'Not long' before US troops can withdraw: Iraqi PM

[BurtWorm]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060827/pl_afp/usiraqmaliki_060827194309&printer=1

Sun Aug 27, 3:43 PM ET

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki predicted it "will not be long" before US troops can start withdrawing from his country but would not commit to a timetable.

Maliki said in an interview with CNN that Iraqi security forces were growing stronger alongside the 138,000 US troops still in Iraq nearly three and a half years after the invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.

"The more our security agencies have developed, the less the period will be for the (American) forces to remain," Maliki said through an interpreter.

"And I think this period will not be long because we have begun to have security responsibility in the provinces," he said, according to the translation provided by CNN.

But Maliki would not be drawn into a discussion of exactly when the Americans could think about leaving the country, beset with escalating sectarian violence as well as a stubborn insurgency.

"I don't want to commit to a certain time or a certain period, but I want to make my best efforts to decrease this time," he said. "It could be a year or less, or a few months.

[Avalux]

1. Suuuure........

I had just read this before your post:


http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=2...

Two Iraqi units have refused deployment

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Members of two Iraqi military units have refused orders to deploy to heavily contested areas, a top U.S. military general said.

But the apparent mutinies have been limited to just two units, according to Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard, commander of the Iraq Assistance Group, the force of 3,000 coaltion military and police trainers fanned out across Iraq.

The most recent was last week, when about 100 soldiers in the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade of the 10th Iraqi Army based in Maysan province, refused orders to deploy to Baghdad as part of Operation Together Forward.

Earlier, an unspecified number of Iraqi soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Iraqi Army Division refused to deploy from northern Iraq to Ramadi with the American 1st Brigade of the 1st Armored Division.

:silly:

[rrasile]

2. withdrawing US troops

I believe him. Hell all he needs to do is hire those dumpster divers that we all watched on the news tearing apart that British base. When I watched they were up to nothing left but the structural steel beams. I didn't expect that they had torches to cut the steel down to a size they could carry away. If they did then they would have cleared the space.
My question is simple enough, are these the same guys that came behind our invading troops and cleaned out those warehouses that were loaded with ammunition. The next question is why these people don't have a real job.
Are these people worth us fighting for. When in the hell are we going to get real and face the fact that the people that Iraq needs to help build their country are nothing more then tea drinking pool hall loungers. If they had prostitutes in their country these guys would be pimps for sure.
I want to see the country partitioned off just so we have a big area to bomb and get a big enough kill so the world knows what we don't stand for.
When Bush and Rummy make a real statement maybe things will come to a head.

[Nickster]

6. Did you have some kind of question buried in all that muddled garbage

that you're spewing? Guess what happens when tons of people are unemployed? Heaven forbid that we gave some of the rebuilding work to Iraqis, maybe if we did, they wouldn't have to ransack a military base to make a few bucks off of the scraps. Heck, lets just kill them all and be done with it right? Sheesh.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. You should cut down on your Testeronios.

It sounds like the Army would love to have you around to get "a big enough kill".

[TheFriedPiper]

3. 'Not Long' before US elections

[Jacobin]

4. Yup

Big announcement right before elections and maybe a few come home and then more will go right back after the elections.

You can book that one.

[Ohio Joe]

5. It would be very nice

My friend Becky has been there since January and I'd really like her to come home both safe and soon.