.U.S. says cannot "subdue every bad guy" in Iraq
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid unrelenting violence in Iraq, President George W. Bush's spokesman said on Wednesday the top goal of U.S. troops is to train Iraqi forces, and not trying to "subdue every bad guy in the country."
"As a matter of fact, the central mission to the United States is to train Iraqi forces so they can do the job. They get better intelligence. They know the people who are there. It is their country. And it's their obligation and responsibility," spokesman Tony Snow said on MSNBC.
A classified assessment by Col. Peter Devlin, parts of which became public this week, concluded that the situation in Anbar province, a vast western desert considered the Sunni Muslim insurgency's heartland, is grim and will deteriorate without an infusion of U.S. troops and aid.
Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer, the top U.S. commander in western Iraq, told reporters on Tuesday he agreed with Devlin's assessment, but disputed a characterization of it in The Washington Post that Anbar was lost.
U.S. leaders in the past have stated the importance of training and equipping Iraqi forces and said it will be up to the Iraqi people to defeat the insurgency. But his and Snow's comments seemed to de-emphasize the military's operations against insurgents 3-1/2 years into the war.
'THAT WOULD BE FAILURE'
"The key in Iraq is not for the United States to go in and subdue every bad guy in the country. That would be failure. That would mean that we have to occupy Iraq forever. We don't want to do that," Snow said.
Thirty thousand of the 147,000 U.S. troops in Iraq are deployed in Anbar.
"My mission is to train Iraqi security forces," Zilmer said, and he had enough troops to carry out a training mission.
Bush has referred to Iraq as the central front in the U.S. global war on terrorism. "If we give up the fight in the streets of Baghdad, we will face the terrorists in the streets of our own cities," Bush said on August 31 in Salt Lake City, Utah, repeating one of his common themes.
The United States disbanded the Iraqi military in 2003 in the aftermath of the American-led invasion to topple President Saddam Hussein, and has since built a new security apparatus from scratch.
Democrats, who have made Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld a lightening rod for their criticism of the Iraq war, stepped up their calls on Wednesday for him to step aside.
In the House of Representatives, war critic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania introduced a resolution calling for Rumsfeld's resignation, acknowledging there was little chance the Republican majority would let it come to the floor.
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who has tangled with Rumsfeld in the past, called for Rumsfeld's ouster, and suggested that "the selfish love of power or some misguided show of toughness" was keeping Rumsfeld in the job.
Separately, Republican Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut said at a hearing that decisions made by the United States have made Iraq's efforts to build a government and establish security more difficult.
"We attacked them. We disbanded their army, their police and their border patrol, and left them with no security," Shays said at a hearing on Iraqi national reconciliation.
Reuters
Oh great, another "shoot me now and get it over with", moment from this administration. I just can't wait to get the Iraq reaction to this.
I think this has to be the textbook reason why imperial occupation does not work under any circumstance.
Maybe this administration should just not comment at all.
"As a matter of fact, the central mission to the United States is to train Iraqi forces so they can do the job. They get better intelligence. They know the people who are there. It is their country. And it's their obligation and responsibility," spokesman Tony Snow said on MSNBC.
A classified assessment by Col. Peter Devlin, parts of which became public this week, concluded that the situation in Anbar province, a vast western desert considered the Sunni Muslim insurgency's heartland, is grim and will deteriorate without an infusion of U.S. troops and aid.
Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer, the top U.S. commander in western Iraq, told reporters on Tuesday he agreed with Devlin's assessment, but disputed a characterization of it in The Washington Post that Anbar was lost.
U.S. leaders in the past have stated the importance of training and equipping Iraqi forces and said it will be up to the Iraqi people to defeat the insurgency. But his and Snow's comments seemed to de-emphasize the military's operations against insurgents 3-1/2 years into the war.
'THAT WOULD BE FAILURE'
"The key in Iraq is not for the United States to go in and subdue every bad guy in the country. That would be failure. That would mean that we have to occupy Iraq forever. We don't want to do that," Snow said.
Thirty thousand of the 147,000 U.S. troops in Iraq are deployed in Anbar.
"My mission is to train Iraqi security forces," Zilmer said, and he had enough troops to carry out a training mission.
Bush has referred to Iraq as the central front in the U.S. global war on terrorism. "If we give up the fight in the streets of Baghdad, we will face the terrorists in the streets of our own cities," Bush said on August 31 in Salt Lake City, Utah, repeating one of his common themes.
The United States disbanded the Iraqi military in 2003 in the aftermath of the American-led invasion to topple President Saddam Hussein, and has since built a new security apparatus from scratch.
Democrats, who have made Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld a lightening rod for their criticism of the Iraq war, stepped up their calls on Wednesday for him to step aside.
In the House of Representatives, war critic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania introduced a resolution calling for Rumsfeld's resignation, acknowledging there was little chance the Republican majority would let it come to the floor.
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who has tangled with Rumsfeld in the past, called for Rumsfeld's ouster, and suggested that "the selfish love of power or some misguided show of toughness" was keeping Rumsfeld in the job.
Separately, Republican Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut said at a hearing that decisions made by the United States have made Iraq's efforts to build a government and establish security more difficult.
"We attacked them. We disbanded their army, their police and their border patrol, and left them with no security," Shays said at a hearing on Iraqi national reconciliation.
Reuters
Oh great, another "shoot me now and get it over with", moment from this administration. I just can't wait to get the Iraq reaction to this.
I think this has to be the textbook reason why imperial occupation does not work under any circumstance.
Maybe this administration should just not comment at all.
posted by madtom at 11:07 PM
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