Iraqis now calling for timetable

I'd like to comment on this developement, but it might be too political for this family oriented blog.
I am, however putting together a list of old family recipes that you all might enjoy, and hopefully, they won't be too 'political' or 'controversial'.

Nice spin going on here by the media and the Democrats. Just a few weeks ago, the prime minister of Iraq said the U.S. presence was needed until the situation in Iraq stabilizes more. That received very little to no media coverage. Now that an Iraqi official says a timetable needs to be set, the media and Democrats incorrectly spin it their way.
The FACT remains that Iraq does not want the U.S. to pull out UNTIL Iraq completely or nearly stabilizes. Yes, the FACT remains, that Iraq wants it complete sovereignty back. That is a no-brainer, but it also has to be done with the long-term future of this country in mind. And both sides agree on that.
The FACT remains that U.S. troops slowly have been leaving Iraq anyway. The FACT remains more U.S. troops will be exiting Iraq in the months to come. The FACT remains that the surge has and is working. The FACT remains that regardless of who is president, U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for at LEAST 16 more months come January 2009.

If we would have gone after Al quida in the first place and left the Iroqs alone we wouldn't be having this conversation. They want us out. We want our Troops home ALIVE ...So let's GET IT DONE!!!!...We cannot and are not responsible for their civil war..They've been at it thousands of years..Every Soldier that has fought or died thre or even just been there will come home with honor..Bush and Chaney have NO HONOR....

Surrendercrats! Traitors! Terrorist appeasers!!!

How dare they try and control what's going on in their own country? What do they think they are, a soveriegn nation? How dare they disgree with Generalissimo McCain!!!! He'll show them. 100 years or bust!

Gee Green Trees, wasn't the whole point of the "surge" to give Iraqi politicians time to get their collective stuff together? They sure haven't done it, so no, the surge is NOT working.

Why is it Goopers like you so love to say silly things and claim them as facts? Do you even know the definition of the word "fact?"

Bush, Cheney and McCain would never accept this. American oil companies are about to pour billions of dollars of investment into Iraqi oil fields and they (Bush, Cheney, McCain) want American soldiers protecting that investment. McCain is in their pockets now, as his off-shore flip-flop illustrates, so he wouldn't ever agree to leave their (his) investments unprotected (100 years in Iraq anyone?).

McCain also claims that he will balance the budget & "win"
the war in Iraq, while cutting taxes for the rich.

How can McCain balance the budget without leaving Iraq immediately? Doesn't the war cost us (altogether, $500 billion a year), while similtaneously giving the rich, a multi-trillion dollar tax cut that McCain want's to continue?

Meanwhile back at the Crawford,Texas ranch, the Iraqi's want us out of there on a time table (like one Obama talks about).

Nothing McCain says makes any sense.

Why doesn't the evil liberal media call McCain on this, Bruce?

The FACT is Green Trees is that the Prinme Minister of Iraq wants a timetable for withdrawal of US troops. The FACT is that we must now set a timetable that they will agree to. The FACT is that the Iraqis want their country backand will not accept and indefinite US presence. The FACT is that they have clearly rejected John McCain's vision of a US military presence in Iraq for decades or longer.

"The State Department slapped the Iraqi demand down today.

"The U.S. government and the government of Iraq are in agreement that we, the U.S. government, we want to withdraw; we will withdraw," spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters. "However, that decision will be conditions-based." "

OK So the State Department is admitting that Iraq is a "colony", and not an independent country. When you are a "colony" of the United States, all marching orders come from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When you are an independent country, your marching orders come from your government, not some OTHER government.

If the case wasn't any clearer sooner, King George considers Iraq an American colony, not able to make it's own decisions unless they are approved by the King himself.

Wake up America! This war wasn't for democracy; it was to colonialize Iraq and control its natural resources, nothing more, nothing less!

The FACT remains that U.S. troops slowly have been leaving Iraq anyway. The FACT remains more U.S. troops will be exiting Iraq in the months to come. The FACT remains that the surge has and is working. The FACT remains that regardless of who is president, U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for at LEAST 16 more months come January 2009.

Posted by: Green Trees | July 8, 2008 3:28 PM

Green Jeans,
We have 140,00 troops over there occupying a foreign country (Iraq).
That's not "victory" nor is it a success. If "the surge was working" we'd be able to bring All of our troops home and not have them over there propping up a puppet gov't, a puppet army and holding off an all out civil war with our presence.

The Iraqi's have been fighting each other for over 1300 years and you think that all of a sudden they're going to forget that and hold hands?

You would have thought that the Neocon warmongers who planned the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq (Bush, Cheney, McCain) would have thought of that BEFORE they launched their phony lying scare tactics about how "Iraq has WMD's" on the world.

What was wrong with my last post? What did I say that needed to be censored?

Nisl, the FACT is the Iraqi government is taking form and taking shape. The FACT is that in many military matters now, it is the Iraqi military taking the lead with U.S. troops there as support. Fifteen of 18 benchmarks have now been met by the Iraqis.
Lois, the FACT is troops already are leaving Iraq and will continue to leave Iraq. The FACT is while the Iraqis may want a timetable, they also do not want complete U.S. withdrawal anytime soon.
The FACT is Barack Obama has said that he will have U.S. troops out of Iraq in 16 months, but that he now will base his decisions on what the commanders on the ground have to say and not what moveon.org or Code Pinbk have to say.,

How dare Maliki ask for a timetable! Doesn't he know that Bush/Cheney and Halliburton put him in power? Doesn't he know they own him? Doesn't he know that to ask for a timetable now would only aggravate the chances of another Republican presidency, because McCain has drawn a similarity between American presence in Iraq to our presence in Korea? As long as the oil flows, America will remain until an enlightened President, and let's pray it's Obama, decides to acknowledge that the Iraqis deserve to have their country back, and we as a nation deserve to regain some semblance of honor. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed and 4000 plus honorable American soldiers killed, not for retribution of 911, but for the greed of oil. Give Maliki his timetable and be done with it! Enough is enough! Bring our soldiers home, enough damage has been done to that country, to our reputation abroad and to our sense of decency as Americans.

Civil war - yes there is strife there, and we are the cause. Let them sort out their differences without our interference. We've done enough damage to their country, to our own and to the world economy. This is the Bush/Cheney legacy.

And as for the warmongers among you - play your war games on the weekends in the hills behind your homes with paint guns, not dropping smart bombs on innocent civilians and dehumanizing a people.

Thankyou....

This is old news. When Maliki originally made this statement, the Bush admin said it was a translation error. There's a fact for ya.

Ah Green Trees, you really don't know what facts are. That 15 out of 18 bench marks being met thing isn't facts, it is Gooper spin.

15 of the 18 bench marks have NOT been met. They have had what the Bush White House calls "satisfactory" progress, but coming from this administration that just doesn't mean a thing.
'
And as to your facts about what Obama said, once again you are wrong. Obama has always said we have to be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. He must have said it a thousand times. He will set the mission and the mission will be to get out of Iraq, but unlike the Bushies, who were told before going into Iraq that their force structure was all wrong, Obama will actually listen to the military.

The FACT is, the government will tell you whatever they want you to believe. Haven't they been making FACTS up since this disaster began?

It is just a matter of what YOU want to believe. I think the Iraqis have been telling us for years to butt out...thank you very much for getting rid of Sadam but you can take your ball and go home now.

"MALIKI SPEAKS"

TO ALL THE "CHILDREN OF THE CORN" IN AMERICA!
IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT YOU LOST 4200 MEN AND WOMEN IN THE MEAN STREETS OF IRAQ!
TO ALL THE "CHILDREN OF THE CORN" IT'S NOT OUR FAULT THAT YOUR LEADERSHIP "FABRICATED" THE MISSION!
TO ALL THE "CHILDREN OF THE CORN" IT'S NOT OUR FAULT THAT WE DON'T "SAND BOWL" WITH THE SAUDIS!
TO ALL THE "CHILDREN OF THE CORN" IT'S NOT OUR FAULT, LINDSEY GRAHAM AND HIS WIFE CAME TO IRAQ! WE ARE A "WORK IN PROGRESS"
TO ALL THE "CHILDREN OF THE CORN" 2013, 100 YEARS, I DON'T THINK SO!
YOU BETTER GROW SOME MORE "CORN"
ISN'T IT CHEAPER THAN 4100 DEAD SOLDIERS, A VISIT FROM JOHN MCCAIN AND HIS ELITE "MILITIA" FORCE. 35,000 WOUNDED, AND 100,000 MILITIA MEN MAKING MORE THAN THE AVERAGE SOLDIER!
OUR "CHILDREN OF THE CORN"

The FACT is Barack Obama has said that he will have U.S. troops out of Iraq in 16 months, but that he now will base his decisions on what the commanders on the ground have to say and not what moveon.org or Code Pinbk have to say.,

Posted by: Green Trees | July 8, 2008 4:22 PM

Bruce,
Obama has never changed his position on Iraq but McCain has.
First McCain said we'd be in Iraq for 100 years, then he said 10,000 years would be fine with him too and now he says he'll achieve "victory" in Iraq by 2013.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6ul9iMgmOw
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Has McCain even figured out the difference between the Sunni's and the Shiites in Iraq yet?

Nisl, if you don't believe the administration or the Iraqis then that just means failure is guaranteed, or is that the Demo spin you're trying to sell us?

The fact of the matter is those benchmarks have been met and even your empty suit candidate is saying he needs to "refine his position" because he hasn't been to Iraq in two years. John McCain, however, supported our troops and the Iraqis all along and said "I'd rather lose an election than a war."

I think it's great news that the Iraqis (not the democrats) want a timetable and feel that confident that their new military is ready to stand on its own two feet. That's been the goal all along (unlike the democrat goal which has been failure for their own political ambitions). Senator McCain is the man to shepherd the US victoriously out of this war. Senator Obama has only now been shamed into actually going to Iraq to see the progress. That ought to tell the educated voter everything he or she needs to know.

Green Trees spews the Ridiculous GOP logic. "Iraq is too violent we cannot withdraw. We must surge", Repukelics say. "The surge was a success, benchmarks have been met. We cannot withdraw now!", a GOP dirtbag will howl. You see the GOP will twist every scenario so that the outcome will always wind up concluding that soldiers cannot come home. Perpetual war and empire is what they seek. As long as it's on the backs of lower middle class American military families. They have no shame. Only pure greed for big bank accounts while Americans get blown up in Iraw.

Jeff, the bench marks have NOT been met.

Try this; do a google search about those bench marks. You will run across an AP story about it.

Here is a link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080701/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_progress

Not even the reality impared Bush Administration is saying the bench marks have been met.

As you can see, I am right and you are wrong.

Republicans and their "facts"... too funny.

The fact of the matter is those benchmarks have been met and even your empty suit candidate is saying he needs to "refine his position" because he hasn't been to Iraq in two years. John McCain, however, supported our troops and the Iraqis all along and said "I'd rather lose an election than a war."

Posted by: Jeff | July 8, 2008 5:19 PM

Jeff, those Iraq "benchmarks" have been lowered by McCain's friends in the Bush administration. In fact the bar has been set so low now that if an Iraqi soldier shows up for duty at least 1 of the 7 days of the week then it's called a "success" by BushCo.

And yes Jeff, we all remember McCains heroic last trip to Iraq where he took a "stroll" through a Baghdad market with "no protection":
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c
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If the Iraqis want a timetable for withdrawal, then let us give them one. What's more, once the timetable is at an end, let us be out of Iraq. Iraq belongs to the Iraqis, so let the Iraqis decide how best to order their own affairs. If Iraq is truly a free country and a democracy like we claim, then, just like us, they have the right to choose their own path to prosperity, or to ruin, as fate may bring.

"What was wrong with my last post? What did I say that needed to be censored?"
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Posted by: John E | July 8, 2008 4:15 PM
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I sympathize. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for what makes it onto the board anymore. Following the posted criteria of relevance, civility and lack of spam is no guarantee. There seems to be some set of hidden criteria used by the Swamp Censors to filter material, and the Swampsters haven't given us a clue as to what the criteria are or how to comply. A large number of my posts have not made it lately, and I am getting a bit tired of guessing how to fix them. I can only hope the selection isn't done intentionally to slant the board to their own notions of what is P.C.

Remember Swampies;
OBL's chief reason for taking out the towers was the presence of 5k US troops permanently stationed on S.A. soil.
Just a reminder.

I think MONITOR function has been taken over by I ROBOT.
Whatever, I posted a dozen times last night and two comments made it after falling off the front page.
I don't even try to put up a post most of the time anymore.

I think MONITOR function has been taken over by I ROBOT.
Posted by: C.Morris | July 8, 2008 7:39 PM

There's absolutely no discernable rhyme or reason as to how posts are censored. It's either completely arbitrary or it's malicious. I'm not sure. Will this be censored?

Everybody should be jumping all over this opportunity to get out of Iraq. 'When they stand up we stand down'.
This is what we have been waiting and hoping for, right?

Journalist John D,

Still having trouble discerning fact from opinion I see.

Go back to writing about light bulbs.

The reason for the inconsistency in what gets posted and what doesn't seems to be at the whim of failed kindergarten graduates, most often with a left wing bent. The Chimp Censors at the Tribune go on their own Napoleon power trips. More proof this "newspaper" and its employees are nothing more than toilet paper salesman.

I rarely agree with John E but I'm sick and tired of the no rhyme or reason censorship that goes on at this site, anymore, either. What is with you guys? None of the criteria have anything to do with what gets posted anymore. Some posts you can't even criticize the reporter posting for leaving out major facts, anymore.

NISL, I trust USA Today more than you and they reported 15 of 18 benchmarks have been met: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-07-01-report_N.htm

I hope this doesn't get censored.