THIS IS A MUST READ FOR OUR LIBERAL FRIENDS ON THIS THREAD. Even the liberal leaders are abandoning their liberal positions on Iraq, such as "Iraq is unwinnable" and "we need to get our troops out now".
--------------------------
Clinton: Insurgency in Iraq Is Failing
story.news.yahoo.com
Sat Feb 19, 8:36 PM ET
Add to My Yahoo! Politics - AP
By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - As 55 people died in Iraq (news - web sites) on Saturday, the holiest day on the Shiite Muslim religious calendar, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (news - web sites) said that much of Iraq was "functioning quite well" and that the rash of suicide attacks was a sign that the insurgency was failing.
Clinton, a New York Democrat, said insurgents intent on destabilizing the country had failed to disrupt Iraq's landmark Jan. 30 elections.
"The concerted effort to disrupt the elections was an abject failure. Not one polling place was shut down or overrun," Clinton told reporters inside the U.S.-protected Green Zone, a sprawling complex of sandbagged buildings surrounded by blast walls and tanks. The zone is home to the Iraqi government and the U.S. Embassy.
...
"The fact that you have these suicide bombers now, wreaking such hatred and violence while people pray, is to me, an indication of their failure," Clinton said.
...
"It's regrettable that the security needs have increased so much. On the other hand, I think you can look at the country as a whole and see that there are many parts of Iraq that are functioning quite well," Clinton said.
...
"We have a long, hard, difficult struggle ahead of us, but I'm far more optimistic than I was before the election, because the Iraqi people proved that they would brave the risk of their very lives in order to choose their government," he said. "To me, that's very encouraging."
Graham said the U.S. military was unlikely to withdraw anytime soon.
"The one thing I've learned from this trip is that we're a long way away from being able to leave. That is, if the Iraqi people want us to stay, we're gonna' be here for a while, in large numbers," Graham said. "I ask the American people to be patient, because what happens here will affect our security back home."
|
