Comments on: Iraqi PM Maliki: Don’t Stop Troop Drawdown

By: TerenceC

TerenceC — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:47:49 +0000

Maliki is simply playing politics …. he can’t afford for the US to leave, he knows the US won’t leave, but atleast he is on the record asking for it so he can get some political mileage out of it domestically.

By: Justin Gardner

Justin Gardner — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:19:16 +0000

I think the story is pretty clear. Maliki is opposed to the drawdown being halted by this 45 day pause.

But if you wan to do some digging and find some quotes that dispute this, go right ahead.

By: Jimmy the Dhimmi

Jimmy the Dhimmi — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:36:07 +0000

Addendum: McQ at QandO says it this way:

If Maliki is claiming that US troops should be pulled out "as the situation permits", and the purpose of the Petreaus pause is to assess the "situation" to see if it "permits" further withdrawals, how is that disagreement?

Did the AP reporter actually hear the government spokesman, or Maliki himself say the word "disagree?" Or did he hear, "that Iraqi security forces are capable of carrying out their duties and U.S. troops should be pulled out as the situation permits" and interpreted that as a disagreement? or does he simply want the audience to percieve a rift between American forces and the Iraqi government, so as to promote his own anti-war political bias? It's not so clear.

By: Jimmy the Dhimmi

Jimmy the Dhimmi — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:22:48 +0000

As the situation permits.

By: Grant Gould

Grant Gould — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:57:32 +0000

If our political leaders don’t care what Americans think of the war, it hardly seems like they’re going to care much about what Iraqis think of it.