*: No Timetable for Troops Coming Home

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/26-03162005-463908.html

Bush: No Timetable for Troops Coming Home
By TERENCE HUNT
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday he understands the desire of U.S. coalition partners to withdraw troops from Iraq, but he declined to set a timetable for bringing American forces home.

"Our troops will come home when Iraqis are capable of defending themselves," Bush told a news conference.

Bush spoke a day after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced plans to start drawing down his country's 3,000-strong contingent in Iraq amid widespread anger over the recent killing of an Italian officer by U.S. troops.

The president said he had spoken by telephone to Berlusconi earlier in the day and they talked about both Iraq and Bush's recommendation of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to become head of the World Bank.

<</SNIP>>

"Our troops will come home when Iraqis are capable of defending themselves,"

Defend themselves from whom?

[all.of.me]

1. "Defend themselves from whom?"

yeah - that was my first thought, too!!! if we leave, they will not have to defend themselves! it's like a cartoon.

[Lerkfish]

2. there is NO intention to leave Iraq...ever.

its in the neocon agenda to have permanent base of operations there.

we will never leave.

[slamthecrank]

3. actually, what he said --

according to Yahoo/AP, Bush said:

"Our troops will come home when Iraq is capable of defending herself."

now, why he would refer to Iraq in the feminine, and then insinuate that Iraq cannot defend itself right now - which, I can only figure that Iraq needs to defend itself from the US Coalition - is beyond me, and possibly one of the most degrading and ignorant things I've heard this president say.

I know I can't be the only one to catch that. And, WOOHOOO to Berlusconi for beginning to draw out his troops. Kudos to him.

yahoo link:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=703&e=1&u=/ap/20050316/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Welcome to DU, btw.

:toast:

[sabra]

5. Nice catch!

[UCLA Dem]

7. b/c women are the conquered.

[trogdor]

12. Um, no.

It is actually proper English. Ships and countries are referred to using feminine pronouns. Any English writing manual will tell you that.

[fallout]

16. yeah... nothing special with calling something "her"... nt

[bushisanidiot]

15. "Defend herself"? What.. are we going to attack "her" again?

AWOL Bush has a lot of nerve..

[fooj]

6. Sadly, defend themselves from the US, I'm afraid...

:cry: Shrub is an evil, maniacal madman!

[uppityperson]

8. Mr.bush responses, my reply to him

Mr.bush:"If we tell them when we're leaving, all they have to do is lay low until we leave, then they can take over."

Uppity: You don't want them to just behave, they need to convert first? How can you measure this? Or do you mean when they are capable of defening themselves against the USA invasion, we'll leave? Do you mean either they take the USA into their hearts and accept everything being done their without complaint, or they coordinate their defense against the USA?

M.b: why do you hate America

U: America is a big continent and you are a little man

[bemildred]

9. This is so VietNam. nt

[leftchick]

11. except this time we are turning a corner...and we will be there FOREVER

instead of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.


Of course the real plan is a permanent presense in iraq and the ME for at least a GENERATION.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/outrage?pid=2132

~snip~

While the exact figure may change, suspicions of undisclosed US imperial plans--exemplified by permanent military bases--rightfully linger. Before the war, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz suggested moving US troops stationed in Saudi Arabia into Iraq. In October, a survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes found that two-thirds of respondents disapproved of a permanent military presence, even though more than half thought the US would build the bases anyway.

Now comes a report in the New York Sun by Eli Lake revealing that the Pentagon is building a permanent military communications system in Iraq, a necessary foundation for any lasting troop presence. The new network will comprise twelve communications towers throughout Iraq, linking Camp Victory in Baghdad to other existing (and future) bases across the country, eventually connecting with US bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan.

"People need to get realistic and think in terms of our presence being in Iraq for a generation or until democratic stability in the region is reached," Dewey Clarridge, the CIA's former chief of Arab operations (and Iran-contra point man), told the Sun.

The fabled "exit strategy" may be not to exit. Thomas Donnelly, a defense specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, said the new communication system resembles those built in West Germany and the Balkans, places where American troops remain today. "The operational advantages of US bases in Iraq should be obvious for other power-projection missions in the region," Donnelly wrote in an AEI policy paper.

Next time the Bush Administration hints at withdrawing troops, keep these grand plans in mind.

[bemildred]

13. I just remember that they pulled this shit so much that nobody

believed Gerry Ford at first that we were finally pulling out.
But if you watch, you can see the shift taking place in the rhetoric
being used and tell that the pressure is mounting to abandon this
boondoggle. They are in retreat and fighting for time, for some way
to pretend it was not the screwup that it plainly is.

[dubyaD40web]

10. Oh, they'll come home....

when the oil wells dry up or when * is out of office. Which ever comes first.

[PurityOfEssence]

14. They'll be home in a hundred and twelve billion barrels

So shut up, peon, and keep spending money.

[Az_lefty]

17. In other words, Boy George doesn't have a fucking clue....

:puke:

[rocktivity]

18. Psst--Georgie--

You don't HAVE to defend yourself against those who AREN'T THERE. Oh, and don't forget about the 14 permanent military bases that are being built there.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Voltaire99]

19. Getting your money's worth out of your vote for Dubya, are ya, troops?

...No? Buyer's remorse?

Sorry; no returns.

[neuvocat]

20. Remember they were supposed to have been home

by Christmas the same year they were sent out?

[skeeters]

21. Not To Worry

Hitler didn't have a timetable of when to leave Poland.

Why do reporters even bother to ask this idiot a question.


He didn't answer any, and he has lied on every reason we went into Iraq.

The war will pay for itself. I thought thou shalt not lie was in the Ten Commandments. Maybe Pickles should read them to him.