AP Rumsfeld: Iraq must take over security

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061020/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/rumsfeld_1;_ylt=AsmyM5wEtJkrxZjzk2_pFGQGw_IE


Rumsfeld: Iraq must take over security

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 10 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Iraqi government is going to have to take over its country's security "sooner rather than later," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday, as the violence there continued to escalate.

Rumsfeld said U.S. officials, including Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, are working with the Iraqi government to develop projections as to when they think they can pass off various pieces of responsibility. He provided no detail.

"The biggest mistake would be to not pass things over to the Iraqis, create a dependency on their part, instead of developing strength and capacity and competence," said Rumsfeld. "It's their country, they're going to have to govern it, they're going to have to provide security for it, and they're going to have to do it sooner rather than later. And that means they've got to take pieces of it as we go along."
.......

But Friday's remarks came less than three weeks before elections in which Democrats are threatening to recapture control of Congress. A leading issue in the campaign is the war, which is widely unpopular with voters. U.S. deaths have surpassed 2,780, and
President Bush is under growing pressure from lawmakers of both parties to alter his policies.
........

[rodeodance]

1. and: Bush: US troops to remain in Iraq until 'terrorists' defeated

Fri Oct-20-06 08:10 AM
Original message
AFP: Bush: US troops to remain in Iraq until 'terrorists' defeated

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061020/pl_afp/usiraqunres... ;_ylt=Ah4FPXZ4kwbo2LGuX1PRFUzMWM0F;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

Bush: US troops to remain in Iraq until 'terrorists' defeated

by Laurent Lozano Fri Oct 20, 3:38 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) -President George W. Bush insisted that US troops would not pull out of Iraq before "the terrorists are defeated," a day after acknowledging a possible parallel between violence there and the Tet Offensive during the US war in Vietnam.

The comments, coming less than three weeks before crucial elections, follow his acknowledgement on Wednesday that the current steep spike in violence in Iraq "could be" compared to the Tet Offensive, widely considered to be key to souring US public opinion on the Vietnam War.

"Our goal in Iraq is clear and unchanging. Our goal is victory," said Bush, speaking at a rally Thursday for embattled Republican congressman Don Sherwood in the town of La Plume, Pennsylvania.

"We are a nation at war, and we must do everything in our power to win that war," he said.

"We will not pull out our troops from Iraq before the terrorists are defeated. We will not pull out before Iraq can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself," he said.

[Massachusetts]

2. Hey Rummy

You friggin Jack Ass, how can they if they don't have a functioning government?

Bu$hco - First in failures corporate, diplomatic, and governmental.

[rodeodance]

3. seems that the WH is flying by the seats of their pants at the moment!

[Tin Man]

4. What happened to "we'll stand down as they stand up" ????

[Kagemusha]

5. First Tet, now Iraqization

The comparisons just keep on coming.

And this is by Rumsfeld himself, geez.

[Nordmadr]

6. ...but...but...isn't that cutting and running?

:sarcasm:

[nickyt]

7. My immediate response: what Iraq? There is no Iraq. n/t

[Tempest]

8. In a way, they are

Al Sadr's militia took over a town and by accounts things are more peaceful there now.

[Dhalgren]

11. Right. We should start just giving cities to Sadr and as he brings

peace, we can move out. US out of Iraq, NOW!

[BootinUp]

9. This is very similar to what they did in '04

Started blaming it on the Iraqis.

[kurth]

10. Iraq was 100% secure under Saddam

It is now 100% insecure under Bush.

[Xipe Totec]

12. Where's the shock and awe, chump?

Time for the shuck and jive?

[warrens]

13. With what, Donny?

Poorly equipped, untrained, militia-riddled, no-morale dupes making $20 a month?

Get the money back from Halliburton that you and Cheney let them steal, then maybe in a couple of years you MIGHT have a small combat force. Until then, you have the unemployed pretending to train so they can get a paycheck. Except, of course, for the infiltrators from the insurgency. Who probably make up about 20 percent of the force.

Get outta here, you nut.

[NOLADEM]

14. .....cuz we done fucked it alllllll up and cain't fix it

Did we lie to invade? Sure.

Are we war criminals? Possibly.

Should I be hung? Of course.

Do I avoid questions by posing my own? Absolutely.

[Rose Siding]

15. Freedom's "messy", SecDef

It's almost like you shouldn't have disbanded ALL of their social structures in the FIRST place.