BAGHDAD, July 8, 2008
Iraq: No Withdrawal Timetable, No Deal
Dates For U.S. Forces To Leave Necessary Before Security Accord Can Be Inked, Official Says
-
-
Photo
Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level in four years. The change has been driven by the 2007 buildup of American forces, the Sunni tribal revolt against al Qaeda in Iraq and crackdowns against Shiite militias and Sunni extremists. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
-
Photo
Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen gestures during a news conference at the Pentagon, Friday, April 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
-
-
Photo Essay
Week In Iraq Photos
A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
-
Interactive
Iraq: 5 Years At War
Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.
The comments by Mouwaffak al-Rubaie were the strongest yet by an Iraqi official about the deal now under negotiation with U.S. officials. It 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.
U.S. President George W. Bush has said he opposes a timetable. The White House said Monday it did not believe al-Maliki was proposing a rigid timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals.
U.S. officials had no immediate comment Tuesday on al-Rubaie's words.
Al-Rubaie spoke to reporters after briefing Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf on the progress of the government's security efforts, and the talks.
"Our stance in the negotiations underway with the American side will be strong ... We will not accept any memorandum of understanding that doesn't have specific dates to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq," al-Rubaie sid.
Some type of agreement between the United States and Iraq is needed to keep U.S. troops in Iraq after a U.N. mandate expires at year's end.
U.S. officials have said little publicly about the negotiations. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not comment directly on the specifics when asked about it on a trip to Baghdad.
"We'd all like to see U.S. troops get out of here at some point in time," Mullen said. "However, from a military perspective I need the laws and the regulations and the agreements from the government of Iraq in order to continue operations beyond the 31st of December of this year."
On Monday, Mullen sounded more optimistic, saying, "From all I see, the security conditions are holding, the level of violence is down; we're down to a level that we haven't seen in over four years."
Iraq's government has felt increasingly confident in recent weeks about its authority and the country's improved stability, and Iraqi officials have sharpened their public stance in the negotiations considerably in just the last few days.
Violence in Iraq has fallen to its lowest level in four years. The change has been driven by the 2007 buildup of American forces, the Sunni tribal revolt against al Qaeda in Iraq and crackdowns against Shiite militias and Sunni extremists.
In other developments:
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Video and Galleries from Iraq After Saddam
-
Photos
Iraq Photos: July 6?July 12
-
Photos
Iraq Photos: June 29-July 5
-
Photos
Iraq Photos: June 22 ? June 28
- Latest in Iraq After Saddam
- Bombs Claim 50 in Iraq
- Biden Meets with Key U.S. Leaders in Iraq
- Senate Investigates Blackwater Subsidiary
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
...
- 24
- next
See all 1190 CommentsLIKE YESTERDAY!
THEN WAR CRIMES TRIALS FOR THOSE WHO GOT AMERICA INTO THAT MESS!
Did Shrub listen? No.
Will McSame listen? No.
Will Obama listen....we already know the answer to that.
"The contentious issues have been U.S. authority to carry out military operations in Iraq and arrest the country''s citizens, along with legal immunity for private contractors and control of Iraqi air space. "
Their objectives now is to do as much damage as possible so they can blame someone else the democrats.
This is getting old with the GOP = greed over principle party.
The Iraqis are perfectly capable of taking care of their own country. They just need us to leave to prove it.
"As soon as the oil runs out."
Posted by dragonwagon5
You''re an idiot. You still think we''re getting oil from Iraq. Such a tired argument.
Posted by navyjimfl
I''m not for the war but can understand why it is taking us so long to get out of there. Why is it you idiots think it''s as easy as just leaving? If not done correctly, i.e. Iraq cannot protect itself, we will just have to go back and fix it again.
WMD: Hear about the 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium found in Iraq? No? Why should you? It doesn''t fit the media''s neat story line that Saddam Hussein''s Iraq posed no nuclear threat when we invaded in 2003.
Read More: Iraq | Global War On Terror
It''s a little known fact that, after invading Iraq in 2003, the U.S. found massive amounts of uranium yellowcake, the stuff that can be refined into nuclear weapons or nuclear fuel, at a facility in Tuwaitha outside of Baghdad.
After all, much of the early opposition to the war in Iraq involved claims that President Bush "lied" about weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam posed little if any nuclear threat to the U.S.
This proves Saddam in 2003 had a program on hold for building WMD and that he planned to boot it up again soon.
Posted by jamesm12341
Pointless insults...all you can expect from someone with no argument.
The Times of India August 2007 reported :
" Iran, Iraq signed an agreement to build pipelines for the transfer of Iraqi crude oil and oil products." Under the deal crude will be refined and sent back to Iraq. Bush opposed this agreement and wanted the Iraqi Parliment to accept and sign a U.S. designed oil law that would result in huge profits for BIG OIL.
Iraqi oil workers and 63% of Iraqis polled are opposed to the Bush law and prefer a hands off Iraq oil policy."
WMD: Hear about the 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium found in Iraq? No? Why should you? It doesn''t fit the media''s neat story line that Saddam Hussein''s Iraq posed no nuclear threat when we invaded in 2003.
It''s a little known fact that, after invading Iraq in 2003, the U.S. found massive amounts of uranium yellowcake, the stuff that can be refined into nuclear weapons or nuclear fuel, at a facility in Tuwaitha outside of Baghdad. After all, much of the early opposition to the war in Iraq involved claims that President Bush "lied" about weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam posed little if any nuclear threat to the U.S.
This proves Saddam in 2003 had a program on hold for building WMD and that he planned to boot it up again soon.
Posted by Barocalto at 08:46 AM : Jul 08, 2008
----------------------------------------------
Yeah, a "fact" that''s in Barocalto''s mind :-)
by Greg Palast
The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq''s oil before the 9/11 attacks sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil, BBC''s Newsnight has revealed.
Two years ago today - when President George Bush announced US, British and Allied forces would begin to bomb Baghdad - protestors claimed the US had a secret plan for Iraq''s oil once Saddam had been conquered.
In fact there were two conflicting plans, setting off a hidden policy war between neo-conservatives at the Pentagon, on one side, versus a combination of "Big Oil" executives and US State Department "pragmatists."
"Big Oil" appears to have won. The latest plan, obtained by Newsnight from the US State Department was, we learned, drafted with the help of American oil industry consultants.
Ref: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0317-23.htm
WMD: Hear about the 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium found in Iraq? No? Why should you? It doesn''t fit the media''s neat story line that Saddam Hussein''s Iraq posed no nuclear threat when we invaded in 2003.
It''s a little known fact that, after invading Iraq in 2003, the U.S. found massive amounts of uranium yellowcake, the stuff that can be refined into nuclear weapons or nuclear fuel, at a facility in Tuwaitha outside of Baghdad. After all, much of the early opposition to the war in Iraq involved claims that President Bush "lied" about weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam posed little if any nuclear threat to the U.S.
This proves Saddam in 2003 had a program on hold for building WMD and that he planned to boot it up again soon.
Posted by Barocalto at 08:55 AM : Jul 08, 2008
Wrong grade of uranium. That yellow cake was there for decades and intended for use for electric power production. You also need Plutonium and none was ever found. As far as the trailer loads of Aluminum tubes. The Aluminum pipe was actually high tensile strength aluminum pipe used in the oil & gas industry.
It was never part of the plan.
Now, y''all are PO''d ''cause their making "DEMANDS" as a sovreign state.
Honor and Obey us or die!!!
Troops, tanks, etc are too expensive.
It''s much better just to kill all the people and just take over the territory.
One comment on your post: There were no secret plans to invade Iraq.
In the public record:
On January 26, 1998 in a letter to the President the PNAC asked Clinton to invade Iraq and get rid of Saddam Hussein. He refused their request.
Clark stated he viewed a defense department memo ( before the Iraq invasion ) that described how the U.S. was going to take out seven countries in five years....
"starting with Iraq,then Syria and Lebanon, then Libya,then Somalia and Sudan, and back to Iran."
Posted by psy_war
---------------------
This would be nice - but for the likes of Halliburton - they moved their headquarters to Dubai - there is no extradition treaty with the United States. So, plan on Cheney moving to Dubai.
Bush evidently purchased a bunch of land in Paraguay in South America for a new ranch.
My belief is that no sitting president of any party will allow another ex. president to be put in jail - that would mark a precedence for future presidents that would just not be allowed. As like Nixon.
I''d really be surprised if either party would have the ballss big enough to put anyone from this Administration in jail. With all the illegal wire tapping that has been going on these last 8 years - B&C have things on everyone I''d bet.
Even if you win, you''re still retarded :-)
yeah, so do I...
Posted by maramara2
--------------
It is also called Republicanism/Big Oil/Current President & Vice President!
"This proves Saddam in 2003 had a program on hold for building WMD and that he planned to boot it up again soon."
Dream on, moron.
The Yellow Cake Uranium had been in Iraq since the very early 1980''s, and was originally part of Iraqs nuclear facilities that were bombed by the Israelis in 1981.
Since then, the Yellow Cake Uranium had been stored in barrels that were getting rustier by the day, and had been documented by UN Weapons Inspectors before/after the first Gulf War.
That''s right - it''s been in Iraq for decades and we''ve known about it for decades.
In other words, it''s NOT a new discovery.
And for all those right wing nut jobs out there, Yellow Cake Uranium is not even close to being Weapons Grade - it takes an awful amount of refinement before it gets to that point - technology that Saddam did not have.
You pathetic GW Bush supporters should get a clue.
"at least you are not in denial like most of the libs on here....first step for you!!"
You''d know all about living in denial.
...Pull out!?!...That does''t sound very manly, why don''t we leave it in there and get the job done!?!
Posted by dragonwagon5
.. .. ..
Yes, the conspiracy theories do seem that way...
We ought to apolize to the world and Iraq, get the hell out, and support their reconstruction.
"Iraqi People Want Timetable For U.S. Withdrawal"
"American People Want Timetable For U.S. Withdrawal"
"Bush and McCain Regime''s Want To Remain There Forever"
Posted by zoe2006
.. .. .. ..
The reality is the UN resolution was used as a justification.
Posted by hungry1968
,, .. ..
Only if it''s good for the USA
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
...
- 24
- next
See all 1190 Comments