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Every so often, an American politician takes an unpopular stand for the sake of what's right: Think of Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon. Frequently, he takes an unprincipled stand for the sake of what's popular: Take Richard Nixon's price controls. Sometimes, even, he does what's right, which also happens to be popular: Ronald Reagan's bombing of Libya. Only in the rarest of instances, however, do politicians take positions that are both unpopular and unprincipled. That is where the Democratic Party leadership finds itself today on Iraq. On Sunday, some eight million Iraqi citizens risked their lives to participate in...

''We must recognize what a large and growing number of Iraqis now believe,'' said Sen. Ted Kennedy last week, that ``the war in Iraq has become a war against the American occupation.''Even with the heroic and heartening election turnout, Kennedy is not entirely wrong. The insurgency has always been a war against the U.S. occupation and those Iraqis who cooperate with us. But the paradox that Kennedy fails to address is this: While the U.S. invasion and occupation precipitated the insurgency, it has grown to where only the U.S. military keeps it from seizing power. Should we withdraw now, there...

THERE was no sense in setting a timetable for the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard said today. He said pulling troops out of the war-torn country now its democratic election was complete would give comfort to terrorists, and Australian forces would remain in Iraq for as long as they had a job to do. "I don't think there's any sense in timetabling the withdrawal of Australian troops," Mr Howard said in Singapore this morning. "I think any indication at the present time that countries are wanting to leave before the job is completed will give...

WASHINGTON-Britain and the United States have agreed on a withdrawal plan that would see the first troops leaving Iraq as early as 2005, according to British press reports and diplomatic sources.The sources said London and Washington have approved a plan that would replace military troops with civilian advisors to the Iraqi military, police and security forces. The sources said these advisors would train and mentor Iraqi forces in such operations as counter-insurgency and border security, Middle East Newsline reported.

WASHINGTON – Britain and the United States have agreed on a withdrawal plan that would see the first troops leaving Iraq as early as 2005, according to British press reports and diplomatic sources. The sources said London and Washington have approved a plan that would replace military troops with civilian advisers to the Iraqi military, police and security forces. The sources said these advisers would train and mentor Iraqi forces in such operations as counter-insurgency and border security, Middle East Newsline reported. "The agreement is that the first troops would leave in late 2005," a source said. "The number of...

U.S. troops stationed in Iraq could be out of the war-torn country by the middle of next year, if all goes well. That according to Iraqi interim Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib, who told Britain's Channel 4 News that coalition forces would likely not be necessary in a year and a half. "I think we will not need the multinational, foreign forces, in this country within 18 months," al-Naqib said. "I think we will be able to depend on ourselves, if everything goes in the right direction. "We are building our forces and I think we will need 18 months. It's...

LONDON — Iraq's interior minister told British television Sunday he expected U.S. and other foreign forces to leave his country within 18 months. Falah al-Naqib told Channel 4 News that Iraq was well on its way to building its own security force and multinational forces would no longer be required. "I think we will be able to depend on ourselves, if everything goes in the right direction," al-Naqib said. "We are building our forces and I think we will need 18 months. It's my estimate that we will have quite a reasonable-sized force, trained, well-trained force, well-equipped to protect the...

LONDON -- Iraq's interior minister told British television Sunday he expected U.S. and other foreign forces to leave his country within 18 months. Falah al-Naqib told Channel 4 News that Iraq was well on its way to building its own security force and multinational forces would no longer be required. "I think we will be able to depend on ourselves, if everything goes in the right direction," al-Naqib said. "We are building our forces and I think we will need 18 months.

U.S. troops stationed in Iraq could be out of the war-torn country by the middle of next year, if all goes well. That according to Iraqi interim Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib, who told Britain's Channel 4 News that coalition forces would likely not be necessary in a year and a half. "I think we will not need the multinational, foreign forces, in this country within 18 months," al-Naqib said. "I think we will be able to depend on ourselves, if everything goes in the right direction. "We are building our forces and I think we will need 18 months. It's...

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces could leave Iraq within 18 months, Iraqi interim Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib told Britain's Channel 4 News Sunday after Iraq's election. "I think we will not need the multi-national, foreign forces, in this country within 18 months," he said. "I think we will be able to depend on ourselves." Election officials said turnout had been higher than expected in Sunday's elections despite attacks by insurgents bent on destroying the poll. At least 35 people died in assaults across the country. President Bush (news - web sites), under pressure to start bringing troops home after the...

The US and Britain have privately agreed on an exit strategy from Iraq that is based on doubling the number of local police trainees and setting up Iraqi units that would act as a halfway house between the police and the army.The agreement was reached on Monday between the US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his British counterpart Geoffrey Hoon.It was based on recommendations from retired US general Gary Luck, sent to Iraq by the Pentagon last month to look at the failings of the Iraqi security forces.The more agressive police force is designed gradually to replace the 150,000...

The U.S. Army expects to keep its troop strength in Iraq at the current level of about 120,000 for at least two more years, according to the Army's top operations officer. While allowing for the possibility that the levels could decrease or increase depending on security conditions and other factors, Lt. Gen. James J. Lovelace Jr. told reporters yesterday that the assumption of little change through 2006 represents "the most probable case." Recent disclosures that the Pentagon plans to beef up training of Iraqi security forces and press them into action more quickly has fueled speculation that the Bush administration...

WASHINGTON - Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, an architect of the U.S. war with Iraq (news - web sites) in 1991, is advising the Bush administration to consider a phased withdrawal of some of the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Otherwise, Baker says, the United States risks being suspected of having an "imperial design" in the region. A protracted U.S. military presence in Iraq is probably unavoidable since attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces and on Iraqi security forces are likely to continue, Baker said Tuesday in a speech at Rice University in Houston. "Even under the best...

It appears to have become a consensus among congressmen, opinionados, and the like chatterers that the training of Iraqi soldiers is the key to victory in Iraq. What started as a harmless idea to create the seeds of an exit strategy while giving Iraqis a sense of empowerment has morphed, at least in the public perception, into a central strategic plank of the actual waging of war in Iraq. This newfound significance of the otherwise nice idea of training Iraqis is both silly and dangerous. It is silly inasmuch as the trained Iraqis are not going to be a replacement...

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The Bush administration has been quietly laying the groundwork for the start of a military withdrawal from Iraq.Those close to the administration said the White House envisions the start of a troop pullout in late 2005. They said the administration would begin discussions on the feasibility of a significant reduction in U.S. troops following Iraqi national elections, scheduled on Jan. 30, 2005."I think elections in Iraq are going to be one more step on the path towards a stable and secure and a democratic Iraq," Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on...

Although almost every argument aginst our president is just about forgotten, every now and then you'll hear someone spout the passe' talking point, to wit: "He (meaning president Bush) got us into this war with no idea as to how to get us out."

A STRATEGY allowing British and United States troops to leave Iraq could emerge as soon as this month under plans by Tony Blair and George Bush to agree a six-month blueprint for "Iraqi-isation". No 10 said yesterday the new Iraqi government is working on a plan to determine how many allied troops it will need - and how soon its own forces can take over from them. The plans reflect the furious pace of change in Iraq, adding the phased withdrawal of troops to the handover of Saddam Hussein and the early transfer of sovereignty. No 10 said yesterday that...

DeLay: No Retreat, No Surrender, No Apologies; We Will Accept Only Victory as the Exit Strategy in Iraq 3/17/2004 8:09:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Stuart Roy or Jonathan Grella, 202-225-4000, both of the Office of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay WASHINGTON, March 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) today spoke in strong support of our fight against terror as the House debated a resolution commending the members of the United States Armed Forces and Coalition forces for liberating Iraq. "Had we not acted - as our opponents wished - Iraq would still be...

Bush has made it clear that the only exit strategy from Iraq is a victory strategy, with victory defined as "democracy." WHEN GEORGE W. BUSH first entered the White House, the conventional wisdom was that his inexperience and lack of vision in foreign policy would be compensated for by his wise and experienced cabinet. This may or may not have been a reasonable view at the time. Right now, however, it is clear that the most visionary and, yes, the wisest and most capable foreign policy-maker in the Bush administration is the president himself. Let's hope the team around him...