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Ear to the Ground

Maliki Mulls Troop Pullout

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Posted on Jul 7, 2008
Flickr / soldiersmediacenter

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, eager to sell his colleagues on a status-of-forces agreement with the U.S., has suggested the possibility of a built-in troop withdrawal timetable. The Pentagon isn’t impressed. “Timelines tend to be artificial in nature,” cautioned a U.S. military spokesman.

BBC:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has raised the prospect of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

It comes as the US attempts to push through a new security deal before the end of 2008, when the UN mandate allowing a US presence in Iraq expires.

The Pentagon has played down the suggestion of a withdrawal timetable.

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By PacificGatePost, July 8 at 10:10 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Regardless what the original intent, it is high time Iraqis were given their nation back before too few are left to remember that most Shiite, Sunni or Kurd Iraqis described themselves as Iraqis above all else and religious or sectarian group members second…..

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-fear-w ithdrawal-from-iraq.html

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By hippy pam, July 8 at 8:55 am #

As long as we stay in Iraq there will be no need for them to police and/or govern themselves....There will also be no need to settle their Differences...and of course-they cannot settle differences if WE are keeping the SHIT FLYING.....

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By heide, July 8 at 5:29 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

oh ya we will leave when weve destroyed the whole country,,sucked all the oil up out of the ground
ruined the lives of millions
the men women & children of iraq
the sons & daughters of our country who go thinking they are doing something good,,but we are not& im glad more of us realize this
soldiors used as pawns on our governments big huge chess board
911 was our government at work,,& the war in iraq aint bout nothing but oil baby& what really pisses me off is that weve had technology all along ,to be oil free,,,we NEVER NEEDED TO RELY ON FOSSIL FUELS IN FIRST PLACE
liberation my ass
karma is real,,you reap what u sow,,do unto others as you would have them do unto you (JESUS)
may the universe have mercy on our sick leaders& those who blindly follow

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By mackTN, July 7 at 5:40 pm #

I remember when Paul Bremer was running Iraq and smugly suggested that all this was Iraq’s ballgame and if the U.S. were asked to leave, well, we would leave.  Right.

What bothers me more about this story, however, is the reporting...as usual.  Funny what the MSM gets excited about, and what not.  What if this had been reported as breaking news, and all the broadcast media had broken out its top analysts to decipher this story? 

But it’s barely read and no comments at all.  Why not?  I say give the guy what he wants.  Let’s start withdrawing.  If hostilities break out, let the Iraquis handle it.  Mission accomplished.

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By Fadel Abdallah, July 7 at 4:05 pm #

Two observations on this:

1. Since Nouri al-Maliki is a puppet figure of the U.S. military occupation, does he really have the power to suggest a timetable for withdrawal?! What I see in this is only a smokescreen for public consumption to portray him as having authority. Again, there is another circus coming up in Iraq in October; they even dare to call it elections! And some background preparations need to be made ahead of time!

2. If this proves to be more than a media public relation gimmick, and al-Maliki forgets who is really in charge, I expect a large number of violent operations, planned and executed by the American military with the help of their Iraqi paid agents, to remind the Iraqis and the world to forget indefinitely about American military withdrawal.

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