MONTEBELLO, Quebec (AP) - President Bush offered a tepid endorsement of the Iraqi government on Tuesday, yet brushed off a Democratic senator’s call for the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Bush acknowledged his frustration with Iraqi leaders’ inability to bridge political divisions, but he said only the Iraqi people can decide whether to sideline the troubled prime minister.
“Clearly, the Iraqi government’s got to do more,” Bush said at the close of a two-day North American summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada.
The Sept. 15 deadline for Bush’s next progress report to Congress is fast approaching, leaving the president little time to show that his U.S. troop buildup is succeeding in providing the enhanced security the Iraqi leaders need to forge a unified way forward.
Well I’ll be damned, this is likely the hardest Bush has spoken out publicly concerning al-Malaki, that really surprises me for Bush to do this, he didn’t say that the Iraqis need to sack al-Malaki but he certainly didn’t say he would stop it from happening if they did…
Mr. Bush is quite correct though, the Iraqis have got to do more, and they need to do it soon, it’s their nation and they need to take the lead in defending it and running the terrorists out of it, as opposed to supplying them with arms, munitions and sanctuary…
In a speech Wednesday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City, Mo., Bush will argue that the troop buildup is helping bring former Sunni insurgents into the fight against al-Qaida and clearing terrorists out of heavily populated areas.
“Our troops are seeing this progress on the ground, and as they take the initiative from the enemy, they have a question: Will their elected leaders in Washington pull the rug out from under them just as they are gaining momentum and changing the dynamic on the ground in Iraq?” Bush says in his prepared remarks. The White House released excerpts of the speech Tuesday evening.
“Will their elected leaders in Washington pull the rug out from under them just as they are gaining momentum and changing the dynamic on the ground in Iraq?”, uh, OK, out of curiosity, I have to ask, just exactly what have our troops been doing for the last 4 years or so?? Were we actually LOSING in Iraq Mr. Bush, up until recently when you sent in a few thousand extra troops and called it a surge?? Because that’s what it looks like you’re saying…
Why haven’t our troops had the momentum Mr. Bush?? If they are just now gaining momentum, I’d sure like to know why they didn’t have momentum in the earlier stages of this operation in Iraq…
And changing the dynamic on the ground in Iraq?? Shouldn’t that have been the actual mission from the inception of this dust up?? Didn’t deposing Saddam and having the Iraqi people hold free elections and seat their own elected leaders change the dynamic on the ground in Iraq??
Oh, one other thing regarding this changing dynamic statement, wouldn’t it also have been a major change in dynamics when al-Qaida came to Iraq to fight American troops after Saddam was deposed?? Just sayin’…
I’m just a blogger and I don’t know too much about how any of this stuff actually works, but somehow I can’t help but notice that there’s just a faint hint of bullshit in the air…
Full Story Here:
Bush Says Iraqi Government Must Do More
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