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Mr Soul
Joined: 21 May 2006
Posts: 741
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 Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:03 pm Post subject: Stupid, stupid, stupid |
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Bush Pledges to Keep U.S. Troops in Iraq
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
56 minutes ago
President Bush waves as he arrives at the White ...
WASHINGTON - President Bush personally assured Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Monday that he has no plans to pull troops out and told him to ignore rumors the United States intended to enforce a deadline for Baghdad to rein in sectarian violence.
The president's pledge came in a 15-minute morning phone call with al-Maliki, who told Bush he was concerned because he had been hearing that the United States was giving him a two-month timeline to operate on his own.
"He (al-Maliki) said that rumors sometimes can undercut confidence in the government and also its ability to work effectively in fighting terror," said Bush spokesman Tony Snow. "And the president said, `Don't worry, you still have our full support.' "
Snow said he wasn't clear where the rumors were coming from, although there is growing frustration in Congress and across the country about Iraq. Snow said that in his talk with al-Maliki, Bush did not express any sense of urgency. Casualties have been increasing amid almost daily violence that has eroded support for the war in the United States.
Bush initiated the call to Maliki. Snow said the prime minister made clear that talk about "giving timetables or expiration dates or whatever to the government were not only undermining the government, but also inspiring terrorists. ... And, similarly, he dismissed the notion of partition, which he also thought was undermining the government.
The White House also said that Bush would not be bound by the recommendations of a special commission exploring U.S. options in Iraq. The group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, is to report its recommendations after the elections.
"This is something you listen to seriously," Snow said. "But we're not going to outsource the business of handling the war in Iraq. ... The president is the commander in chief. And simply because you have a blue-ribbon panel, it does not mean that he hands it off to them."
A growing number of U.S. lawmakers are calling for a new strategy in Iraq, including two leading Republican senators who spoke out Sunday on television talk shows.
"The American people are not going to continue to support, sustain a policy that puts American troops in the middle of a civil war," Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said on CNN's "Late Edition."
Hagel said he agreed with Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who asserted after a recent visit to Iraq that the wartorn country was "drifting sideways." Warner has urged consideration of a change of course if the Iraq government fails to restore order over the next two months or three months.
Warner said Sunday he stands by that assessment, and even in the week since his trip to Iraq, there has been an "exponential increase in the killings and the savagery that's going on over there."
"You can see some movement forward, but a lot of movement back," Warner said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. "We have to rethink all the options, except any option which says we precipitously pull out, which would let that country fall into a certain civil war at that time, and all of the neighboring countries would be destabilized."
Snow said Bush and al-Maliki agreed that Iraq needs firm leadership and close coordination between the Iraqi security forces and the coalition troops.
"The president didn't make any conditions, he said that we're going to support you and he said he knew that prime minister had to make tough decisions," Snow said. "On a number of occasions he referred to the importance of going after terrorists and militias."
Hagel said it is time to change course, but "our options are limited."
"We need to find a new strategy, a way out of Iraq, because the entire Middle East is more combustible than it's been probably since 1948, and more dangerous," Hagel said. "And we're in the middle of it."
Democrats long have urged a change in Iraq policy. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the leading Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said there is "no military solution to this conflict" and the United States must pressure Iraqis to take over their country.
"If they're going to have a civil war, they're going to have to do it without us," Levin said on CNN. "This is long overdue. We've got to focus Iraqi leadership attention on this by telling them we need to begin a phased redeployment of American troops from Iraq within the next few months."
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agate
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| Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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| At what point does it become a civil war in Iraq? Who decides that the time has come to say it's a civil war? |
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agate
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Location: Oregon
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| Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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People might be getting fed up:
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Big Democratic wins likely on Election Day
NBC/WSJ poll: Public's opinion of GOP hits record low
Mark Murray
Political reporter
WASHINGTON - Just 20 days until Election Day, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds approval of the GOP-held Congress is at its lowest mark in 14 years, the Republican Party's favorability rating is at an all-time low and President George W. Bush's approval rating remains mired in the 30s -- all ominous signs for a party trying to maintain control of Congress.
In fact, according to the poll, Republicans are in worse shape on some key measures than Democrats were in 1994, when they lost their congressional majorities.
"There is not a single number in here that would suggest the Democrats will not have their best showing in a decade -- and maybe two decades," says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican Bill McInturff.
Landslide of bad GOP news
The poll, which was taken of 1,006 registered voters from Oct. 13-16 and has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points, comes a few weeks after Republicans encountered a series of setbacks, including the release of an intelligence estimate calling the Iraq war a "cause célèbre" for Islamic militants, journalist Bob Woodward's unfavorable portrayal of the Bush administration's handling of Iraq, and the news that former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., had inappropriate correspondence with teenage congressional pages.
In the survey, Bush's approval rating is at 38 percent, a one-point decline from a previous NBC/Journal poll released earlier this month after the Foley news first broke. Perhaps more revealing, only 16 percent now approve of the job Congress is doing -- its lowest mark since 1992.
Both sets of numbers suggest that the Republican Party is on more unstable ground than Democrats were in 1994, when they lost 52 House and 8 Senate seats. In October of that year, President Bill Clinton's approval rating among registered voters was at 46 percent, and 24 percent approved of the job the Democratic-controlled Congress was doing.
Dems a 'marginally accepted alternative'
What's more, in this latest poll, just 32 percent of respondents see the Republican Party in a positive light, while 49 percent view it negatively. Those are the party's worst marks in the history of the poll. In contrast, voters -- by a 37-35 percent margin -- view the Democratic Party positively.
McInturff, the GOP pollster, observes that after several months when both parties have had net-negative ratings on this question, this is the second-straight NBC/Journal survey in which a plurality of voters see Democrats in a positive light. Hart adds that Democrats have become a "marginally accepted alternative."
"It might be grudging admiration," he says, "but it is enough admiration to make it through."
Moreover, 52 percent say they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared with 37 percent who want Republicans to maintain power. It is the first time ever in this poll when a majority has sided with one party on this particular question. Earlier this month, Democrats held a nine-point advantage (48-39 percent).
The final GOP straw
Indeed, the poll finds that the events of the last few weeks -- such as the Foley scandal, the Woodward book, and the intelligence estimate -- have taken a toll on the GOP. Forty-seven percent say that these events have given them a less favorable impression of Republicans maintaining their majorities in Congress. Only 14 percent say they've given them a more favorable impression.
While Republicans were already in a precarious position before the Foley scandal, Hart explains, it has become a final straw of sorts that might have sealed their fate. "It is the event that allowed certain voters to say, 'Enough.'"
McInturff adds that the scandal took Republicans by surprise, and he expects them to be able to regroup and spend the next three weeks trying to disqualify Democrats on taxes and social issues.
The war in Iraq also continues to be a drag on Republicans and the White House. In the poll, a whopping 68 percent say they feel less optimistic about how things are going there, compared with only 20 percent who feel more optimistic. That's a significant shift from June, when voters were evenly split on this question.
Control of Congress
All of these numbers seem to suggest that Democrats are poised to pick up a sizable number of seats in November, and maybe even regain control of Congress. Hart says it's been clear for the last several months that an electoral hurricane would be arriving on Election Day. The only question was how big it was going to be.
This new poll, he observes, signals that it will be a Category 4 or Category 5 storm. "Simply put, the low lying areas are [going to be] under water."
Mark Murray covers politics for NBC News.
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From MSNBC News http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15319792/ |
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