Barack says "soon," McSame says "sometime, maybe" but that's not good enough for the Iraqi government.
Iraqi prime minister Nouri al Maliki wants a fixed date for the withdrawal of American forces and he wants it enshrined in the "status of forces" agreement now being negotiated between Baghdad and Washington. From the Associated Press:
"Maliki said in a meeting with Arab diplomats in Abu Dhabi that his country also has proposed a short-term interim memorandum of agreement rather than the more formal status of forces agreement the two sides have been negotiating.
The memorandum "now on the table" includes a formula for the withdrawal of US troops, he said.
"The goal is to end the presence [of foreign troops]," Maliki said."
But, but, but... what about those 58-military bases the Pentagon is planning to operate in Iraq (30-already exist, 28-new installations to be built), and that Vatican-sized US embassy? And what about all that oil? Yeah, that's right, the oil.
McCain still can't bring himself to say the "w" word - withdrawal. All his spokesman offered up was that the senator "has always said that conditions on the ground - including the security threats posed by extremists and terrorists, and the ability of Iraqi forces to meet those threats - would be key determinants in US force levels." Read between the lines and you get "we're not going anywhere."
Iraqi prime minister Nouri al Maliki wants a fixed date for the withdrawal of American forces and he wants it enshrined in the "status of forces" agreement now being negotiated between Baghdad and Washington. From the Associated Press:
"Maliki said in a meeting with Arab diplomats in Abu Dhabi that his country also has proposed a short-term interim memorandum of agreement rather than the more formal status of forces agreement the two sides have been negotiating.
The memorandum "now on the table" includes a formula for the withdrawal of US troops, he said.
"The goal is to end the presence [of foreign troops]," Maliki said."
But, but, but... what about those 58-military bases the Pentagon is planning to operate in Iraq (30-already exist, 28-new installations to be built), and that Vatican-sized US embassy? And what about all that oil? Yeah, that's right, the oil.
McCain still can't bring himself to say the "w" word - withdrawal. All his spokesman offered up was that the senator "has always said that conditions on the ground - including the security threats posed by extremists and terrorists, and the ability of Iraqi forces to meet those threats - would be key determinants in US force levels." Read between the lines and you get "we're not going anywhere."
Meanwhile Afghanisnam is quickly turning into a regional conflict. Kabul is blaming yesterday's suicide bombing of the Indian embassy as the work of Pakistan's wily intelligence agency, the ISI. India has long worked in Afghanistan, not so much out of concern for the Afghans, but to get at Pakistan. There's nothing India would like better than a Kabul government truly at odds with Islamabad. There's been no proof yet that the Pakistanis were actually behind the embassy attack but it wouldn't be surprising either.
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I believe 10 or 11 or the 18 Iraqi provinces are now totally controled and policed by Iraqi forces . . . things are going well . . . hence the absence of Iraq in the MSM these days.
I know you lefties miss ol Sadam . . . but evidently the folks in Iraq are a lot happier without him.
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