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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bentway who wrote (320142)	1/11/2007 7:15:34 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573924

We just seized their embassy in Iraq and arrested all their diplomats We did? When?

To: bentway who wrote (320142)	1/11/2007 7:16:13 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 1573924

it wasn't their embassy

To: bentway who wrote (320142)	1/11/2007 7:17:26 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1573924

Convincing still required for Bush Iraq plan By Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer 12:56 PM PST, January 11, 2007 WASHINGTON -- One day after President Bush unveiled his plan to send 21,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, administration officials today sought to convince a skeptical public and Congress that the strategy can work. But Democratic leaders stood firmly opposed to the president's plan, lashing out at what they called "a tragic mistake" and talking about cutting off funds for the war. "In choosing to escalate the war, the president virtually stands alone," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement today. Skepticism to the plan is so widespread — Sen. Barak Obama (D-Ill.) likened the president's strategy to a gambler increasing the size of his bet to cover his previous losses — that even Republicans railed about the war. Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), who until now has supported the war, said he no longer believes the civil war in Iraq can be tamed by sending more U.S. troops to aid in the fight. "We don't want any more American soldiers killed … in the name of civil war," he said, noting that the letter he sends to families of fallen soldiers now has to be rewritten, not to praise them for dying in a grand cause but in the name of security. "I've gone along with the president's dream," he said. "I just don't think it's going to happen." Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), questioning the Iraqi government's resolve to crack down on sectarian violence, asked, "Why put more Americans on the line now in hopes that this time they will make the right decision? Fooled twice, shame on me." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today, said the administration is "clear-eyed, too, about the fact that the Iraqi government has to perform, and the fact that they haven't in the past." She noted that stability in Iraq will take both resolve and capability. "The president sees this as an effort to help the Iraqis with an urgent task so that sectarian violence does not outrun the political process," she said. The president began the day by hailing the heroism of individual soldiers. Bush awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously to Marine Corps Cpl. Jason Dunham for falling on a grenade hurled by an Iraqi during an attack near the Syrian border. "By his selflessness, Cpl. Dunham saved the lives of two of his men and showed the world what it means to be a Marine," Bush said in a White House ceremony attended by Dunham's family. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in an early morning news conference, said the number of American troops will be gradually raised in Iraq. "There will be no D-Day," Gates said. "It won't look like the Gulf War." With Iraq putting increased stress on the U.S. military, Gates said he will recommend that Bush increase U.S. armed forces by 92,000 over the next five years — with 27,000 more Marines and 65,000 more soldiers. Rice said that even as the Pentagon sends additional troops to the battlefield, diplomats will step up political and economic reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Naming Tim Carney, a former ambassador to Sudan and Haiti, to oversee the nonmilitary effort in the field, Rice told the Senate committee today that civilian reconstruction efforts in the Al Anbar province, a stronghold of insurgents, were having an effect. "We in the State Department recognize the need for a diplomatic surge," she said. "We need to get diplomats out of the Green Zone, into Iraq." Reaction to Rice's testimony in the committee room showed the administration's tough task in selling the plan for additional troops to the public and to Congress. At one point during her testimony, a protester yelled out, "More lies…all lies…stop the lies!" Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) told Rice that adding troops is "the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam" and challenged her assessment that the strategy was "an augmentation" rather than "an escalation" and that sectarian violence does not yet constitute a full-scale civil war. Insisting that "not all of Baghdad has fallen into civil war," Rice said that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki understands he must gain control of extremists from both the Shia and Sunni sects. Single page 1 2 3 >> latimes.com