See Ya Later, Alligator
Coming hard on the heels of the reports that the Iraqi army remains unprepared to take over security of the war-torn country, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says his forces are capable and American troops can troops can leave “anytime they want.”
Sounds good to me. Where’s the door?
In another valentine to Washington, one of Al-Maliki’s top aides accused the U.S. of embarrassing the Iraqi government by violating human rights and treating his country like an “experiment in a U.S. lab.”
Al-Maliki says his government needs “time and effort” to enact the political reforms that Washington seeks “particularly since the political process is facing security, economic and services pressures, as well as regional and international interference.”
But he said that if necessary, Iraqi police and soldiers could fill the void left by the departure of coalition forces: “We say in full confidence that we are able, God willing, to take the responsibility completely in running the security file if the international forces withdraw at anytime they want.”
In a progress the report mandated by Congress as a preliminary analysis of the success of President Bush’s latest strategy, the Iraqi government got satisfactory marks on military and security matters, but it is an open secret that efforts to train up Iraqi soldiers have lagged because of the focus on the surge strategy and at most only two brigades are fully operational, the same number as a year ago.
Meanwhile, one of Al-Maliki’s close advisers, Shiite lawmaker Hassan al-Suneid, bristled over the American pressure, telling The Associated Press that “The situation looks as if it is an experiment in an American laboratory [judging] whether we succeed or fail.”
He sharply criticized the U.S. military, saying it was committing human rights violations and embarrassing the Iraqi government through such tactics as building a wall around a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad, making nice with Sunni tribes in Anbar and Diyala provinces, and launching repeated raids on suspected Shiite militiamen in the Sadr City slum.
More here.
Meanwhile, Chamblee54 has done a very naughty thing. This blogger has taken the 18 U.S.-imposed benchmarks and applied them to the good old US of A. While his conclusions are subjective, you should not be shocked to known that we’re not doing as well as those Aye-Rackis. Click here for a snout full.
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6 Responses to “See Ya Later, Alligator”
Some of President Bush’s closest advisers may say that this is only the end of the beginning for Iraq, but for the rest of us, it is the beginning of the end. We can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I have no doubt that Iraq Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s remark yesterday that Iraq can go it alone was a direct response to the inevitable: we will be leaving his country soon because mainstream Republican support for the war has evaporated.
In the last week, key Republican Senators have withdrawn their support for the Iraq war, allowing a glimmer of hope that someday we will be able to leave this God, Jehovah, and Allah-forsaken country.
Bush loves to make grand analogies, comparing his Iraq war to Churchill’s war… Click here to continue reading.
[...] Clark Link to Article george w bush See Ya Later, Alligator » Posted at The Moderate Voice » [...]
I didn’t see any links to this story. Now we are fighting Iraqis police.
http://fe29.news.mud.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070713/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070711194933
There is a history of this with the British in Basra. We hear how the southern Iraq is “peaceful”. Tell that to Steven Vincent formerly reporting in the “RedZone”.
The Maliki solution to Iraqi is a Shiite religious state where any remaining Sunnis are a terrified minority living like the Shiites under Saddam. Of course millions will have to die to accomplish that goal . Might as well leave and get it over with, we are only delaying the inevitable.
[...] coverage on this topic (H/T to MemeOrandum): NYT (Richard A. Oppel, Jr); The Moderate Voice; Crooks And [...]
Grognard has it right. We leave then Maliki uses the police and army to wipe out any remaining Sunni opposition, and establish permanent Shiite dominance. All they have to do is outlast unhappy Americans, and they won’t have to worry about pressure to meet those pesky benchmarks. The reason that they haven’t met them- is that they have no intention of meeting them. Ever.
Of course that doesn’t rule out the possibility of a regional war, as surrounding Sunni countries respond to the genocide in Iraq. I’m sure that’s why we’re still there.