Iraq wants U.S. troops deal to expire in three years


Fri Aug 22, 3:12 PM ET


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq wants an agreement authorizing the continued presence of U.S. troops on its soil to expire in three years, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Friday.

Washington and Baghdad say they are close to signing the deal, which is required to allow U.S. forces to stay on in Iraq beyond the end of this year when a U.N. Security Council mandate ends.

A draft of the agreement is being circulated to Iraqi political leaders for their approval.

Iraqi officials say that, although the draft contains no firm schedule for a U.S. withdrawal, they want the agreement to require U.S. forces to move off of most Iraqi streets by the middle of 2009 and combat troops to go home by the end of 2011.

Dabbagh said Iraq wants to negotiate a firm date by which all U.S. forces must pull out of the country, and wants the agreement allowing them to stay to be valid for only three years.

"The Iraqi government wants this agreement to be valid just for three years," Dabbagh told Reuters. "The full withdrawal will depend on the situation on the ground and the needs of Iraqis and the decisions of the Iraqi government."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Baghdad unannounced on Thursday to help prod the deal along. She denied that a final agreement had been reached, but said it was close, and any timelines for withdrawal would have to be "feasible."

This is a big success for President Bush. As he brings is terms in office to a close he brings the war to an end. My only criticism is that he should have announced this himself rather than having Condoleezza Rice do it.

I think it's a big success for the Iraqis. They finally have a hope of getting rid of us. They are holding firm to their demands, and it's working. But, of course, we have a solid history of breaking our own agreements, and anything can happen in three years.

It is a success for the Iraqis no doubt. Their army and police forces are becoming stronger. They are controlling the insurgent attacks more themselves so they are in less need of the gracious charity of the US military. It is really a good ending. There were many naysayers that claimed Iraq was lost and there was no way the US could win but now it looks as if the US has won. We have achieved our goals and we are making a road map to go home. This really is something to celebrate.

I'm still not sure how 'Yankee go home' translates into a triumph for Bush...

It's a US, not only a Bush, triumph, because the US has apparently achieved its objective of establishing a stable, democratic form of government in Iraq, one that can survive on its own. That is what we have been working for. We hope it continues on the way toward more democratic participation and does not turn into a dictatorship.

No doubt about it, when the new Iraqi government wants the US to leave, that is victory. That means we removed Saddam, set up a new democratic government and defeated the insurgents.

So Bush did good with North Korea. Bush did good with Iraq. Iran is the only one left in the axis of evil. Two out of three ain't bad.

I went this morning to the demonstrations and protests against the war, etc., on the steps of the Colorado capital building. There were about a dozen speakers from 9 AM to about noon, including Cindy Sheehan, Ron Corvic (of Born On the Fourth of July fame); Black Panther co-founder Eldridge Cleaver's widow, Kathleen; Ward Churchill, etc.

Some of the dozen or so speakers, particularly Cindy Sheehan, described the US as a "fascist, police state," apparently unaware of the fact that if our country were truly a fascist police state, they wouldn't have the complete freedom to say whatever they want on the steps of the capital.

As expected, of course, there were plenty of tables and literature by various Marxist, communist, political action groups.

There had been 10,000 expected, yet only a little more than 1,000 showed up. It has to be a big disappointment to the organizers, although it's possible that number will increase over the next day or so.

A reporter for Fox News showed up to interview Ward Churchill. The reporter was shouted down and almost crushed in the crowd surrounding him. For about half an hour people were yelling for the Fox News reporter to tell Fox News and Bill O'reilly to go to the hot place and other friendly things. It seemed for a while that the crowd actually opposed free speech. The Fox News reporter told the people he was talking to that Fox is willing to let them come on the program and say whatever they want.

It was a very interesting day. I'll be out there again every day until Thurs.

Later, I'll post pictures of these events. I was within 2 ft. of the Fox reporter during the melee.

LOL

Stability in Iraq is largely the result of the Surge that the democrats were so critical of. Al Qaida was so brutal that many of the Sunni tribes switched to the US side to battle Al Qaida. Eventually Al Qaida switched to fighting us in Afghanistan where most of the fighting is being fought right now. Iraq is now in the rebuilding stage. Not much fighting going on now. The Iraqi military is doing most of the fighting now which was our intent anyway.