Iraq PM: Country can manage without U.S.

Associated Press ^ | Jul. 14, 2007 | BUSHRA JUHI

[Dubya]

He said that the U.S. authorities have embarrassed al-Maliki' government through acts such as constructing a wall around Baghdad's Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah and repeated raids on suspected Shiite militiamen in the capital's eastern slum of Sadr City. He said the U.S. use of airstrikes to hit suspected insurgent positions also kills civilians.

"This embarrasses the government in front of its people," he said, calling the civilian deaths a "human rights violation."

[Allegra]

Country can manage MUCH without U.S. Maliki.

All fixed.

[tobyhill]

Earth to Maliki, earth to Maliki, you would get pummeled by Al-Qaeda in a NY minute.

[Dr. Frank fan]

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave "any time they want,"

Ok sounds good to me. I say we take him up on this, provided he gets the measure through the Iraq parliament. We are there at Iraq's government's request at present so if he truly speaks for Iraq's government it should be no problem for him to get parliament to formally withdraw the request.

[Cementjungle]

This is not a good position for him to take, but then this source is AP so I don’t know if he actually said any such thing. I’ll wait until there’s some real confirmation before passing judgement.

[federal]

Yeah its AP this could easily be a totally fabricated story. Most likely he said something like Iraq can manage without the US as long as you take me on the last boat with the soldiers.

[aft_lizard]

well unfortunately this puts GWb and the US into a corner, GWB promised that we would stay only as long as the Iraqis wanted us, now they don’t. This does give Republicans however the chance to take the upper hand in this and to say we did it on the Iraqis timeline and not an artificial one set out by the Democrats.

[Allegra]

The Parliament had a vote of no confidence on Maliki scheduled for tomorrow.

I heard this last week and haven't heard any more about it since, so I don't know if it's still on.

[RightWhale]

now they don’t

Not so. One politician said they could manage while knowing full well American military forces would be in the country and the region for a long time to come.

[Allegra]

He said that the U.S. authorities have embarrassed al-Maliki' government through acts such as constructing a wall around Baghdad's Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah and repeated raids on suspected Shiite militiamen in the capital's eastern slum of Sadr City. He said the U.S. use of airstrikes to hit suspected insurgent positions also kills civilians.

He doesn't care about the civilians. He cares about his Iran-backed Mahdi Army buddies.

He has a hissy-fit every time our troops (justifiably) go into that cesspool called Sadr City and cleans out some of the trash.

By the way, there are flares up over Sadr City right now.

[Dubya]

Pace Vows U.S. Will Track Down Those Responsible for Attacks on Troops

What does this attack reveal about the reliability of the Iraqi security forces, a reporter asked Gates.

“I think we've been pretty straightforward in saying all along that the Iraqi police were a challenge, that we were reasonably content with the progress of the Iraqi army and their reliability, but that the sectarian nature of some of the Iraqi police and especially some of the senior officers was a concern,” Gates replied.

“A number of Iraqi senior police officials have been removed because they were regarded as sectarian, and they've been removed by the Iraqi government,” he said. “So it is a challenge, and I don't think anybody's ever made any bones about the fact that the training and the capability and the reliability of the Iraqi police was very uneven and in some areas a real concern.”

A reporter then asked Pace: “How does an American soldier or a Marine fight alongside these forces when they don't know whether they're friendly or they're the enemy from one minute to the next?”

When the Iraqi police with the lieutenant began firing on the American troops, he said, “that turned those individuals into enemy and legitimate folks for our troops to take on in combat.”

[txhurl]

So, would it be like 2/3 of the 290 or so members would have vote on the no confidence?

[Lurker]

By the way, there are flares up over Sadr City right now.

That's one rats nest that really, really needs a good hard cleaning.

L

[Molly K.]

Is there a website that I can go to find out what the 18 benchmarks are? I read about “the benchmarks” everywhere. Where’s the list?

[pacelvi]

I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

[jude24]

He’s going to get his wish. America’s patience with the Iraqis is not infinite. At some point, we no longer have any responsibilities to them. I think we’ve reached that point.

[Dubya]

Great idea.

[stylin19a]

All you gotta do is ask us to leave....

[Dubya]

Iraq: List of 18 benchmarks and Bush's assessment

[samtheman]

We are there at Iraq's government's request at present so if he truly speaks for Iraq's government it should be no problem for him to get parliament to formally withdraw the request.

I agree with this. As much as I support the war and the surge, if they truly ask us to leave, we should leave... while keeping a base in the Kurdish area, of course.