Michigan congressman (Hoekstra) says Iraq goal no longer should be democracy

[sabra]

Source: AP

LANSING, Mich. - The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee said today that the president needs to move away from trying to establish democracy in Iraq and concentrate instead on security and stability.

But a White House spokesman told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where the president is vacationing, that Iraq already has a democratic government in place.

Michigan Representative Pete Hoekstra of Holland says Bush must change his focus in Iraq, and that establishing a democracy in three to five years was "too big a reach."

He says the president needs to be willing to take democracy off the table and aim for safety and stability in Iraq.

Read more: http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=79856

[sinkingfeeling]

1. But,. but Dubya told us 'freedom is on the march' and that it's 'Merika's job

to spread democracy'! And besides, that's why we invaded Iraq in the first place (or second place, or third, or fourth).

[htuttle]

2. If we could only find a secular 'strongman' who could act as a bulwark against Iranian power!

Hmmm...sounds vaguely familiar, actually...


http://imgred.com/

[LiberalFighter]

8. Here's a suggestion.... since Bush loves being a dictator

[PassingFair]

10. I would laugh....

if it weren't so *ucking sad.....!

:cry:

[TwilightGardener]

3. I think the Iraqis have already decided this for us, genius man.

[sabra]

4. and he was the Chairman of House Intelligence Committee

:crazy:

[rodeodance]

5. White House Moving The Goal Posts On Escalation, Drops Demands For Iraqi Political Reconciliation

Forum Name General Discussion
Topic subject White House Moving The Goal Posts On Escalation, Drops Demands For Iraqi Political Reconciliation
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1656309#1656309
1656309, White House Moving The Goal Posts On Escalation, Drops Demands For Iraqi Political Reconciliation
Posted by CatWoman on Fri Aug-24-07 02:06 PM

When President Bush announced the escalation on January 10, 2007, he claimed the purpose of adding more troops into Iraq’s civil war was to enable political reconciliation:

When this happens, daily life will improve, Iraqis will gain confidence in their leaders, and the government will have the breathing space it needs to make progress in other critical areas. Most of Iraq’s Sunni and Shia want to live together in peace — and reducing the violence in Baghdad will help make reconciliation possible.

More than seven months later, the Bush’s predictions have flopped. Political reconciliation has not occurred, and its prospects look bleak. As a result, the White House is now in the process of moving the goal posts, dropping its prior demands that Iraqi leaders meet certain political benchmarks in order to sustain the escalation.

In a press briefing today, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe disingenuously claimed that the purpose of the surge was simply “to help bring security to Iraq”:

QUESTION: Is it still administration policy that the U.S. commitment in Iraq is not open-ended?

JOHNDROE: I think the president has made it clear that he would eventually like to see the United States in a different configuration in Iraq. There’s no doubt about that. The surge was designed, as we have said repeatedly, to help bring security to Iraq.

That’s not what the White House was saying back in January. Tony Snow, discussing the purpose of the escalation, said it was to achieve the “important business of political reconciliation“:

Surge is not a term I’ve ever used. But the point is you’re trying to add strength to the forces in Iraq so that they’re going to be successful in taking out sectarian violence and also al Qaeda violence, so that you have the conditions under which people can pursue the important business of political reconciliation and economic development.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/24/bush-surge-goal-posts/

[angstlessk]

6. Security and stability...THE ONLY THING troops can achieve...

WHAT A FUKED UP EVER CHANGING COURSE WE HAVE! :grr:

[Demeter]

7. Hoekstra--Our Own Home-Grown Fascist

Please ignore this man--we don't want you to encourage him in any way.

[amandabeech]

9. He's my Mom's congress critter as well.

He just as disgusting as that asshole Guy Vanderjact that he replaced.

I think that in 2010, the legislature should redo that district and free the Democratic northern parts like Muskegon from the tyranny of Uber-Republican Ottawa County.

[lancer78]

11. Actually...

he has a good point. I hate to say it, but I think Iraq will only have a democracy the day the Iraqi people love their children more then they hate each other.

[clixtox]

12. They certainly do have a democracy now in Iraq...

Which is a significant part of the reason that it is SNAFU. The majority are in control and the others are way beyond pissed off.

Even we do not truly have a "democracy" (believe it or not!) we fortunately have(had) a Constitutional Republic which, in theory, is supposed to protect all minorities from the potential tyranny of the majority. Of course that supposes that the citizens care enough to keep their elected representatives actually representing those who elected them and not deep-pocket special interests, subverting our reps, and screwing us.

[ohio2007]

13. Arabs flood safest city in Iraq ( Sunni 's going north )

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AFP) - Rich and poor, educated and illiterate, Arabs are fleeing the killing fields of Iraq to settle among and take charity from Kurds so brutally repressed by the former regime.

snip

Thaer Mahjoub Aziz, a father of nine and former farmer who sends his children to beg for food, slammed Iraq's Shiite-dominated government for ignoring Iraqis displaced within the country while refugees abroad got all the headlines.

"They're always speaking about reconciliation. But what reconciliation? They did nothing, not even for us homeless people. They only care about themselves.

snip

Children patter around barefoot in torn clothes. One girl plays hopscotch in the muck. One mother is pregnant, destined to give birth -- like other women in the camp -- alone without help.


We have no clothes for our children. Sometimes we cook rice. Anything that's available. We have no vegetables. We have nothing. We're in desperate need of help," says Um Duaa, her face blackened by the sun.

"In the last year and a half, 3,672 families -- about 18,500 people -- have come to Sulaimaniyah. Plus we have 12,000 unmarried Iraqis here looking for work," says the Kurdish city's chief statistician Mahmud Othman.

He says 70 percent of all newcomers are Sunni Arabs, fleeing death threats, sectarian killings and chronic insecurity in the new Iraq, four years after the American invasion ended what they look back on with nostalgia as better days.

snip




http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/070824161829.gbbqzdrg.html


They did rule under Saddam,now they run to seek shelter from those Saddam opressed. They have to learn to live together now to weed out the refuse among the refugee's . jmo