Iraqi Factions Want U.S. Forces to Remain, Levin Says

[ECH1969]

WASHINGTON -- Carl Levin, a leading congressional Democrat, said today that the United States' continued military presence in Iraq should be linked to greater political unity among the country's deeply divided Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.

The Michigan senator, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a frequent visitor to Iraq, said that one of the few points all three main Iraqi ethnic and sectarian groups agree on is that each wants American forces to remain. The administration should use that reality as leverage to force political compromise, Levin said.

"The longer that the coalition bears the brunt of the counterinsurgency fight, the longer we'll bear the brunt of the counterinsurgency fight," Gen. George Casey, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, told a Senate hearing last month, adding: "This is about dependency."

Still, Maj. Gen. William Webster, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said today that it would take up to two years for the Iraqi army to conduct operations on its own.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-102105iraqdems_lat,0,6414799.story?coll=la-home-nation

[leftchick]

1. Is Levin aware who these "Iraqi Factions" are comprised of?

????

[tocqueville]

2. how can a totally corrupt US government bring anything good

to a country in shambles ?

[understandinglife]

3. BULLSHIT. Period.

Peace.

[FloridaPat]

4. Who are all those people with the "US go Home" signs?

[0007]

13. Definitely not Ahmed Chalabi

Rumsfeld & Chalabi

[cantstandbush]

5. Yeah, they want us there to keep from having to fight us over here.

And they want us to stay so that they can bleed us to certain economic chaos.

[yurbud]

6. LA TIMES: Sen. Levin(D) says Iraqis WANT us to stay

This guy is either lying or the elections over there were more rigged than I thought.

Gallup and the Coalition Provisional Authorities own polls last year said that over 80% of Iraqis wanted us to leave after the January 2005 elections AT THE LATEST. Mugtada al Sadr, the Shi'ite cleric was able to collect a million signatures asking us to leave in a fairly short time, and a third of the Iraqi legislators signed a letter asking us to leave.

I know this guy is a Democrat, but exactly who the fuck does he represent when the majority of Iraqis AND Americans want us to withdraw?

latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.intercept
THE WORLD
Democrat Outlines Strategy to Unite Iraq
By Tyler Marshall
Times Staff Writer

October 22, 2005

WASHINGTON — Carl Levin, a leading congressional Democrat, said Friday that the United States' continued military presence in Iraq should be contingent upon greater unity among that country's deeply divided Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political factions.

The Michigan senator, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a frequent visitor to Iraq, said that one of the few points on which the main Iraqi ethnic and sectarian political groups agree was that all want U.S. forces to remain in the country. The Bush administration should use that consensus to forge political compromise, Levin argued.

"I believe we should tell the Iraqis that if they fail to reach such a solution by the timeline they have set forth, we will consider a timetable for the reduction of U.S. forces," he told the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. "I use the word 'consider' because we must reserve the right to look at the facts as they exist at that time."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-congress22oct22,1,3960086.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

[amandabeech]

7. Translation:

"All the Iraqi guys that I talk to when I go over there want us to stay, frankly, because if we leave they're toast."

Thanks, Carl.

[TexasLawyer]

21. Exactly!

Meanwhile, the average Iraqi wants us OUT! The average American wants us out of Iraq too.

[IChing]

8. Well Carl Levin needs to read this latest poll from Iraq

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1870485

LONDON (Reuters) - Forty-five percent of Iraqis believe attacks on U.S. and British troops are justified, according to a secret poll said to have been commissioned by British defense leaders and cited by The Sunday Telegraph.

Less than 1 percent of those polled believed that the forces were responsible for any improvement in security, according to poll figures.

Eighty-two percent of those polled said they were "strongly opposed" to the presence of the troops.

The paper said the poll, conducted in August by an Iraqi university research team, was commissioned by the Ministry of Defense.

[Fozzledick]

9. Secret British poll shows 82% oppose foreign troops

45% support attacks on U.S. & British troops.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1870485

[yurbud]

20. faxed that to ALL senators (here's their numbers)

GOP:

202-224-3149, 202-224-3416, 202-228-1373, 202-224-2499, 202-224-6519, 202-228-1382, 202-224-5301, 202-224-2354, 202-224-2207, 202-228-2862, 202-228-2577, 202-228-0380, 202-224-6008, 202-224-2693, 202-224-1946, 202-228-3997, 202-228-0604, 202-228-1229, 202-228-2853, 202-228-5143, 202-224-3808, 202-224-1152, 202-228-1264, 202-228-3398, 202-228-2856, 202-224-0776, 202-224-9450, 202-224-2262, 202-224-8149, 202-228-1518, 202-224-8594, 202-224-5213, 202-224-2237, 202-228-2193, 202-228-1168, 202-224-6331, 202-224-4952, 202-228-4131, 202-224-5432, 202-224-6295, 202-224-0103, 202-228-2090, 202-228-1067, 202-228-1375, 202-228-0360, 202-228-2981, 202-224-1100, 202-224-6020, 202-228-1265, 202-224-3514, 202-224-6471, 202-224-9750, 202-228-3261, 202-228-5429, 202-228-0359, 202-224-1724

Dems

202-228-1371, 202-228-0908, 415-956-6701, 202-228-3954, 202-224-1933, 202-224-1083, 202-224-9750, 202-224-0139, 202-228-2190, 202-228-2183, 202-224-2126, 202-224-6747, 202-228-0440, 202-228-5417, 202-228-1377, 202-224-9369, 202-224-9735, 202-224-8858, 202-224-1651, 202-224-2417, 202-224-8525, 202-224-1388, 202-228-0325, 202-228-2186, 202-224-4700, 202-228-0012, 202-224-7327, 202-228-2197, 202-228-4054, 202-224-2852, 202-228-3027, 202-228-0282, 202-224-7776, 202-224-1193, 202-228-2717, 202-224-4680, 202-228-5765, 202-228-0776, 202-224-3479, 202-228-0514, 202-224-0238, 202-228-0002, 202-224-7665

[leftchick]

10. OPEN your fucking eyes carl!!

Poll shows Iraqis back attacks on UK, US forces


LONDON (Reuters) - Forty-five percent of Iraqis believe attacks on U.S. and British troops are justified, according to a secret poll said to have been commissioned by British defense leaders and cited by The Sunday Telegraph.

Less than 1 percent of those polled believed that the forces were responsible for any improvement in security, according to poll figures.

Eighty-two percent of those polled said they were "strongly opposed" to the presence of the troops.

The paper said the poll, conducted in August by an Iraqi university research team, was commissioned by the Ministry of Defense.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051022/ts_nm/iraq_britain_dc

[yurbud]

11. Please email, mail, or fax Senator Asswipe for lying

[yurbud]

14. FAXED TO LEVIN (and his contact info)

October 23, 2005

Senator Carl Levin
United States Senate
Washington, DC

Sen. Levin,

In yesterday’s Los Angeles Times, you were quoted as saying:

one of the few points on which the main Iraqi ethnic and sectarian political groups agree was that all want U.S. forces to remain in the country.

If this is an inaccurate quote, ask the LA Times to correct it. If it is accurate, then one of two unfortunate things have occurred:

1. You are ill-informed. Polls of Iraqis have consistently shown around 80% strongly opposing the occupation, including the Bush appointed Coalition Provisional Authorities own poll in Spring 2004 and just yesterday, a British Ministry of Defense poll as reported in the Telegraph.
   
   If the elected leaders of Iraq really told you they all want us to remain, that raises serious questions about the fairness of their elections since they are ignoring the overwhelming will of their own people.
   
   
2. You are lying. I doubt that you could be in such a position of power and be gullible or lack a staff to research issues like this or to not notice how few areas you could safely visit when you traveled to Iraq.
   
   This calls into question the quality of OUR democracy when 60% of the American public oppose the war, and you not only support it, but publicly lie about it, not just about the views of Iraqis, but why we went to war in the first place.
   

When will you do your job, be honest with us and start working for the welfare of the American people instead of the oil companies and the cronies of the president?

Stop the happy talk bullshit about “success strategies,” and just tell us the truth about why we are in Iraq, and it will make it that much easier to get out and prevent the invasion of Iran.

Levin, Carl
269 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510
[phone]
[phone] FAX
Web Form: http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

[leftchick]

18. Whoa! That is Excellent!

:applause:

and thank you for the link. I am sendine emails to schuner and hil since they keep refusing to say they were WRONG to vote for this insanity!

[Zhade]

12. Hey Levin? Prove it.

Relying on what U.S. GENERALS say about the situation doesn't count.

[IndianaGreen]

15. Levin never left the Green Zone

Levin has joined the discredited number of politicians that visited Vietnam a generation ago and then came home to tell us how much the Vietnamese wanted us to stay there.

Same play, different cast!

[soda]

16. "Israeli Factions Want U.S. Forces to Remain, Levin Says"

how many senators are dual us/israeli citizens and which country is there allegence to?

[Darranar]

19. Zero, as far as I am aware.

Their allegiance is firmly to the US ruling class, since most of them are a part of it and the others know they will be rendered irrelevant if they do not bow and obey.

Washington's behavior towards, say, Saudi Arabia is hardly in Israel's interests, and when their favorite Middle Eastern client fails to sufficiently obesify itself, such as when it considered weapons deals with China, Washington beats it into proper submission.

[Darranar]

17. This is nonsensical propaganda.

What is actually meant is that our puppets there want us to remain, so that they can maintain power - thus indicating that the correct course of action is to force them to capitulate to our demands in trade for granting them illegitimate power.

[dchill]

22. Iraqi Factions Want ... Iraqi Factions Want ...

So? American people want them to come home - especially if they are related to them. Get a grip, Carl. You're a Democrat, right?

[VegasWolf]

23. Of course, they want more US children dead. nt

[cassiepriam]

24. What about what americans want? We are paying the bills.

And sending our kids to die. Seems we should have some say in the matter.

[Jose Diablo]

25. Maybe Levin is confused

Could it be the Israeli's are the ones that want us to stay in Iraq and Levin confused his constituents with the Iraqi people.

An honest mistake probably.

AIPAC contributions to Carl Levin-Total Career $564,858

Edit to add: Carl, as your buddy George said, "Your either with us or your against us". At least we know who's side you are on. Dual citizenship, I wonder what that means.

[callady]

26. HUGE Majority of Iraqis Want US-UK OUT NOW-82%

In Today's Guardian:


Huge majority of Iraqis want coalition to go

Ned Temko, chief political correspondent
Sunday October 23, 2005
The Observer


The government has been dealt an embarrassing double blow in its battle to convince the public it is beating insurgency in Iraq and the threat of terrorism at home, according to confidential reports leaked to today's newspapers.

One claimed nearly half of all Iraqis sympathised with violent attacks against British and US coalition troops; another said that at home, Tony Blair's high-profile strategy to counter the terrorist threat was proving disjointed and ineffective.

<snip>

The figures on Iraqis' views about attacks on coalition troops came from a nationwide opinion survey, commissioned by the Ministry of Defence and leaked to the Sunday Telegraph

According to the report, fewer than one in 100 respondents felt the presence of American, British and other allied troops was improving security in the country.

Forty-five per cent countrywide were said to believe that the attacks on the troops were justified - a figure that rose to 65 per cent in the Maysan, one of the provinces policed by the British. No fewer than 82 per cent, according to the report, declared themselves 'strongly opposed' to the presence of coalition troops.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1598908,00.html

[cantstandbush]

27. The "will of the people" doesn't count in democracy. Just ask us. n/t