Is It “Cut And Run” If The Iraqis Want It?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in The War On Terrorism, WarCAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Leaders of Iraq’s sharply divided Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis called Monday for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in the country and said Iraq’s opposition had a “legitimate right” of resistance.The final communique, hammered out at the end of three days of negotiations at a preparatory reconciliation conference under the auspices of the Arab League, condemned terrorism, but was a clear acknowledgment of the Sunni position that insurgents should not be labeled as terrorists if their operations do not target innocent civilians or institutions designed to provide for the welfare of Iraqi citizens.
The participants in Cairo agreed on “calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops according to a timetable, through putting in place an immediate national program to rebuild the armed forces … control the borders and the security situation” and end terror attacks.
The conference was attended by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers, as well as leading Sunni politicians.
Listen, I don’t want the US to leave. In fact, I think we should add more troops so we can win the peace and stabilize the country. We owe the Iraqi people that much.
But at the end of the day, if they want us to leave, well, we should probably go.
Let’s just hope we’ve secured the country enough so Iraqis can broker the type of freedom and peace they deserve.
Now, Jeff Goldstein thinks this is just a political move by the Iraqi leaders…merely a gesture to appease certain groups.
Interesting theory and it does have merit, but I can’t help but think we’re treading in some dangerous ground when we start to assume the intentions of the fiercely independent leaders of the Iraqi leadership coalition.
Thoughts?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005 and is filed under The War On Terrorism, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 23rd, 2005 at 9:11 am
Maybe Mr. Goldstein is attempting to frame a soundbite to agree with his neo-con framework of reality.
Like you wrote, you can assume the intentions all day. In the end, if they (Iraqis) want us out, give it to them.
If a civil war breaks out - even if that vague and mythical point where the Iraqi military is defined as “READY” is reached (they might be ready when Bush is in the 10-20% popularity range) - the Iraqis and the World can and will blame it on the Americans.
And if the Americans never pull in a definite time frame, they will never find legitimacy in the government and occupation/liberation.
December 6th, 2005 at 2:48 am
[...] [...]