Posted on 11/09/2006 7:08:22 PM PST by bobsunshine
BAGHDAD, Iraq - President Jalal Talabani said Thursday that he had been assured by Democrat congressional leaders during a recent visit to Washington that they had no plans for a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Talabani, a Kurd whose post is ceremonial, said Democrats also backed the idea of placing U.S. troops in bases while putting Iraqis in charge of security in and around cities.
“They all told me that they want the success of Iraq’s democratically elected government and continued support for the Iraqi people to defeat terrorism,” Talabani said about his trip to the United States in late September as many were predicting the Democratic congressional triumph in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“One of them (a Democrat leader) told me that any early withdrawal will be a catastrophe for the United States and the world,” Talabani, speaking from his northern hometown of Sulaimaniyah, told the Dubai-based Al-Jazeera satellite broadcaster.
Asked whether the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld meant a collapse of the Bush administration’s policy in Iraq, Talabani said, “I know George Bush as a clear and strong man who does not bow down to blackmail.”
The “Americans made big mistakes in Iraq,” he said, including the rejection of its leaders hopes to form an interim Iraqi government immediately after the March 2003 invasion rather than occupying the country for more than a year.
Speaking about foreign fighters who are known to play a major role in the insurgency that killed thousands of Iraqis as well as U.S. troops, Talabani said the country was subject to a “foreign invasion.”
He said thousands of non-Iraqi fighters had been killed. Al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, recently acknowledged that more than 4,000 fighters from his group have been killed.
“We are being subjected to a foreign invasion, and we don’t have enough forces to fight this invasion,” Talabani said, suggesting that U.S. troops need to stay.
The Iraqi government and U.S. officials accuse Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross into Iraq, a claim that Iraq’s western neighbor denies, claiming it is impossible to control the long desert border.
“All Arab countries have terrorists in our country, hundreds each, and also there are others from Muslim countries too,” Talabani said.
He added that “200 fighters used to enter the country every day and now it is about 30 a day.”
Bush is a wimp and loser. He isn't the 9/11 President anymore. Rummy was the best and Bush fired him. Daddy lost Gulf War I and son lost Gulf War II. Both are losers.
Who cares?
Now, we Republicans from Pa. must get our Casey nicknames straight. Best one I've seen is "Sling Blade" Casey. I like it, how 'bout you?
No more than he thinks about any of us other little people.
Probably not. His ego won't let him.
Moderator - somehow when my reply to another post on another thread, was inserted here. Please remove post 43. TIA.
dang it, I meant 33. Maybe it's a sign that I need to go to bed. 'night all.
"been assured by Democrat congressional leaders during a recent visit to Washington"
I need a question answered. Obviously, the Democratic congressional leaders did not talk with Iraqi leadership post election. So do they have a right discussing foreign diplomacy about how they are going to handle policy, prior to them being elected? This seems to me that they are jumping the chain of command. Is this appropriate?
Do Congressmen have a right to discuss/negotiate foreign policy on behalf of the United States? I thought that was reserved for the President and his Cabinet/Ambassadors only.
No.
Neither was it "appropriate" for John Kerry to meet with the N. Vietnamese in the 70's.
They had NO right to do any discussing. What other foreign deals did the Democrat shills make?
don't forget the plan to negotiate the future of Iraq with their neighbors, Iran and Syria.
It would probably help if you addressed your post asking the moderator to remove another of your posts to...the moderator.
this type of side negotiating by the DemoncRATs is nothing new - they used to do it all the time during Reagan administration.
Split the Democrat party into three parts, dumb, dumber and dumbest.
I know I'll probably get flamed for committing heresy on FR by saying so, but I think there's a certain ring of plausibility in Talabani's reportage:
I'd say only about half of the senatorial Dhimmos can be categorized as true-believing moonbat, tinfoil-wearing, MoveOn types. The other half are shrewd enough to see just how much a moonbat-endorsed campaign helped "Red Ned" Lamont win the Nutmeg State.
In other words, Lieberman's easy romp showed the "sensible" Dhimmo leaders pretty much how the bulk of voters across our fruited plain would react to a Murtha-style redeployment. And that likely reaction ain't the least bit pretty, from the Dhimmo's point of view.
So whatever wild enthusiasm there might formerly have been in high-level Dhimmo circles for a "bellum interruptum" in Iraq, I imagine it's gotta be damped way down as of now.
The “Americans made big mistakes in Iraq,” he said, including the rejection of its leaders hopes to form an interim Iraqi government immediately after the March 2003 invasion rather than occupying the country for more than a year.
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Correction: The Powell/Armitage/Bremer state dept made big mistakes in Iraq, including the rejection of its leaders hopes to form an interim Iraqi government immediately after the March 2003 invasion.
(You recall that DOD's Gen'l Garner came in and started talking with people with plans for a quick interim Government set up and led by Iraqis, and then Bremer came in, revamped the Iraqi governing council into a bigger and less effective advisory board; Bremer also madethe fateful disbanding the army decision, which made tens of thousands of baathist soldiers unemployed instead of on our side ... the rest is history.
Irony of ironies - IF RUMSFELD'S "LITE" STRATEGY WAS PURSUED, WE'D BE OUT OF THERE BY NOW.
I BELIEVE Talabani. I don't believe the person/Dem who told him was honest. Who had the power to make the statement sound plausible to Mr. Talabani?
Those Iraqis are going ot learn a hard lesson real soon ~ that is that the Democrats have quite a tolerance for genocide ~ way beyond what Saddam Hussein inflicted.
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