Whadya mean they don't want us there?

Whadya mean they don't want us there?
SEE THE VIDEO! Shooting Human Beings in Iraq for Sport?
http://charlesgoyette.com/

johnray1776@wowway.com wrote:

[JR: Bush lied about everything else involving Iraq so if he wants to call it a victory ... why not ... if it takes our troops out of harm's way.]
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f2276e2c-61c2-11da-8470-0000779e2340.html
Bush outlines Iraq ‘victory’ strategy (?)
By Caroline Daniel in Washington
Published: November 30 2005 17:15 | Last updated: November 30 2005

President George W. Bush on Wednesday gave the most detailed and authoritative account of his Iraq strategy in a bid to turn round his domestic fortunes, sapped by mounting criticism of the war.

In an emotional address to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, the president cited progress in building up Iraqi security forces as part of a more vigorous effort to deflect calls for a pull-out of US troops.

Mr Bush said: “The training of the Iraqi troops is an enormous task and it hasn’t always gone smoothly.

“We faced some setbacks in standing up a capable Iraqi security force and their performance is still uneven in some areas. Yet many of those forces have made real gains over the past year”.

The speech formed part of a “sustained attack” by a White House that increasingly seems on the defensive for its handling of the war.

The new approach has been prompted by the realisation that Mr Bush has lost control of the debate and that growing calls for a timetable for withdrawal need to be rebutted. The comments were accompanied by Victory in Iraq, a 35-page unclassified version of its Iraq strategy from the National Security Council. [JR: Newly created]

Mr Bush is struggling to salvage his presidency, with success in Iraq vital to reviving his domestic fortunes. Long seen as a divisive president, he is now losing critical moderate Republican support. Approval from this group has fallen 24 points since August, to 61 per cent. Those who strongly approve halved to 30 per cent, in a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll.

Concern that Mr Bush had lost control of the debate on Iraq was revived two weeks ago, when John Murtha, a veteran and leading Democrat, called for troops to be pulled out. A majority of Americans now see the war as a mistake, with 52 per cent agreeing that the US should withdraw immediately or within a year, according to a CNN/Gallup poll. The Iraq conflict has claimed the lives of more than 2,100 US troops and left nearly 16,000 wounded.

In his speech, Mr Bush said the US had handed over 90 square miles of Baghdad to Iraqi security forces, and 129 Iraqi army and police combat battalions were now fighting terrorists. Of these, 80 were fighting alongside coalition forces and 30 army battalions had assumed primary responsibility for security in certain regions.

Mr Bush pointed to progress in transferring more than a dozen bases to the Iraqi government and the creation of six police academies producing more than 3,500 police officers every 10 weeks. “This will take time and patience and it is worth the time,” he said.

The president, at times almost tearful during his speech, said that as Iraqi forces gained experience, the US would be able to decrease troop levels “without losing our capability to defeat the terrorists”.

The White House, however, stepped back from its recent highly personal attacks on critics calling for a deadline for troop withdrawal, a tactic that had backfired. Instead Mr Bush called those who wanted a timetable “sincere”, but said: “I believe they’re sincerely wrong.”

Harry Reid, Democratic Senate minority leader, said: “Two weeks ago, a bipartisan majority of the United States Senate registered a vote of no-confidence in the president’s current policy in Iraq,” and called for the release of a strategy for success in Iraq with specific benchmarks. He added: “Today, President Bush failed to meet this call.”

Senator John McCain, one of the most influential voices on military policy, yesterday told the Financial Times Mr Bush had told him he would not withdraw troops until the security situation improved.

But Mr McCain said he was surprised to see other administration officials - including Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state - signal such moves were in the cards. Earlier this month, Ms Rice said the training of Iraqi forces had advanced sufficiently that the current number of US troops would not be needed much longer.

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"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I
can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will
not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do,
I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God,
I will do." - Edward Everett Hale

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