The United States and Iraq Security Pact

Over the past several weeks there have been news reports concerning a drafting of a security pact between the U.S. and Iraq.  Most reports were confusing at best and talked about american troop withdrawal; both full withdrawal and partial; training and support forces to stay; full sovereignty and a time line wanted by Iraq but not the U.S. and etc.

 

Lets try to cut through what is happening here.  Bush and Iraqi prime minister al Maliki are using our men and women in uniform for their own political purpose.  Al Maliki would like to see the U.S. continue to pour billions of dollars into his country.  Bush wants to continue this war beyond his presidency to tie the hands of the next president.  Both have made safety the corner stone for American withdrawal. 

 

Lets examine that because it is a chess game to keep america occupied in Iraq.  We are 5 1/2 years into this war and Bush and his military advisers still can't tell the people when Iraq can take over the security of their country and we are the one's training them.  If we don't know how long it takes, who does?  Al Maliki and his people certainly should know.

 

The other point, al Maliki is reported to want a date certain of when all U.S. troops will leave.  Bush does not want a time table.  If al Maliki was serious all he has to do is demand  the U.S. leave and we would have to do so.  Bush and al Maliki are both playing this con game on america.  It is way past time our troops come home from this senseless war and occupation over WMD that did not exist.

 

Get this: the N.Y. Times reported "graffiti can be seen on the walls in Shiite districts of Baghdad saying: 'Iraq for sale, see Maliki'".  It seems the Iraqi people also see what is going on.  What a shame.

Maliki lashes out at Clinton & Levin

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, lashed out today against the Democratic party here in the U.S., namely Senators Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin:

"There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. This is severe interference in our domestic affairs. Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton are from the Democratic Party and they must demonstrate democracy. I ask them to come to their senses and to talk in a respectful way about Iraq."

Wow, I'm not sure what to say about the Iraqi Prime Minister's remarks. One would have to suppose these remarks stem from the fact that Clinton and Levin, among others, have called for the removal of Maliki from the position of Prime Minister of Iraq. This is the second worrisome statement made by Maliki this week, earlier insisting that if the U.S. won't help him, he'll find other friends(Syria) who will. After all the U.S. has sacrificed for Iraq and after all we have done to assist Maliki, its scary that, since I guess Maliki can't manage politics in his own country, he has to resort to interfering in American politics by attacking the democrats.

The reason the democrats, including Clinton and Levin, want Maliki gone from Iraq is because of his complete lack of leadership. He has been in office for quite a while now and has done more harm than good in respect to the progress in Iraq. He has led to further division in the Iraqi government, with a large part of the Parliament refusing to cooperate. It has been said time and time again: there is no military solution to the problems in Iraq, there must be a political solution. With Maliki in charge, there will never be a political solution. He is too dependent on the United States and needs to have "friends" in case the U.S. pulls out. He expects the U.S. to just continue helping him with nothing from him in return, and must be frightened at the prospect that if a Democrat gets elected President in 2008, he'll be left all alone. The U.S. has handed Maliki the proverbial "blank check" for too long. If Iraq's government won't put any effort into helping out their own country, why should we. We have stayed there too long and for that matter, should have never gone in. But, because of the lies of our president, we are indeed in, and now we need to focus on how we get our brave men and women home safely and securely while at the same time, focusing on how to keep America safe and fight terrorism where it actually is.

Things look even grimmer from the political side of the Iraq War

Democrats have listed several reasons why we need to get out of Iraq: needless American casualties, excessive war spending, our fueling of al-Qaeda, our letting al-Qaeda regenerate in Afghanistan, needing to get Osama bin-Laden, and of course the lack of any political progress.

Well as if things were not already looking grim for all of the above issues, it seems that the political progress has yet another reason to be seriously questioned. The Iraqi Prime-Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, basically said the following when visiting with Syria, who is not one of the U.S.'s close allies to say the least:

“If the Americans are getting impatient with us, then we’ll find other friends, we don’t have to abide by any timetables.”

Wow, American's are risking their lives when the leader of Iraq himself basically doesn't care if we stay or go. If the Iraqis don't care, why the hell should we care about their civil war. Lets fight al-Qaeda and thats it. Enough trying to help Iraqi factions make peace. Lets watch out for U.S. interests and let the Iraqis find "other friends" who will help them.