Mookie into the Govt.

I'm afraid that's right. And no, I don't like it, but there you are. Mookie is really Sistani's problem and wants his chair or whatever it is a Grand Ayatollah sits on. And the Iranians want Mookie's action and he seems to belatedly be waking up to just how much of it they already control.

But looked at another way, Mookie also commands a million plus votes in a country of 25 million, so it's going to be tough to keep him out. I don't see him being whacked unless he takes another whack at Sistani (the first one never really was proven, at least to the outside world). So he'll be there.

My guess is that the private militias are going to be harder to get rid of than a lot of people currently think. An armed and martial people are like that, and for a very long time in U.S. history so were we, and to a degree still are, and additionally there's the tribal element. Saddam never succeeded at it, poison gas despite. That also may be a feature of Iraqi life that will remain despite the fervent wishes of outsiders.

What the hell, it's their country.

34 posted on 11/13/2006 5:40:03 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: mystery-ak

I too wish for that but reality, history and Dimocraps in charge will prohibit a military victory for the sake of proving President Bush wrong - screw the country, screw the military. I zipped up one too many body bags to not remember VietNam. I also have a son in unifrom and am resolved that we - America - have again betrayed our troops and sacrificed them for nothing in this inconvenient war.
We were not willing to stand behind our Heroes on November 7.


35 posted on 11/13/2006 5:44:53 PM PST by caisson71
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To: caisson71

I also have a son in unifrom and am resolved that we - America - have again betrayed our troops and sacrificed them for nothing in this inconvenient war.


Then you understand....we must not let this happen again....I remember the VN War and how our troops were treated...I'll be damn if they try and do that again.

President Bush has the bully pulpit, he needs to drive this home to the American people....maybe some of the denser ones will finally get it.


36 posted on 11/13/2006 5:51:40 PM PST by mystery-ak (My Son, My Soldier, My Hero........God Speed Jonathan......)
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To: mystery-ak

President Bush has been savaged by the MSM and Dimocraps for the past 6 years. Isn't it amazing that the elections where Dimocraps win are the only "trouble free, clean elections we have where every vote counts". He has tried to use his position, in a very Presidential way, to convince, tell, implore Americans about our war on terrorism. All we've heard is Bush bashing and negative reporting. And, America has spoken.
We are toast, we will pay a terrible price for abandoning Iraq and the Dimocraps will deliver their promises fast. Chavez, Iran, Al-Qaida, etc are all singing the praises of the Dimocraps and the majority of voting Americans.
We need to bring back our troops as soon as possible, for their sake. Let us all sacrifice for this WOT as Dimocraps have been preaching.


37 posted on 11/13/2006 6:02:31 PM PST by caisson71
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To: caisson71; mystery-ak
Methinks you either forgot your sarcasm tag, or you are woefully ignorant, caisson.

Foreign policy is the responsibility of the Executive Branch, and the President isn't a coward, nor a poll watcher.

The vote was in no way a mandate anyway, and abandoning the mission is NOT an option.

If want a poll, try asking the Iraq war vets or those now serving in harm's way if they want their mission and their sacrifice to be in vain.

Why don't you ask them, caisson?

38 posted on 11/13/2006 6:20:26 PM PST by ohioWfan (If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray......)
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To: caisson71
You keep forgetting your sarcasm tag. You can't possibly be serious.

Not if you care about our military, that is. Are you a liberal?

39 posted on 11/13/2006 6:21:53 PM PST by ohioWfan (If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray......)
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To: zarf

Snow?? Snow?? Didja read the article, zarf? LOL!


40 posted on 11/13/2006 6:23:39 PM PST by ohioWfan (If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray......)
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