The White House reverses its spin today, downplaying the prospect of troop withdrawals that were expected based on earlier news reports:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Despite optimism triggered by formation of Iraq’s unity government, the White House stressed on Tuesday conditions on the ground in Iraq will dictate when U.S. troops can withdraw.
The statement came as the White House announced that President George W. Bush will meet his top Iraq war ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on Thursday.
Blair said on Monday that all foreign troops may be gone from Iraq within four years and Iraq’s new prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, said his forces could be in charge of most of the country by December.
White House spokesman Tony Snow was careful not to sign on to any timetable, saying “the conditions on the ground are going to determine when the United States begins doing troop withdrawals and that sort of thing, and that and that alone is going to be the ultimate factor.”
“We’re not going to sort of look at our watches and say, ‘Oh, time to go,’ because that would be irresponsible,” Snow said, adding that Washington wants to make sure it has laid the foundation for a “successful, self-governing, peaceful and stable Iraq.”
If Bush and Tony Blow are going to wait for Iraq to be successful, peaceful and stable, we’re in for a very long haul here. Then again, who knows what they mean by “successful” and “peaceful.”
Poor Tony Blair, by the way. I wonder if his press spokespeople jumped the gun on this one just a bit. And it looks like the Iraqi Government may have gotten its hopes up a little too high, as well:
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has been rapid to throw the spotlight on the handover of security from the multinational forces to Iraqi personnel. […]
Mr Maliki was specific in saying the handover would begin next month, with two British-controlled provinces in the south transferring to Iraqi forces. In total 16 of 18 provinces would be in Iraqi hands by the end of the year, he said. […]
[A] joint Iraq-UK statement was less specific on the other transfers, saying: “By the end of this year, responsibility for much of Iraq’s territorial security should have been transferred to Iraqi control.”
Like the old adage says, I’ll believe it when I see it.
not so fast, yea that was my comment last night
Here from The Independent UK
“Four more years: UK troops to stay in Iraq until 2010”
By Andy McSmith, in Baghdad
Published: 23 May 2006
Now it’s being framed as “peacekeeping” since ‘our troops can do nothing’ but watch the ethnic cleansing that has taken hold on a massive scale.’
Patrick Cockburn reports “the worse the situation becomes, the easier it is for Tony Blair or George Bush to pretend it is improving.”
If Snow wants to base the White House’s decision upon what is responsible, then the administration should start looking at the number of Americans who have been killed and the number of Americans who have been maimed and crippled in Iraq. These casualties keep piling up but to the administration these casualties are just statistics, instead of people, whose families have lost husbands, fathers, sons, wives, mothers and daughters. Staying the course is the same strategy that was used in Vietnam and as in Iraq, that noble cause became a lost cause. The hubris of this administration knows no bounds while Blair has lost whatever credibility he may have had by continuing to go along with this charade.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) May 22 — Those who count the increasing number of American soldiers killed in Iraq are missing the bigger picture, retired Gen. Tommy Franks said.
“What we’re talking about is neither 2,400, 24,000 or 240,000 lives,” Franks said at the National Rifle Association’s annual banquet. “Terrorism is a thing that threatens our way of life. It doesn’t have anything to do with politics. We have to secure ourselves. We have to secure our Constitution.”
≈ Cross-posted from my diary — Tony Blair Secure In Green Zone Visit ≈
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Franks wants to be a winger politician. I’m guessing Senator or Governor.
It’s excruciating. Mostly because Franks thinks he could do it! Look Tommy, just because you could spend a lifetime checking the box and sucking the right ass hardly means that you are qualified to be a Senator or Governor. Those positions usually involve having some sort of grasp of what an original thought is! Even the Republicans tend to have some of that…..their original thoughts keep Democrats very entertained and even laughing – which tends to relieve the stress because it is hard work being an effective, honest leader! Hell, even your swear words are just shit you repeat that someone else told you! Sorry Tommy, but the hemispheres of your brain just don’t converse back and forth much. Give a guy a couple of stars for checking the box and he thinks he’s a damn rock star or something!
the wingnuts are acting a little confused about this. After all, we’re getting our asses kicked in places like Ramadi, so how can this be anything other than defeat? Already, they are blaming Democrats from wanting defeat and being political opportunists about it.
It will become a mantra as reality starts to set in.
Did you think yesterday that it would be a one day turn around? We were talking about this yesterday and figured it was bullshit…but only one day of bullshit verses a couple of weeks of hearing the possibility of bullshit. That was fast!
I’ve got to confess, they’ve exceeded my wildest expectations with the speed of the turnaround…it’s just chocking, isn’t it?
This time from the Iraqi PM. They’ve been sending the same message for a relatively long time now, and have kept their eyes on the prize since the dissolution of the CPA. Here in the U.S. the “end game” is obscured by the daily body count, and near-constant internal political battles.
At this point the “coalition of the billing” is nothing more than a glorified police force. The Iraqis are looking generations ahead, while we worry about the next few months.
The Pentagon has consistently deployed the maximum number of troops current force structure allows. To keep the numbers up, Navy and Air Force personnel are now assigned to Iraqi convoy duty. Last night on NewsHour Nir Rosen, a reporter just back from Bagdad, said “events inside the Green Zone have no effect on the reality outside in Baghdad, where militias control the street, where there’s a civil war raging“.
The current force structure will remain stable in Iraq and Afganistan until outside happenstance makes the US position untenable; a GOP defeat at a Congressional or Presidential Election, Crash of the US Dollar, Bombing of Iran and subsequent Shiite rebellion, or the Iraqi Civil War renders the occupation a moot point.