Pelosi:
“President Bush’s agreement with the Iraqi government confirms his willingness to leave office with a U.S. Army tied down in Iraq and stretched to the breaking point, with no clear exit strategy from Iraq.
“The President should take responsibility for his Iraq policy rather than expect the American people or the next Admisitration [sic] to bear the consequences of his mistakes. The President can do that by working with Democrats who are fighting every day to bring our troops home responsibly, honorably, safely and soon.”
The Drive-By-Media:
...the White House press corp’s questions were predictable and pathetic. The following are selected questions from the press conference, and my summary of General Lute’s responses appears in brackets following each question:
Q “Is there any precedent for this in history? I mean, there wasn’t anything like this after Korea or Vietnam or any other kind of American engagement.”
[The US has been a party to a long-term agreement with Korea and is a party to bilateral agreements with 100 other nations.]
Q “How can any nation make a deal under occupation and not feel coerced? And anyway, they don’t really have a sort of government there at all.”
[A declaration is not something that must be voted on but, nevertheless, all major Iraqi leaders agreed to it and it was read to, discussed and generally agreed to by the council of representatives.]
Q “Is this a facade for the Middle East conference, so it doesn’t wave this big cloud of our being in Iraq?”
[The declaration is part of a process that started August 26 and has no relation to what’s going on in Annapolis.]
Q “You mentioned the size and the shape or the scope, stuff like that. Will this contain time lines or goals for the withdrawal of troops?”
[That’s not part of the declaration but it will be part of the negotiations and “all these things are on the negotiating table.”]
Q “General, will the White House seek any congressional input on this? … Is the purpose of avoiding the treaty avoiding congressional input?””
[Negotiations like this are handled by the State Department and are not subject to Congressional approval. There are about a 100 similar agreements between the US and other nations and the vast majority are not treaties.]
These questions are not just "when did you stop beating your wife" lame, but stupid to the max.
1 comment:
Dear Rose,
I am leaving your comment up, like the police will leave a car wreck on the side of the road as an example of reckless driving.
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