Iraq president hopes troops can stay (for 1, 2 more years)

[babylonsister]

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/05/12/iraq_president_hopes_troops_can_stay/

Iraq president hopes troops can stay
Says 1-2 years needed; 23 die at checkpoints



By Ravi Nessman, Associated Press | May 12, 2007

BAGHDAD -- Amid growing pressure from lawmakers in Baghdad and Washington to end foreign military involvement in the country, Iraq's president said yesterday that he believes US and British troops will need to stay in Iraq for one or two more years to help stem the bloodshed.

President Jalal Talabani told students at Britain's Cambridge University that all Iraq was safer because of Saddam Hussein's ouster and that many people were living normal lives.

"I think within one or two years, we will be able to recruit our forces and prepare our armed forces and tell goodbye to our friends," he said.

In continuing violence yesterday, twin suicide car bombers struck police checkpoints at bridges in a predominantly Shi'ite area of Baghdad, killing at least 23 people just hours after a series of US raids on car bomb networks around the capital killed four suspected insurgents.

Radical Shi'ite politicians have been lining up support in parliament for legislation demanding that the Iraqi government set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal and freeze the number of foreign forces already in the country.

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[Grandrose]

1. Unbelievable!!!

One or two more years of death and destruction and billions of dollars, I don't think so!!
I think the Iraqi government is punishing us for the invasion! :grr:

[tabasco]

2. The only thing protecting them from their own people is the US military.

The Iraqi puppets want to collect some more paychecks so they can live a cushy lifestyle when they haul ass out of Iraq.