Iraqis warn of civil war if U.S. troops withdraw

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Iraqis warn of civil war if U.S. troops withdraw
Mon Jul 9, 2007 9:16AM EDT

By Waleed Ibrahim and Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders warned on Monday that
an early U.S. troop withdrawal could tip Iraq into all-out
civil war after the New York Times said debate was growing
in the White House over a gradual scaling-down of forces.

The stark comments followed a wave of bombings and
shootings in Iraq at the weekend that killed 250 people.

"This could produce a civil war, partition of the country and
a regional war. We might see the country collapse," Foreign
Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, a Kurd, told a news conference
when asked about the New York Times report.

Citing administration officials and consultants, the Times
said these officials feared the last pillars of political
support among Senate Republicans for U.S. President
George W. Bush's Iraq strategy were "collapsing around
them".

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSYAT71336220070709

---

Related LBN thread: In White House, Debate Is Rising on Iraq Pullback (NYT)

Also: Defend yourselves, politicians urge Iraqis

[acmavm]

1. What have they got now? A slightly uncivil war?

[Xipe Totec]

5. Right now they have a Cybil War; a schizophrenic three-way tug-of-war nt

[bif]

12. It's called "Sectarian Violence". Sheesh, get your terms straight.

It's totally different than civil war.

[Kikosexy2]

13. A semi-civil ...

war? not full-scale...full-blown but semi-civil...Iraq is damned if we leave and damned if we don't...so let's just get the hell out...

[jaxx]

2. Looks like they had better step up their security

instead of making excuses that keep our troops there forever.

[Jacobin]

3. What they really mean:

Please stay here and keep us in the Green Zone, because when you leave, the Iraqis who we are supposed to be pretending to represent are going to execute us as traitors for collaborating with the U.S.

/translation off

[Javaman]

15. If I was them I would ask the army to pull down any light posts as they leave LOL nt

[bdamomma]

4. isn't that what is happening right now, a full blown civil war

200 civilians died in Iraq this past weekend. time to get out now, and we have reached 3,603.:cry:

[LynnTheDem]

6. Bullshit. These the same "Iraqi leaders" who UNANIMOUSLY VOTED

for US troops to LEAVE???

Or are these the "Iraqi leaders" Maliki, who no one in Iraq can stand but parrots everything bush tells him to?

The bush cabal bullshit chain strikes again.

[Raven]

7. May we should ask the Iraqis to set a deadline. It would be

interesting to know how long they think it will take to stabilize the country. And I wonder why the Iraqi leadership is not talking to their neighbors about getting help. You know, as I'm writing this I realizing how badly this stinks. We put the leadership in place and they have utterly failed. I don't think there is any way to avoid a bloodbath.

[sutz12]

8. In 2003: Americans warn of Iraqi Civil War if America invades...

The more things change, the more they sound the same.

:shrug:

[DemoTex]

9. This picture burns indelibly in the minds of the Iraqi "leaders":

Saigon, Viet Nam
April 29, 1975

[Massachusetts]

10. and the Chickenhawk Brigade led by dickless cheney and little george.

[ckramer]

11. But an all out civil war without foreign interference is what it needs

to build a future stable Iraq.


US just needs to get out of the way.

[dmosh42]

14. Wonder if Saddam has some relatives still in Iraq.......

He seemed to have the formula for stability. That was why Bush41 didn't want to remove him. What a waste!

[brooklynite]

16. Now I'm confused...

From the AFP report:

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari led the charge, warning US lawmakers that their calls for a timetable for the departure of the 155,000 American troops could lead to the collapse of the Iraqi state and to yet more bloodshed.

I thought we were making great strides in training the Iraqi Army...

and that thousands were turning out to sign up for the Police...

and our "surge" was to provide support as the Iraqi forces "took the lead" in bringin stability to Baghdad...

Has someone in our Government been misinformed?

[pschoeb]

17. Translation: US supported rulers fear end to power if US leaves

only three Iraqi's are quoted, all top members of the current government. Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, not really a good source, as without US troops he will definitely be out of office, as will most of the Iraqi "leaders". Others quoted is Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and Vice President(one of two) Tareq al-Hashemi, their various religions are quoted as if they somehow represent these groups, which they do not. Nuri al-Maliki is part of the United Iraqi Alliance, but his Dawa party is about 12% of this mostly Shi'ite coalition. Tareq al-Hashemi though a Sunni and a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, he was put into the Presidency Council to make it look more balanced by having a Sunni, but his party only accounts for a minority percentage of the Iraqi Accord Front, which itself isn't that representative of Sunnis. One of the main platforms of his own party is "Liberation from occupation and a timetable for the withdrawal of the Multinational force in Iraq".

Of course his quote is mangled by these "journalists" My guess is there is some really important stuff removed with that ...

"I would be very happy to see the last American soldier leave today ... We understand their worry about not seeing much political progress in Iraq. But the problem is: who will fill the security vacuum if these forces withdraw?"

What's worse is other papers using the Reuters story have quoted him in such a way as to take out the original ... put in by the original "journlaists", making it seem as if it was a straight quote.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

18. Iraqis?

Oh, Iraqi leaders.


Horseshit.