Talks Are Set on Ending Battle of Iraq
Can you believe this?
With the eyes of the world focused on the Middle East peace talks in Annapolis, Md., President Bush’s war tsar, Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, quietly announced that the American and Iraqi governments will start talks early next year to bring about an end to the allied occupation by the close of Mr. Bush’s presidency.
The negotiations will bring to a formal conclusion the U.N. Chapter 7 Security Council involvement in the occupation and administration of Iraq, and are expected to reduce the number of American troops to about 50,000 troops permanently stationed there but largely confined to barracks, from the current 164,000 forces on active duty.
“The basic message here should be clear. Iraq is increasingly able to stand on its own. That’s very good news. But it won’t have to stand alone,” General Lute yesterday told reporters in the White House.
Bringing the war to a close by the end of 2008 will ensure that the next president will face a fait accompli in Iraq, a fact that will further remove from the presidential election the Iraq war as an issue of contention.
*snip*
Mr. Bush and Prime Minister al-Maliki of Iraq agreed a Declaration of Principles in a teleconference yesterday, a “nonbinding pact” that set forth a “common sheet of music with which to begin the negotiations,” to be completed by July 2008, which would end with “an enduring relationship based on mutual interests,” General Lute said.
The Security Council’s current Iraqi mandate runs out at the end of next month, and the Iraqi government would like it to run one final year before the lifting of all restrictions on Iraq’s sovereignty, which were imposed after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait leading to the Gulf War in 1990.
America and Iraq will decide on a “strategic framework agreement,” a bilateral arrangement for a continuing American presence in the country, including the number of American troops to remain as a bulwark against political instability and a safeguard against continuing Al Qaeda attacks.
“The shape and size of any long-term, or longer than 2008, U.S. presence in Iraq will be a key matter for negotiation between the two parties, Iraq and the United States,” the general said. It is already planned that 20,000 American troops will leave Iraq by July 2008.
General Lute said he considers the deal essential to bolster pro-Western elements in the Iraq government.
Not only is this incredible news, but can you imagine what the political environment is going to look like if we do get most of our soldiers and Marines out before the election? I’m crossing my fingers and my toes – I want our men and women home as soon as possible. What’s more important is that this country has been embracing an ethos of defeatism. This would be a great step in the right direction… for the country and the Republican Party!
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