Iraq raises idea of timetable for U.S. withdrawal

Tuesday 08th July, 07:09 AM JST

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Betzee at 10:50 PM JST - 8th July

Indeed they are finding their voice, Sailwind. This is the first time PM al-Maliki has spoken of the need to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from the country he was democratically appointed to represent. (The "appointed" doesn't imply he's a puppet but rather that he did not run for the position of PM). Yet a White House spokesman has emphasized in response that the secretive bilateral talks on a SOFA make no mention of a specific date for US withdrawal.

Most of those against the war are heartened by the words coming out of Iraq's FREE mouth. The question is then, why isn't the GWB administration?
sailwind at 11:08 PM JST - 8th July

The question is then, why isn't the GWB administration?

Doesn't matter anymore. The Bush administration is for all purposes done. For all it's mistakes it will hand over this to the next President be it Obama or McCain. Iraq a country a work in progress. The choice is clear abandoned that progress or continue on the path this administration has in all intensive purposes forced on the next President.

Myself it would be asinine to not continue on what the surge has brought, a real chance to let the Iraq's sort this out for themselves without damn car bombs going off in markets. That is going to be the reality for the next President and what he's going to inherit. Obama was smart to give himself wiggle room on his timetable, he knows Americans won't look kindly to pulling the plug when Iraq is looking more and more like a success than a failure.

Time you started to think about Iraq today and her future and no longer about how we got here.
Betzee at 11:28 PM JST - 8th July

Time you started to think about Iraq today and her future

Indeed as the NYT's op-ed page said yesterday:

Senator John McCain says he will stay on until “victory” is achieved. But he has not fully explained what that means or how it can be accomplished, much less how it can be accomplished while simultaneously routing militants in Afghanistan.

Senator Barack Obama is right when he says the United States must withdraw from Iraq so it can finish the fight in Afghanistan. But after promising to immediately begin drawing down troops by one or two brigades a month, he is now giving himself wiggle room by suggesting he will let military commanders set the pace.

What is needed is a far more serious, public discussion by the two candidates about how they plan to meet their commitments and also ensure that Iraq’s chaos does not spin further out of control or spread even further over its borders.

Fortunately, two new reports — one by the centrist Center for a New American Security and the other by a liberal-leaning task force involving the Commonwealth Institute, some members of Congress and many academics — are asking those far more complicated questions. They have differences, especially on the timing of withdrawal, but they point the debate in the right direction. Most notably:

What support does Iraq need to ensure that provincial elections set for later this year — a crucial opportunity for disenfranchised Sunnis to play a larger role in government — and national elections in 2009 are as free and fair as possible?

What help does Iraq’s government need to resettle some two million internally displaced Iraqis and another two million who have fled to Syria and Jordan?

There are more issues, these are just the first two. What is notable here is that the Iraqis will play a role in addressing them. And we need to bring them even when we don't like what they have to say or suggest.
Sarge at 11:37 PM JST - 8th July

sailwind - Exactly, exactly! Agree or disagree with the liberation of Iraq, the question is where we go from here. Stay until the job is done or withdraw now and let the country descend into chaos.
adaydream at 11:50 PM JST - 8th July

I love these posts. It's either:

Bring our troops home. Iraq says they will deal with their own security.

or

We'll leave when we get damn good and ready and we'll tell Al-Maliki when we're ready. < :-)
Betzee at 12:15 AM JST - 9th July

The Bush administration is for all purposes done.

Ummm, no it's not. It is negotiating this security agreement in secret which will bind the United States after GWB leaves power. Apparently they've done some sort of end-run around Congressional need for ratification, as intended by our wise founding fathers.
Madverts at 12:29 AM JST - 9th July

Sailwind,

The US installed government is pushing for a security deal that the Iraqi people absolutely do not want whilst refusing al-Sadr's crazy leftist notion of having a public referendum....eeeew, that sounds so socialist it could almost be French.
Betzee at 02:22 AM JST - 9th July

[Maliki's time-table request] illustrates the double-bind that Bush, McCain, and the conservative commentariat have created for themselves with their relentless surge-o-mania. If they're wrong and the surge has failed to significantly change the fundamental realities of Iraq, then it's time to get out. If they're right and the surge is succeeding brilliantly, it's also time to get out. Moreover, if Iraqis agree with either assessment, it's definitely time to get out.

Theoretically McCain, if not Bush, could get out of the box by agreeing with Maliki that things are going so well that a withdrawal timetable is in order. But having staked a lot on the argument that Barack Obama is flip-flopping on the terms of withdrawal, McCain's not in a great position to change his tune now.

http://www.salon.com/politics/warroom/?laststory=/politics/warroom/2008/07/08/iraqmccain/
peacetoismailha at 02:33 AM JST - 9th July

The so-called US allies or the "puppets" and the "resistance" who have been fighting each other agree that US should go home. You do not need much brain to understand that US is the problem. It seems as if everyone in the world has except the American trigger happy war mongering nationalists. BUT. AMericans still want to stay and run the country into bankrrupcy.
VoXman at 04:31 AM JST - 9th July

Yes, Iraq is finding her free voice, all the while Iran is whispering in her ear....
Betzee at 04:50 AM JST - 9th July

"The security is there, it's much better, it's going to continue to evolve," Adm. Mike Mullen said Tuesday in an Associated Press interview after a walking tour of this recent combat zone. But if local political reform falters "or the economy doesn't get going — and here [in Mosul] the two are linked — then I'm not sure that security makes that much difference."

How is an open-ended US presence going to facilitate political reform and economic development?
teaabe at 05:42 AM JST - 9th July

they should stay there as long as possible...

forever, preferably: it's a very hot place, iraq...
Taka313 at 08:35 AM JST - 9th July

Betzee,

How is an open-ended US presence going to facilitate political reform and economic development?

It does wonders for haliburton/KBR, SAIC and blackwater's economic development.

Taka
Betzee at 09:06 AM JST - 9th July

It does wonders for haliburton/KBR, SAIC and blackwater's economic development.

I heard Scott McClellan's proposed title for Dick Cheney's memoirs is How I Upped Halliburton's Income and Up Yours.

McCain, upon hearing this news of a proposed time-line for withdrawal, dismissed PM Maliki as "a politician." (Is that a sign of self-loathing or what?) Well, yeah Senator but he's also head of the post-Saddam democratic government. And when someone of that stature tells 'ya to pack your pack your bags and take the troops home and you don't, then you (or we) become an occupin' force pure and simple. This could get interestin'.....
Wolfpack at 11:20 AM JST - 13th July

Thanks to the surge, we may be closer to a major reduction in US troops in Iraq then anyone could have thought possible just a few short months ago. Heck, if Iraq feels like they can take it from here, then let them have it. However, I would suggest a gradual drawdown over the course of months instead of an immediate and complete pullout. The primary point here is that the US withdraws from a position of strength instead of being chased out by Al Qaeda or al-Sadr.

If I were McCain, I wouldn't take Maliki's comments as anything other than a vindication of his support for the surge. As long as the timetable is based on the situation in Iraq and not in the Democrat National Committe headquarters in D.C., then that's cool with me.