Free Republic

The American involvement with Iraq appears to have turned a corner. The Bush administration's old game plan — drafting a constitution, followed by elections, followed by American withdrawal — has been replaced by a new timetable. It's a bit cynical to say that the plan is to toss the whole hot potato to whatever Iraqis are willing to grab it. But the White House thinking is veering close. President Bush gambled vast amounts of American money, influence and American and Iraqi lives on the theory that toppling Saddam Hussein would make the world safer and make the Mideast a more...

<p>Iraq will have a new transitional government with full sovereign powers by the end of June, the Iraqi Governing Council said Saturday.</p> <p>The statement followed a council meeting with the U.S. backed coalition's civilian administrator, L. Paul Bremer.</p> <p>The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority will dissolve at that time, ouncil authorities said in a news conference, and "the occupation will end." No mention was made of whether coalition troops would remain in Iraq.</p>

November 15, 2003 U.S. Is Set to Return Power to Iraqis as Early as June By SUSAN SACHS AGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 14 — The Bush administration has agreed to restore independence to Iraq as early as next June, apparently hoping the move will change the perception of the United States as an occupying power and curb the mounting attacks on American forces in the country, Iraqi and American officials said Friday. The plan to accelerate the transfer of power was put forward by Iraqi leaders this week, and taken to Washington by L. Paul Bremer III, the American administrator in...

As reports circulate that the U.S. is planning to scale down its troop commitment in Iraq, President Bush has vowed that U.S. forces would not leave the region before both Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden are captured or killed. In an interview with London's Financial Times, the president said a U.S. pullout was "inconceivable" in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying troops would remain "until the job is done. Period." Asked whether his reference to the U.S.'s "job" included apprehending Hussein and bin Laden, Bush said, "Yes, that's part of it." "But even bigger is a free and democratic society," he...

Rearrangement of U.S. Troops To Be Announced Next Month at the Earliest NOVEMBER 14, 2003 22:50 by Jung-Ahn Kim Hun-Joo Cho (credo@donga.com hanscho@donga.com) U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld revealed on November 14 that the U.S. and allied forces are not considering early withdrawal of troops, despite new efforts by the U.S. to accelerate the return of sovereignty to Iraq. “The decision to withdraw the troops has not been made yet,” he said, stressing that President Bush has clarified the U.S. intention to stay in Iraq as long as it needs. Rumsfeld, who is currently making a tour of Asian countries,...

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia, Nov 14 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday called the Bush administration's decision to speed up a handover of power to Iraqis a positive step that reflected his own position. Annan had challenged the United States last month by outlining a rival blueprint that would transfer sovereignty to Iraqis within three months, similar to one the world body helped institute in Afghanistan. In his first comments on the apparent U.S. change of position, Annan told a news conference, "I know that the U.S. authorities are looking at the possibility of accelerating the transfer to the...

BAGHDAD (AP)--A senior Shiite Muslim cleric Friday warned that Iraqis are becoming suspicious of coalition forces because no elections have been held so far in the country and warned that a military solution to Iraq's crisis would fail. Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Taqi al-Modaresi, who lives in the southern holy city of Karbala, said that the coalition forces justified the March invasion to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction and to promote democracy. "Seven months have passed and there hasn't been one serious election," al-Modaresi, who heads the Islamic Action Front, said in a statement released by his office....

By Warren P. Strobel and Ron Hutcheson Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON - When a spate of deadly bombings struck Baghdad late last month, President Bush called the attacks acts of desperation. Less than three weeks later, it's Bush who is desperately looking for a strategy that will stabilize Iraq and turn around a postwar effort that even some of his political allies say has gone awry. The seven-month effort to rebuild postwar Iraq reached a major turning point this week as Bush and his national security team sharply changed course. They accelerated their schedule for handing political power back to...

The hastily called conference at the White House involving America's top man in Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer, clearly revealed that the Bush administration knows its program in Iraq is failing. The "Iraqification" of the security forces has not dimmed the rate or deadliness of attacks against coalition troops; the Iraqi Governing Council has willfully stalled the process of drafting a new constitution; a new American intelligence report leaked to the press indicates that Iraqis are increasingly angry with the American presence. The administration is now going to grant the Governing Council's wish: it will become more or less an autonomous...

It was close one, but last week, the U.S. lost the war in Iraq. I only have this stack of Brit mags and newspapers to go by, but apparently, what happened is that what Dominique de Villepin began describing as a "spiral of violence" has now turned into a maelstrom of mayhem, with the U.S. military flailing wildly and ineffectively against a brave cadre of rebels in Iraq, while in Washington, Bush is taking the advice of the French, who know how to handle this kind of situation, and running for cover to insure his reelection. Meanwhile, according to Max...

<p>AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told U.S. forces in the Pacific on Friday there was no plan for an early withdrawal from Iraq, but Iraqis would get more power more quickly than initially thought.</p> <p>"There is no decision to pull out (of Iraq) early, indeed quite the contrary," Rumsfeld told troops stationed on the Pacific island outpost of Guam before leaving to visit Japan and South Korea .</p>

Minister Faults Length of U.S. Timetable PARIS, Nov. 13 -- The foreign minister of France, which led opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq at the United Nations, said Thursday that the latest violence in Iraq showed that ending the U.S. occupation and transferring power to Iraqis quickly would be the best way to stem guerrilla attacks. With the Bush administration now promoting an accelerated transfer of power, the American and French positions appear to be converging. But Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said the suggested timetable for a transfer was still too long and that more intensive consultations were...

In U.S., Fears Are Voiced of a Too-Rapid Iraq Exit By STEVEN R. WEISMAN and CARL HULSE ASHINGTON, Nov. 13 — The Bush administration's decision to speed the transfer of sovereignty to Iraq and replace American troops with Iraqis is bringing fresh warnings from Congress and policy experts against pulling out of Iraq too early and letting election-year considerations dictate Iraq policy. Much of the anxiety about Iraq is being expressed by Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and those raising questions include both supporters and critics of the war. Even as Gen. John P. Abizaid, the American military commander in...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is proposing elections in Iraq (news - web sites) in the first half of next year and the formation of a government before a constitution is written, as it seeks to speed up the shift of power the Iraqis. Also, with President Bush (news - web sites)'s approval, L. Paul Bremer III, the chief American administrator for Iraq, will consult with the Iraqi Governing Council on the appointment of a special panel to oversee an accelerated transition to Iraqi rule, said a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The revised approach is...

WASHINGTON - Under the pressure of increasing U.S. deaths in battle, President Bush (news - web sites) said Thursday the United States wants Iraqis to take more responsibility for governing their troubled country and said coalition forces are determined to prevail over terrorists. Bush said he was sending L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Baghdad, back to the country to work with Iraqis on developing a plan to speed up estabishment of an Iraqi government. He said Bremer, in two days of urgent talks at the White House, said the Iraqis want to be more involved. "That's a...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- Under the pressure of increasing U.S. casualties, President Bush is moving to speed up establishment of an Iraqi government to take charge in Baghdad.</p> <p>With 396 U.S. casualties, shrinking support from the American public, a troubling intelligence report and a stony silence from nations that have been asked for more peacekeeping troops, Bush wants to shorten the U.S. occupation.</p>

Bush speeds up the exit strategy By Alec Russell in Washington and Anton La Guardia (Filed: 13/11/2003) President George W Bush ordered his senior envoy in Iraq last night to speed up the handover of power to local politicians, following warnings from the CIA of impending disaster and a suicide bombing that killed 18 Italian paramilitary police. Police stand outside the damaged Italian headquarters following the bomb attack in Nasiriyah A lorry, packed with explosives, was driven into an Italian military police compound in the southern city of Nasiriyah, destroying the building. Nine Iraqis were killed and about 80 injured....

Iraq is turning out to be a tragedy of much greater depth than either the pro-war or anti-war camps, with their shallow certainties, are prepared to deal with. Hardcore Western leftists still can't get interested in anything going on in that country except American "imperialism." Having endured the embarrassment of Iraqi jubilation at Saddam Hussein's ouster, they're back in the ballgame now with things going badly for the US, and they're raising their voices for immediate withdrawal. Those who want to sound responsible say the US should hand the job over to an international force – as if any country...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush has directed Iraq's civil administrator Paul Bremer to speed the transfer of postwar authority to the Iraqi people, drawing Washington's policy closer to that of its sceptical European allies. At the end of two days of urgent consultations with Bush and his top national security advisers, Bremer said he would return to Baghdad for talks with members of the Iraqi Governing Council on how to best to accelerate the transfer of power. The United States also displayed a new military approach to its troubled occupation, unleashing the firepower of the First Armored Division...

BUDAPEST, Hungary - It's a bold response to the mounting casualties in Iraq (news - web sites): a commitment by Hungary to keep troops there through the end of 2004. With Americans dying in nearly daily attacks, nations pulling diplomats out of harm's way and counterterrorism experts warning of accelerated violence, the U.S.-led coalition could expect a few defections. Instead, allies like Hungary insist they're prepared to stay put in Iraq come what may. "If we were attacked, would that deter us from staying there? I would say no," Defense Minister Ferenc Juhasz said in an interview with The Associated...