Posted on 12/10/2006 11:08:28 PM PST by MadIvan
Iraq yesterday rejected recommendations that America aim to pull its forces out of the country by early 2008, saying such a move would be an "insult" to the Iraqi people.
Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, firmly denounced proposals in the Iraq Study Group to scale down the war effort. His comments came as Donald Rumsfeld, the outgoing US defence secretary, made his final visit to the country.
President Talabani also angrily accused the report's co-author, former secretary of state James Baker, of attempting to restore Sunni Muslim power with the report's suggestion that Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party loyalists be offered positions of power.
He said: "We smell in this report the attitude of James Baker. We see this as an insult to the people of Iraq."
The report, presented by Mr Baker and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton, urged more centralised control of Iraq's oil wealth and embedding thousands more US advisers in Iraq's security forces to quicken their training. "It asks that they put foreign officers in every unit, which is a violation of Iraq's sovereignty... What will remain of our sovereignty?" the president said.
America did not have the right to demand concessions from the Iraqi authorities in return for its co-operation, he went on. "This is not within their authority or their powers, to set these things for the Iraqi people. Iraq is a sovereign state. The report has a mentality that we are a colony where they impose their conditions and neglect our independence."
In an interview in Bahrain, Iraq's foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari also lashed out at the ISG report, telling The Daily Telegraph it threatened the survival of the Baghdad government. "We do not like it, in fact we think it is very dangerous for us," he said. "There are some proposals in it which mean American is giving up."
But Mr Hamilton said yesterday that changing the primary US military mission in Iraq from combat to training Iraqi forces was the best option for stabilising the country. "If you put Americans in with Iraqi forces, one thing that is sure is you improve the quality of the Iraqi forces," he said on NBC's Meet the Press.
Mr Baker's 79 recommendations amount to a demand that American forsake the fight against insurgent terrorism in Iraq. It also proposes inviting Syrian and Iranian mediation with insurgent groups and militias.
Mr Zebari, like Mr Talabani, a Kurd and a US ally for a decade, said the report would result in Washington working against Shia Muslims and Kurds for the benefits of the Sunni community. "It's a very bad thing that they start picking up one community and trying to weaken the other two. It's very dangerous."
Mr Zebari, the only foreign minister of Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, disclosed that the governing coalition is close to announcing a reshuffle of key ministers.
Mr Rumsfeld, who arrived in Iraq at the weekend for a farewell visit, spoke to Marines at an air base in the western province of Anbar at the weekend. He said: "The enemy must be defeated. We can certainly walk away from this enemy, but they will not walk away from us. This conflict is new and unfamiliar and complex, it is understandable that there will be differences about the direction our country should take."
A Newsweek poll shows that 65 per cent of Americans believe that the US should threaten to withdraw economic and military aide to Iraq unless the Iraqi government meets "benchmarks" for improving security in Iraq.
A majority of Americans want the US to set a firm date for withdrawing troops from Iraq and 48 per cent want US troops home within the next 12 months.
Just 21 per cent of respondents said they believe the US is making progress in Iraq.
Some study group.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
They studied their navels. What more could you possibly want?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
The ISG speaks clearly to what was wrong about the GHW Bush Administration. They are always looking for weak compromise, instead of firm principles.
I have one recommendation for the ISG. Sit the Sunni leaders in a room and tell them we're done. If they allow a bomb to go off, IED or whatever, in a Sunni controled area, Our first course of action will be to abandon them for a week. The next bomb...two weeks. We will let the Shia's rip them limb from limb until they determine they're on board and will create no more chaos. That includes promptly turning in any forgien fighters.
If they can claim that they have no control over it, begin the first week early.
Repeat in neighborhood throughout Iraq. Communities see things, they also pretend they don't see things. It's time for Iraqis to open their eyes.
the report is irrelevant.
Bush is weak.
Bush will do what Nancy wants.
Think I will join you in your chewing of some raw wood. All this is driving me crazy.
Bush will do what Nancy wants.
Give it a rest !
Iraq is, indeed, a sovereign nation. It would bode well for them if they would fully understand that the United States is also a sovereign nation - in full control of the allocation of its military and resources. The United States has certain goals and objectives it wishes to achieve in the Middle East. To the extent that deployment in support of the Iraq government works toward achieving those goals, then it is in our interest to be there. When it is not working, then it is no longer in our interest. We do not owe them and need to get over our terminal guilt complex.
Iraq should be coming hat in hand to ask us for assistance in THEIR problem, so that they can meet their national goals of stability. We are not a colony of Iraq - at their command. They now have an elected government. It is their government and their nation.
It is time for the relationship to change to a compact between two sovereigns, realizing that both agendas need to be met in a win/win relationship. It is time to wean the toddler from the teat.
After 5 years of no attacks on the N. American continent, with some to possibly several thwarted as we now know, I'd say that Bush has done quite a bit right. And that takes strength, not weakness. I'm suddenly filled with gladness that he and not you, is POTUS.
Take your Bush-bashing over to DU, they'll love you over there.
Blame Bush, Blame Republicans. Why?
This is to mould the public in an anti-conservative mind set for 2008, so that only RINOs and Dems can be successful in the next election in 2008.
WRONGO! We need guys like Tom Delay, and John Bolton, not milksop gurly maen pooliticians who wring their hands as the Islamofascists go about their dirty work of slitting throats in the Middle East and elsewhere.
If the USA allows an Islamofascist Axis with nuclear power and the bomb to form, along with control over the world's oil supply, Western Nations will be held to ransom.
I am sick of this Liberal Moonbat posturing on strategic questions , I want to puke!
We need to send in more troops to Iraq, pound the Islamofascists into submission and then get out with The Arab Gulf converted into a pond for the US Navy.
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That's how it was intended.
Just a guess here: You really really like Pat Buchanan, don't you?
if memory serves me correctly,
I voted for GWB 8 times.
and would so again, in those past circumstances.
with that said,
GWB threw the Republican Party under the bus,
for his occupation of Iraq, and inaction on high summer gas prices.
I do understand how you feel. I am very annoyed with President Bush on such things as Prescription Drug coverage, and the open-border policy (as regards illegal aliens.... legal aliens are very cool people indeed).
Have you thought about running for president?
You may have vote.
You're full of BS.
Lame post, take it elsewhere.
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