CRAWFORD, Tex., Mar. 1, 2008
Bush: No Promises On Troop Withdrawals
Declines To Repeat Administration Promises Of Bringing U.S Troops From Iraq Before Term's End
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President Bush at a news conference at his ranch in Crawford, Texas today, said he would not promise that troop levels in Iraq would be cut before he left office. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
Decisions about troop cuts beyond those now planned through July would be based on generals' recommendations, the president said.
"There is going to be enormous speculation," he said in a joint appearance at his ranch with Denmark's prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. But, Bush said, "My sole criteria is that whatever we do, it ought to be in the context of success."
He did suggest strongly that Iraq's provincial elections in October will require bringing more troops home to wait until after the voting.
"I think our generals ought to be concerned about making sure there's enough of a presence so that the provincial elections can be carried out in such a way that democracy advances," he said.
A senior administration official had told reporters during a briefing Friday at the White House, "I fully expect there to be more reductions this year — and so does the president."
Troop withdrawals are scheduled to bring the U.S. force presence in Iraq down to 15 brigades by July, for a troop total of about 140,000.
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, makes his next required report to Mr. Bush in early April. He is expected to recommend the president wait for about four weeks to six weeks after the end of that round of cuts before deciding upon more, in order to assess the impact on the insurgency, Iraqi government's readiness and security gains. That would put off any new decision about cuts until August or September at the earliest, and Mr. Bush's remarks seemed to suggest it would come even later.
A chief topic of the talks between Mr. Bush and Fogh Rasmussen was NATO's increasingly tough fight in Afghanistan against militants.
The U.S., so far unsuccessfully, has pressed for some NATO members to send more troops to Afghanistan and drop military restrictions that the U.S. says hampers the effort. Mr. Bush and Fogh Rasmussen made the case again.
"We expect people to ... carry a heavy burden," Bush said.
The president sought to strike a balance between berating allies and meeting an urgent goal. "I understand that there's certain political considerations on certain countries," he said. But Mr. Bush said his message during a NATO summit in Romania in early April will be to both thank contributing nations and "encourage people to contribute more."
Added the prime minister: "We need more troops in Afghanistan."
All 26 NATO nations have troops serving with the mission. The fighting in Afghanistan is at its most intense since the Taliban government was driven from power by U.S. forces in 2001.
But those in the southern front lines — mainly Canada, Britain, the U.S. and the Netherlands — are irked that others countries such as Germany, Italy, France and Spain restrict their forces to the relatively peaceful north and west. Canada has threatened to pull out its combat troops from the south if other NATO members do not come through.
A senior administration official said Friday that while there should be no expectation of "a surge of NATO" to come out of the Romania summit, there are likely to be "announcements that will be helpful." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to more candidly describe White House thinking, did not elaborate.
There are increasing signs that France, under the new leadership of President Nicolas Sarkozy, appears ready to answer the call. The White House hopes that such a decision would encourage similar ones from other countries, or at least keep Canada from leaving.
The United States has 29,000 troops in Afghanistan, both as part of the NATO mission and in its own terror-fighting and training efforts, and is sending an additional 3,200 Marines in April. Denmark has about 600 Danish troops in the south.
Mr. Bush declined to criticize Iraq's government for inviting Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Baghdad. The trip Sunday will be the first ever to Iraq by an Iranian leader. Bush suggested it was normal for neighbors to visit.
But he did seize on mention of the subject to offer his own pointed message to Tehran: "Stop exporting terror."
With U.S. hostility toward Iran growing over its suspected nuclear weapons program, Mr. Bush said, "The international community is serious about continuing to isolate Iran until they come clean about their nuclear ambitions."
Mr. Bush also offered advice for what Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, should say to Ahmadinejad. The U.S. accuses Iran of seeking dominance over Iraqi affairs and of training and supplying Shiite militia fighters with the ability to target Americans; Tehran has denied the charge.
"The message needs to be: Quit sending in sophisticated equipment that's killing our citizens and that the message will be that we're negotiating a long-term security agreement with the United States precisely because we want enough breathing space for our democracy to develop."
Denmark is hosting an important climate meeting in December 2009 and the prime minister used his appearance with Mr. Bush to push for U.S. contributions to reducing carbon emissions to slow global warming.
"We need a comprehensive global agreement and American leadership is needed to reach that goal," Fogh Rasmussen said.
He also pleaded for American leadership to persuade fast-growing nations such as China and India to cut emissions.
One delicate topic that did not come up in public was Denmark's decision to investigate claims the CIA secretly used an airport on his country's remote Arctic territory of Greenland as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program for suspected terrorists.
The trip to the ranch was a diplomatic coup for Fogh Rasmussen. He pedaled around Camp David in Maryland with Mr. Bush in 2006 and went mountain biking with the president at the ranch Friday.
Mr. Bush said the two biked Saturday morning before their appearance — and he seemed in awe of his visitor. "The man did not even break into a sweat," Mr. Bush said, before serving his guest cheeseburgers and potato salad for lunch. "You're in incredible condition."
Fogh Rasmussen was gracious, calling his visit "a challenging stay, I must say."
"You made me work very hard out there," he said.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 268 CommentsLETS ALL AMERICANS PRAY FOR BUSH AND ALL HIS ADMINASTRATION TO BE BLOWN UP...AND THEY COME OUT FROM CONGRESS AND SAY THAT..BECAUSE IT WOULD BE THE BEST NEWS OF THE YEAR
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Posted by neoconism at 04:12 PM : Mar 01, 2008
Liberals are so dumb, don''t they realize after we invade we would be welcomed with flowers and candy and Iraq''s oil would pay for the war and make the price of oil cheaper!!! Bring it On and Mission Accomplished.
Don''t all you "Liberals" feel pretty dumb for not believing Bush/Cheney/Rove? Viva Bush 2008 and Rush Limbaugh for VP. YeeHa!!!
Posted by waynabq
True but if it had happened that way we would all have been screwed on Valentine''s day as they claimed the demand for flowers and candy in Iraq was responsible for driving up the price.
Ummmm, knock, knock! Since you don''t know what success is and never have...it will appear that we need to decide what our success really means.
What''s the difference between Iraq and Viet Nam?
Bush actually had a plan to get out of Viet Nam.
lol!
and the criminal president , his little surge would be shown for the joke that it truely is if he pulled out one single soldier
Isn''t this statement, in fact, an oxymoron... spoken by one?
The surge is working. Halliburton''s stock is going through the roof! Bush and Chaney will both retire multi-millionares.
And to my fellow Americans I know that next January seems like a long to time wait but it will be for the better. This long wait will teach you that you must pay attention to whom you vote for and never give them a second chance.
It will take at leat 30 years to clean up the mess ''s Repulbicans have made and another 10 years to get us on the right course again.
The problem is most of us who remember the Republcians will be gone by then and they can lie their way back into power just like they did in the 90''s. Our parents were right they had to live through MaCarthy and now we had to live through Bush.
Of course, the Great Emperor''s generals know full well that the Great Emperor frowns on soldiers coming home when they should make their "sacrifices" for the cause of defeating "terrrrrrrrorism" and protecting the profits of BIG OIL!! Any general who brings troops home sooner than the Great Emperor wants, stands the risk of being busted down to private or maybe even labeled as an in league with Al Qeada and arrested as an "enemy combatant"!
So, the end result is that all those soldiers in Iraq and other places in the MIddle East will have to continue making the "sacrifice" there until they are ready to either collect what is left of Social Security, or be sent home in a body bag!
After all, wasn''t it the older clone of the Great Emperor Bush II, John "the Great Pretender" McCain who said he intends on staying in Iraq for the next 100 years!!!
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
sig heil, McCain???
Posted by dragonwagon5 at 05:29 PM : Mar 01, 2008
No,, It doesn''t. It''s stuck in the basement..
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Posted by singingrick at 05:11 PM : Mar 01, 2008
Wow, what a change of heart. Weren''t you one of the fools not too long ago singing the praises of Bush/Cheney? The dangers of "Liberalism" and the wonders and joy of Rush Limbaugh. Give me a break already.
It''s only $275,000,000 per DAY.
Get over it - get a second job to pay the interest on that money and make up for the runaway inflation borrowing it causes.
Get with the program.
Four More Years
Posted by RingADing3
Win what?
In order to succeed at anything, you have to have some well-defined goal. Otherwhise, how will you ever know that you have succeeded? Bush has no end-game for Iraq because every reason he ever gave for entering Iraq was a LIE. As each lie was exposed, another lie was created to replace it. That process has NO END.
Vote for McCain, and you guarantee this stu.pid game of death will continue forever.
BTW: don''t you think Bush looks like an angry hawk (literally) in the picture above?
Oh, and btw, it turns out THAT''S THE SAME GOD that the Muslims worship, too! All the stupid bickering has been about which prophet or messenger or offspring of God to believe in. It''s the same, bloodthirsty SOB that you ALL worship!
PS did your SPAM bet you banned? Is that why you now have a different name, terrorislama (terrorislam0, terririslam8, etc.)? Or, are you just so dammmed stu.pid that you can''t remember your password from one day to the next?
Bu$h: blahblahblah
How cheep where is the BBQ ribs and pulled pork
Because Bushit''s plan is the permanent occupation of Iraq''s oilfields and, coincidentally, Iraq.
If McBushit wins, plan on it to continue throughout his adminstration--"100 years!"
(Who"s going to pay for it, John ?)
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/fdeb03a7-30b0-4ece-8e34-4c7ea83f11d8.htm
It"s many times more expensive.
Only BIG WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT action can solve the problems in Iraqi Society.
More like no more lies about bringing the troops home.
Liar-in-Chief - Butcher of Crawford.
Heckuva job, Bushit!
McCain, LBJ and the Great Society.
"It is now our turn to demonstrate that our power, ennobled by our principles, is the greatest force for good on earth today. Iraq''s transformation into a secure democracy and a force for freedom in the greater Middle East is the calling of our age. We can succeed." -Senator John McCain
"Will you join in the battle to build the Great Society, to prove that our material progress is only the foundation on which we will build a richer life of mind and spirit? There are those timid souls who say this battle cannot be won; that we are condemned to a soulless wealth. I do not agree. We have the power to shape the civilization that we want. But we need your will, your labor, your hearts, if we are to build that kind of society. Those who came to this land sought to build more than just a new country. They sought a new world. So I have come here today to your campus to say that you can make their vision our reality. So let us from this moment begin our work so that in the future men will look back and say: It was then, after a long and weary way, that man turned the exploits of his genius to the full enrichment of his life." - Lyndon B. Johnson, May 22, 1964
President Bush''s attitude and stubbornness in regards to Iraq is why Sen. Obama is doing so well. Even though Iraq is not the top story in the news cycle of late, Americans want their Tax Revenue spent on the U.S., not on Iraq! In the context of the Iraq War if Americans want the War to continue they can Vote for a Bush third term and elect Sen. McCain, if Americans want the Iraq War to end and Americans to come home they can elect Sen. Obama, its really as simple as that. Sen. Clinton won''t end the Iraq War as quickly as Sen. Obama will and Sen. Clinton is subject to changing her mind if pressured.
*One of the Keating Five. In fact received the most campaign loot from Keating in return for keeping federal regulators off his back.
*A social liberal - author of such bills as the McCain - Bingaman Immigrant Health Care Bill which would have allowed American taxpayers to pay for all health care, not just emergency care, for illegal immigrants.
*Advocate of George Bush''s most disastrous and unpopular policy: Eternal War - Borrow & Spend
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Would one of you Republicans please explain to me why John McCain is a shoo-in for your party''s prsidential nomination.
It is truly a sad state of affairs that Bush can count on Americans being ignorant enough to fall for this kind of rubbish. In the United States of America, the military is subservient to the civilian leadership. Bush is the Commander in Chief. He decides whether and when to pull troops out or keep them in Iraq, NOT the military. Notice how the supposed ''liberal media'' do not even bother to point out this elementary fact. They just parrot the administration line like the nice lap poodles they are.
What a poor excuse for a president, hiding behind his generals like this. Clinton may have left a little stain on a blue dress, but what a permanent stain Bush has left on the US Constitution and the reputation of the United States of America.
Would one of you Republicans please explain to me why John McCain is a shoo-in for your party''''s prsidential nomination.
Posted by glossypan at 06:55 PM : Mar 01, 2008
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I''m an Independent but I''ll field this one ... in order for McCain to lose the nomination he would have to lose every state left to vote AND have all of Romney''s delegates move to Huckabee and then it would still be close (not sure about numbers to last decimal). So if McCain takes the win this Tues he''ll have it locked down.
Yes,the United Arab Emirates whose headquarters is in
Dubai,announced this earlier today. King Al Seaweed da Walleyed said the area formerly known as the United States of America will be formally annexed in January of 2009.
"We welcome the serfs of King W. Shrub" King Al said.We understand that many of people are braindead, but we think we can continue to use them just the same. " The people who belonged to ReCon party will be
put to work shoveling sand in the desert." There`s not much else we can do with them,since their brains are mushy."
The people who belonged to democratic party will be imprisoned,according to press secretary Condomless Rice.The resources that have not been ravaged yet will be government property.
King Al added " King W. Shrub did an outstanding job convincing his people . The years of lies and deception have paid great dividends for our country "( the UAE ).Insiders say they look to add more states in the future.
Yes,the United Arab Emirates whose headquarters is in
Dubai,announced this earlier today. King Al Seaweed da Walleyed said the area formerly known as the United States of America will be formally annexed in January of 2009.
"We welcome the serfs of King W. Shrub" King Al said.We understand that many of people are braindead, but we think we can continue to use them just the same. " The people who belonged to ReCon party will be
put to work shoveling sand in the desert." There`s not much else we can do with them,since their brains are mushy."
The people who belonged to democratic party will be imprisoned,according to press secretary Condomless Rice.The resources that have not been ravaged yet will be government property.
King Al added " King W. Shrub did an outstanding job convincing his people . The years of lies and deception have paid great dividends for our country "( the UAE ).Insiders say they look to add more states in the future.
Want unlimited perpetual war and $10 a gallon gasoline? Vote Hillary or McCain.
Want peace and prosperity? Vote for Obama.
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Sorry but there is another just as credible candidate that would repair our tattered image and economy....Ron Paul. He would be the most independent from outside interests. He''s made a career out of it.
But I agree with you on Hillary and McCain.
What would Bushit know about success? Mr. Mission accomplished. I guess if you put his idea of success into prospective it would sound something like this. He succeeded to convince the public that 9/11 was solely a terrorist act. He succeeded to convince the people Sadam had weapons of mass destruction. He succeeded to convince people that he is still looking for Bin Ladin. He succeeded to convince people that Iraq was a safe haven for Alqida. He succeeded to convince people that it%u2019s okay to lose freedoms and rights to him in exchange for safety from terrorism. He succeeded to convince people that torture is okay for the U.S. but not others. He succeeded to convince people that the firings of the State attorney generals were not politically motivated. He succeeded to convince people that no one needs to find the real leak exposing CIA agent Valerie Plame. He succeeded to convince people that contempt of congress is okay if he says you can brake the law. He has just too many successes to list all of them.
But hey, that''s war.
Then there''s the cost of the war, $2.4 billion a week.
But hey, that''s war.
If you want more of the same, vote for Hillary or McCain, if you are looking for solutions, vote for Obama.
I am.
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I''d rather die on my feet than to live on my knees.
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