“At Any Time They Want…”
Posted on | July 16, 2007
Oops. Iraqi Prime Minister spoke a little too frankly on Saturday:
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters Saturday that the Iraqi army and police were capable of maintaining security when American troops leave.
“We say in full confidence that we are able, God willing, to take the responsibility completely in running the security file if the international forces withdraw at any time they want,” al-Maliki said.
Those comments appeared to undercut President Bush’s contention that the 155,000 U.S. troops must remain in Iraq because the Iraqis are not capable of providing for their own security.
He has apparently been ordered to retract that statement. Withdrawal is not yet in the Bush Administration’s vocabulary, so now we’re told:
Iraq’s prime minister was misunderstood when he said the Americans could leave “any time they want” an aide said Sunday, as politicians moved to end a pair of boycotts that are holding up work on crucial political reforms sought by Washington.
We will leave when Bush and Cheney’s blood-lust and greed have been sated, or when a Democratic president finds the courage to end the horror of needless war.
