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

To: tejek who wrote (396723)	7/7/2008 8:47:22 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574006

If Iraq is really going to ask us to leave, that will be a sign of success. It has always been America's position that we'll leave when the Iraqis think they can handle their own security: Does Iraq have the legal authority to ask the U.S. to leave? Yes. In fact, it has long been U.S. policy that Iraq may ask coalition forces to leave at any time. Here are a few representative statements: "They can ask us to leave anytime, and we'd be obligated to do it because they're a sovereign government." –General Richard Myers, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs (March 13, 2005, Interview with Egyptian journalists) "[After June 30, 2004] the government of Iraq will be fully sovereign. And that means that our coalition will be there with the consent of the fully sovereign government." –President George W. Bush (June 3, 2004, Press Conference) Is there evidence that U.S. forces would leave if Iraq asks them to? Yes. Several top U.S. officials have explicitly stated that if Iraq were to request the withdrawal of coalition forces, the request would be honored. For example: "We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation... If they were to say, leave, we would leave." –President George W. Bush (May 24, 2007, Press Conference) "[The Iraqi government might] say: 'We believe we can handle this ourselves now, and you should go home. Thank you very much.' At that point, we would say, 'Glad we've been able to help you,' and we would return our forces back to the United States." –Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (May 14, 2004, G8 Press Conference) "We serve there at the pleasure of the Iraqi government. You know, if [the Iraqi Prime Minister] says he doesn't need us, we're not going to stick around." –Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow (May 24, 2006, White House Press Briefing) Reporter: "If the Iraqis ask us to leave and we're not quite convinced that they are ready to take our place, will we still go?" Dr. Rice: "Well, of course, it's a sovereign government." –U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (November 22, 2005, Interview on Fox News) ? iraqthevote.org Rice: Troops will stay until Iraqis can take over Iraqi official predicts 'at least a couple years' Sunday, January 30, 2005 Posted: 6:43 PM EST (2343 GMT) ..... "The coalition is there under a U.N. mandate to help the Iraqis because they're not quite capable yet of carrying out their own security functions," she said on CNN's "Late Edition." "But we are concentrating on training those forces." ..... Practically speaking, we need the multinational forces to stay in Iraq for the foreseeable future," Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie told CNN. A U.N. mandate calls for the presence of multinational forces to be reviewed in June, unless the Iraqi government requests a review sooner. Al-Rubaie said he believes the U.S.-led force should remain in Iraq for "at least a couple of years" until Iraq's security force is up to speed. "Then and only then, we will ask the multinational forces to leave Iraq," he said. ..... cnn.com; RICE: Well, of course, this conference was many voices across the political spectrum. The Iraqi government requested the United Nations that the multi-national forces be extended because they didn’t believe that they are yet capable of having the Iraqi forces carry out the security functions. But we should be very clear. The president has said that as soon as Iraqi forces are ready, we want to see a reduction in our own forces. I think those days are coming and coming fairly soon, when Iraqis are going to be more and more capable of carrying out the functions to secure their own future. foxnews.com Q Thank you, Mr. President. You say you want nothing short of victory, that leaving Iraq would be catastrophic; you once again mentioned al Qaeda. Does that mean that you are willing to leave American troops there, no matter what the Iraqi government does? I know this is a question we’ve asked before, but you can begin it with a “yes” or “no.” THE PRESIDENT: We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation. Twelve million people went to the polls to approve a constitution. It’s their government’s choice. If they were to say, leave, we would leave. truthdig.com