BAGHDAD (AP) — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki shrugged off U.S. doubts of his government's military and political progress on Saturday, saying Iraqi forces are capable and American troops can leave "any time they want."
One of his top aides, meanwhile, accused the United States of embarrassing the Iraqi government by violating human rights and treating his country like an "experiment in a U.S. lab."
Al-Maliki sought to display confidence at a time when pressure is mounting in Congress for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. forces. On Thursday, the House passed a measure calling for the U.S. to withdraw its troops by spring, hours after the White House reported mixed progress by the Iraqi government toward meeting 18 benchmarks.
During a press conference, al-Maliki shrugged off the progress report, saying that difficulty in enacting the reforms was "natural" given Iraq's turmoil.
"We are not talking about a government in a stable political environment but one in the shadow of huge challenges," al-Maliki said. "So when we talk about the presence of some negative points in the political process, that's fairly natural." Read more here.
I'd say that this is one dare we need to quickly take him up on :)
well, from the news it doesn' appear that the troops are having any goodeffect anyways
ReplyDeleteThe news reports one side. The negative. All my guys (stepbrother, cousin, friend) over there see a much more positive side.
ReplyDeleteI want us out, but the naysayers say that terrorism here will be worse. What do you think? At least our troops would be here on THIS soil!
Just spent an hour on the phone Friday with someone in Iraq. He said that it is a royal mess in Baghdad. I think that we really have to re-evaluate our role over there and get a reality check about what the end-game looks like. I don't think the Iraqis will step up to the plate until they have to.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. My three guys in Baghdad reported differently. Things must have gone south in 3 months.
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