Car Bombs Hit Iraq, Bush Says U.S. to Stay

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=716&e=12&u=/nm/20031120/ts_nm/iraq_dc

KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber killed at least four people in an attack near the offices of a leading Kurdish party in northern Iraq on Thursday, hours after two others were killed in a car bombing west of Baghdad.

The attacks near the Kirkuk offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) -- whose leader is currently head of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council -- and a U.S.-backed local council appeared to target the American-led occupation.

In London, President Bush said the United States could increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq.

"We will finish the job we have begun," Bush said at a news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "We will match the security needs with the number of troops necessary to secure Iraq."

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[indepat]

1. Could someone please clarify what was the job we have

begun in Iraq? I've forgotten.

[gratuitous]

6. The job? Sure

We're there to liberate Iraq. Uh, Saddam is a bad, bad man. They're threatening us with weapons of mass destruction. Iraq is bad. Wait, no. Iraq isn't bad, it's terrorists that are bad. We're fightin' terrorism. And Al Qaeda. No, we're avenging 9/11. You wanna see a mushroom cloud over an American city? Why are you asking questions? Are you some kind of commie? Why don't you move to Iraq?

:crazy:

[mobuto]

2. US could increase the number of troops?

Lets hope, but I doubt it. Bush has already announced plans to reduce deployed forces dramatically, to coincide nicely with the 2004 election, revealing Mr. Bush's unfortunate M.O: expediency over security.

[David__77]

4. I would prefer a reduction in forces...

...to zero. Many disagree, but I think that sovereignty is best for Iraq.

[mobuto]

5. Sovereignty is best for Iraq

But if we abandoned Iraq at this point, the only outcome would be chaos and misery beyond the imagineable. The Occupation authority is doing a pretty poor job, but virtually everybody who's drawing a pay check in the country is nevertheless being paid by the authority. Without them, there would be famine, complete anarchy, no electrical power anywhere, no fresh water, etc. Abandoning Iraq would be a crime against humanity of enormous dimensions.

[Barrett808]

3. 71.5 percent of Iraqis questioned think the occupation necessary?

"In a new survey carried out by the Psychological Research Center of Baghdad University, 71.5 percent of Iraqis questioned thought the U.S. occupation was necessary at least for a while, compared to 42 percent in a survey by the center in June."

Umm, color me skeptical.