Tuesday, July 8, 2008

That Was Then, This Is Now

That was then.

Fourteen months ago, Bush said that if Iraq were to request the U.S. troops would be removed, of course they would be removed. After all, we were there as Iraq's "guests" (emphasis mine):
In an interview last month with PBS's Charlie Rose, President Bush said the U.S. would leave Iraq if asked to do so by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"This is a guy," said Bush of Maliki on April 24, "who has been elected by the people. And it's a sovereign nation. And we're there at their request. The truth of the matter is, if they said 'get out now, we're tired of coalition presence, the U.S.'s presence is counterproductive,' we would leave."

Bush then quickly followed up those comments by confirming for Rose that he does not think Maliki will ask the U.S. to leave because to do so, in his view, would lead to catastrophe.

"That's why he's not going to say it," said Bush.

This is now.

Iraq is demanding a timeline for the removal of the troops. Not at all surprisingly, Bush is refusing. From the AP, via JSOnline (again, emphasis mine):
Iraq's national security adviser said Tuesday his country will not accept any security deal with the United States unless it contains specific dates for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

The comments by Mouwaffak al-Rubaie were the strongest yet by an Iraqi official about the deal now under negotiation with U.S. officials. They came a day after Iraq's prime minister first said publicly that he expects the pending troop deal with the United States to have some type of timetable for withdrawal.

President Bush has said he opposes a timetable. The White House said Monday it did not believe Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was proposing a rigid timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals.

But then again, is anyone really surprised that Bush is caught up in yet another lie.

And as the saying goes, "Bush lied, people died". Bush continues to lie, people continue to die.

And for those of the right who say that the left doesn't get it, I'm sorry, but we get it all too well. Later in the AP article:
In northern Baghdad Tuesday, guards opened fire, wounding 13 people when a crowd seeking aid payments for the poor, widows, orphans and disabled people became unruly, Iraqi officials said.

The U.S. military said a soldier had died from injuries sustained when a roadside bomb hit a troop convoy in Baghdad.

The U.S. military says five other soldiers were wounded in Tuesday's attack in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Amiriyah.
When will enough be enough?

Addendum: Grumps has his take on the issue as well.

1 comment:

  1. If al Maliki wants them gone, then we should leave and be done with it. Hell, I say bring all our troops home from Europe, Japan and Korea as well as Bosnia. Station them along the borders, reform the immigration system, and tell the rest of the world to go f**k themselves... Is that too harsh?

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