http://cla.calpoly.edu/~lcall/fall_of_saigon.jpg
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.”
> Do Congressmen have a right to discuss/negotiate foreign policy on behalf of the United States? <
I think they're violating the Logan Act when they do so. But then, I understant the Logan Act has never been enforced, never once in its 200+ years on the books.
Well, it's a good thing that democrats are so honest and trustworthy.
Last time I checked...THE POTUS DECIDES THESE MATTERS...NOT THE F'N LIBERAL CONGRESS.
One of the roles of diplomats is to familiarize themselves with the foreign policy attitudes of opposition party leaders. Congressmen have a 1st amendment right to discuss anything with anyone. Obviously the Dems were only spelling out their attitudes, not negotiating for the government. The US does this all around the world, so does every other government.
http://cla.calpoly.edu/~lcall/fall_of_saigon.jpg
Wait a minute -- BUSH is the Commander-in-Chief, not the Democratic Party! WHAT RIGHT DO THEY HAVE to determine when our troops leave???????? Even if they do try to defund the war effort, doesn't Bush have a say in whether or not they can do that?
Thats not fair...the Dumbest faction would be a supermajority in DemWorld.
Maybe you need to dedicate a vanity post to your ideas. I think it's warranted.
My new response to Dem lovers: THEY LIED, THEY LIED! WE'RE NOT OUT OF IRAQ!
Yeah, they weren't "negotiating" on behalf of the US, they were stating what they would do IF they were elected.
The worst nightmare for the left wing loons is that their leaders now are saying "no impeachment". The left wing loons lived every second of their lives for the last 6 years to impeach President Bush and now their leaders are telling them no. If we think that some of the Republican base has been angry with the Republican leadership wait to see the absolute hate and anger of the loons against their leaders if they insist on not impeaching the President.
Not a bad idea at all.
they must be stupid if they think they can believe democrats
President Bush did not fire Rumsfled. Rumsfeld wanted to resign twice and the President said no. Now since the traitors are in Congress, Rumsfled realized that he will waste all his valuable time a defense secretary being paraded like a criminal from on Inquisition to another in the House in the Senate. He is great man and does not want not to be able to function in times of war because of the endless Inquisition. He quit on his own.
Democrats never pull out quickly.....they abort.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told colleagues at a closed meeting yesterday morning that she, too, would advocate an immediate troop withdrawal, according to several who attended.
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