| |
|
Saturday, June 17, 2006
|
|
According to the President and the Republican Congress, the Iraqis are afraid we might leave Iraq too soon.
Yet the Iraqi President and Vice President ask for timetable for US Withdrawal:
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq’s vice president has asked President Bush for a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq, the Iraqi president’s office said.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, made the request during his meeting with Bush on Tuesday, when the U.S. president made a surprise visit to Iraq.
“I supported him in this,” President Jalal Talabani said in a statement released Wednesday. Al-Hashimi’s representatives could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
The House passes resolution opposing any timetable for withdrawing US troops:
The House on Friday rejected a timetable for pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq after a ferociously partisan debate, forcing lawmakers in both parties to go on record on a major issue in re-election campaigns nationwide.
A day after the Senate took the same position against troop withdrawal, the GOP-led House voted 256-153 to approve a nonbinding resolution that says an “arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment” of American forces is not in the national interest.
President Bush claims the Iraqis are afraid we’ll set a timetable for withdrawal:
No question, there are concerns about whether or not the United States will stand with this [Iraq’s] government. And I can understand why. You know, ours is a society that encourages debate and people are free to express themselves. And they do so; they say, look, this is my view of how we ought to go forward, this is what I think. And the willingness of some to say that if we’re in power we’ll withdraw on a set timetable concerns people in Iraq, because they understand our coalition forces provide a sense of stability, so they can address old wrongs and develop their strategy and plan to move forward. They need our help and they recognize that. And so they are concerned about that.
Poll conducted by Iraq Republican Institute shows that Iraqis want us to leave, want us to set a timetable for leaving, but think we plan on staying permanently:
80 percent of Iraqis believe the American government plans to have permanent bases in Iraq.
23 percent of Iraqis believe the US government would withdraw troops, if the Iraqi government requested a withdrawal.
87 percent of Iraqis favor a timetable for US withdrawal, including 90% of Shia and 94% of Sunnis.
In reality, Iraqis are more worried about us staying in Iraq, rather than leaving. The American people, and those idiots in Congress ought to be more worried about us staying, than about us leaving, too.
At this point, the people who most fear US troops leaving Iraq is the Bush administration and the Republican party, because withdrawal would be tantamount to admitting the costly mistake of going there in the first place.
[Alex]
(Via Martini Republic.)
8:10:48 PM 
|
|
Michael Kinsley nails it:
The CIA is in the forefront of efforts to make sure that democracy, individual rights and stuff like that don't get in the way of our crusade for the spread of democracy, individual rights and stuff like that.
...
In a twist fully worthy of Kafka, or at least Joseph Heller ("Catch-22"), the very suspicion that bad things are going on is a reason you can't find out. As a
(Via No More Apples.)
8:09:07 PM
|
|
T. Rex's Guide to Life says "See, Republicans... this is how you deal with corruption: 'House Democrats met behind closed doors Thursday and voted to strip Rep. William Jefferson of his seat on the Ways and Means Committee.'"
Every now and then Pajamas Media publishes something that makes sense. They're right here, and the contrast in the ways Republicans handle their corrupt members and the way the Democrats do is clear.
(Via Pajamas Media.)
5:12:58 PM
|
|
Big news for Rog....
SYS-CON Media, the world's leading i-technology publisher and events producer, has named Roger Strukhoff as Group Publisher and Editorial Director, effective immediately. Strukhoff has served as SYS-CON's West Coast Bureau Chief and SYS-CON.TV Host for the past two years.
And good for SYS-CON, too.
4:20:44 PM
|
|
Karl Rove's role in the Plame scandal seemed to fade pretty quickly after it became apparent that he wouldn't get indicted, but to their credit, at least a couple of White House reporters are following up with some reasonable questions. From Tony Snow's most recent briefing:
Q: Let me ask a general question then. In 2000, the President said it wasn't enough to simply not be indicted in the White House, that he had a higher ethical standard. Is that, in fact, still the ethical standard –
Snow: Yes.
Q: — or, in fact, should we interpret from his comments yesterday that as long as you're not indicted, everything is fine?
Snow: Apparently, you've indicted Karl.
Q: No, I'm asking a question.
Snow: And yes, the answer is, the ethical standard still applies.
Q: And what is the ethical standard?
Snow: You tell me.
"You tell me"? Reporters should tell the White House about the president's ethical standards?
Shortly after this, Snow explained that Bush expects White House officials to "serve honorably." Asked directly by a reporter whether Rove has served honorably, Snow said, "Like I said, don't try to get me to bite on it because I'm not going to do it."
That's not much of an answer. Should we take it as a "no"?
(Via The Carpetbagger Report.)
4:14:11 PM
|
|
Ann Coulter Says Kill John Murtha
(Via Taylor Marsh.)
4:12:10 PM
|
|
Earth to NASA: Help!, editorial, Boston Globe "Someone should sit NASA's leaders down and have them read the part of the agency's mission statement that says NASA will work to "understand and protect our home planet." Budget cuts, commitments to the International Space Station, and President Bush's plan to send astronauts to the moon by 2020 have forced the cancellation or postponement of projects aimed at better understanding what is happening on Earth."
(Via NASA Watch.)
11:09:10 AM
|
|
Since the last couple days have been set aside for the GOP to stay "waist deep in big sandy" who authored and spoke this anti-war screed?
I shall be fully convinced of what I more than suspect already—that he is deeply conscious of being in the wrong; that he feels the blood of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to Heaven against him . . ., and trusting to escape scrutiny by fixing the public gaze upon the exceeding brightness of military glory, that attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood—that serpent's eye that charms to destroy, ... he now finds himself he knows not where....
As I have before said, he knows not where he is. He is a bewildered, confounded, and miserably perplexed man. God grant he may be able to show there is not something about his conscience more painful than all his mental perplexity.
The answer to who this America-hater is is here.
(Via Rising Hegemon.)
11:07:37 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2006 Steve Michel.
Last update: 7/1/2006; 9:39:22 AM.
|
|
|
