Posted on 11/30/2006 1:28:19 PM PST by shrinkermd
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Thursday his government's forces would be able to take over security command from U.S. troops by June 2007 -- a move which could allow the United States to start withdrawing.
"I cannot answer on behalf of the U.S. administration but I can tell you that from our side our forces will be ready by June 2007," Maliki told ABC television after meeting President Bush in Jordan.
Bush offered him strong backing in their talks and said Iraqi forces would be trained more quickly to take over but rejected suggestions he was seeking a "graceful exit" for U.S. troops.
According to a transcript released by ABC, the Iraqi leader said: "At the beginning of next year we will increase the training of our forces ... when they reach an acceptable level, we can talk about transferring power from multinational forces to Iraqi forces.
"I can say that Iraqi forces will be ready, fully ready to receive this command and to command its own forces, and I can tell you that by next June our forces will be ready."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
A civil war is a bad thing. Look what happened to Lebanon, once the best places in the Middle East.
Depending on what you consider warriors to be, that 150,000 probably has only about a 10th being actual warriors.
I agree with you. Best case, of course. IMHO, the failure of the IDF last summer led the Iranians to put stuff into Iraq. The Bush Administration expected the Israelis to kick ass. Unfortunately, they did not.
We could back the Shia PROVIDED that we keep Mookie out of the picture and let the government take the Sunnis to the cleaners and provided that the Shia did not free the Sunnis completely out of the government. My guess is that we have been demanding a hand for them not so much because thy were really a threat but because the Saudis have been behind them.
And in Vietnam of the 500,000 there about 50,000 were in the field. BTW. the ability of the Third Army to change its front in, what three days, was amazing. Not even the Wehrmacht in its best days could have done that.
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