“Withdrawal timetables.” The phrase is a faux pas in today’s War On Terror era politics, but the call for troop withdrawals is being discussed by more Democrats, these days. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki brought up the issue during a recent meeting with Arab ministers, in relation Iraq’s sovereignty. But is full Iraqi sovereignty really what the U.S. has in mind?
An article on BBC today discussed the topic:
A statement from Mr Maliki’s office quoted him as telling Arab ambassadors in the UAE: “The direction we are taking is to have a memorandum of understanding either for the departure of the forces or to have a timetable for their withdrawal.”
“The negotiations are still continuing with the American side, but in any case the basis for the agreement will be respect for the sovereignty of Iraq.”
The U.S. wasn’t moot on the subject, of course. Pentagon official Bryan Whitman said this about it:
“Timelines tend to be artificial in nature,” he said. “In a situation where things are as dynamic as they are in Iraq… it’s usually best to look at these things based on conditions on the ground.”
I suppose the Iraqi Prime Minister wouldn’t know anything about conditions in Iraq, would he?
Filed under: Geopolitics, Iraq, Politics | Tagged: Iraq, Maliki, troop withdrawals
But will the troops actually ever leave?
Hmmm, this seems to suggest the Iraqi’s don’t want us there.
Is there any other way to read into this?