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Bush and Blair speed up their exit strategy

C

conjur

No Lifer
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/16211.html

TONY Blair and George W Bush have speeded up their work on a new plan to ensure the new Iraqi administration to be set up on June 30 is a sovereign government supported by a new UN resolution, according to the prime minister's spokesman last night.

As Robin Cook, Mr Blair's former cabinet colleague, stepped up pressure for a change in strategy in Iraq and anti-war campaigners demanded that the prime minister seek a fresh political mandate if he decides to send more troops there, Downing Street admitted it had announced details of the new strategy in an attempt to convince the public that it had a grip of the political and military strategies.

The prime minister's spokesman, insisting that Mr Blair was not diverted by speculation over his future but was concentrating on getting the job done, denied the new strategy was a panic measure to silence the anti-war critics on both sides of the Atlantic.

He said: "They have been working on a joint strategy for the last few weeks and it has speeded up in the last few days. It is a recognition that people need to see we have a grip, that we are not there for ever amen, politically or militarily.

"Neither is this a case of cutting and running, but showing we have a strategy of achieving what we said we wanted to achieve: the transfer of authority to an Iraqi government and responsibility to an Iraqi security system."

Mr Blair is visiting Turkey today, when he is expected to explain the strategy in neighbouring Iraq. However, he would have been in little doubt about the feelings of some factions in the country when last night, on the eve of his visit, three bombs exploded outside branches of the British bank, HSBC, in Ankara and Istanbul.

The bombs caused minor damage and no casualties but were a sharp reminder of four devastating blasts which targeted British and Jewish targets in Istanbul in November, including the main local offices of HSBC in the city. Sixty one people, including the British consul, Roger Short, died in those attacks, blamed on a Turkish Islamist group linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Yesterday, Mr Cook demanded the government find a quick exit strategy for British troops once the elections are held next January since they were now so unpopular, but Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, gave his remarks short shrift. Expressing disappointment in his former cabinet colleague, Mr Hoon said: "I worked with him when he was foreign secretary. He knows these decisions have to be taken in light of events on the ground . . . events for the moment certainly require the presence of British troops on the ground."

According to a report in a Sunday newspaper, allies of Gordon Brown believe Mr Cook would return to the cabinet if Mr Blair stood down to make way for the chancellor. But there are those who believe Mr Brown would never consider reinstating Mr Cook.

Whitehall sources suggested yesterday that the prime minister had taken advantage of a nervous US administration to persuade them to embrace the UN and speed up the handover of political and military control in Iraq.

Downing Street disclosed the new plan was proceeding on a twin approach.

On the security side, the coalition was speeding up creation of the Iraqi army, civil defence and intelligence services, and had focused on creating and training Iraqi authorities. Major General David Petraeus has been put in charge of the speeded-up process and British sources said he is keen to learn lessons from the south of Iraq where the British troops were in charge of security.

On the political side, the coalition has accepted there "must be a real, visible difference when power is transferred on June 30 and that there is a sovereign Iraqi government which is supported by a new UN resolution that will set out arrangements for a multi-national force".

The net was closing yesterday around the soldiers behind the faked Daily Mirror Iraqi prisoner abuse photographs. Military investigators hope that the newspaper will reveal their identities this week.
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Originally posted by: conjur
President Bush and Tony Blair are drawing up plans to speed the pullout of coalition forces from Iraq by giving it full control of its own security as soon as possible, the UK TIMES is splashing in Monday runs... Developing...
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So the next question is, what does ASAP mean here...
 
Another victory declared?

With Drudge, I will have to wait and see. I remember Kerry's "affair". That didn't pan out as a great "breaking story".
 
My guess will be a U.S. pullout right after the first general elections in Jan. 2005, if they are still held then.
 
Originally posted by: conjur
My guess will be a U.S. pullout right after the first general elections in Jan. 2005, if they are still held then.
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Then again, we may stay till we know things are going to be stable.

I wonder how the iraqi army is doing these days....
 
the US isn't going anywhere. There's not a chance in hell we would leave and risk Iraq becoming a model of Iran, which is very probable
 
Originally posted by: rickn
the US isn't going anywhere. There's not a chance in hell we would leave and risk Iraq becoming a model of Iran, which is very probable
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Well. He's damned if he removes the troops, damned if he doesn't. If he does - lots of negative PR dissapears right before election, but iraq falls into chaos and probably becomes a fundamentalist islamic state. If he doesn't - troops keep dying and that can be used against him during the election.
 
Originally posted by: dahunan
Bush KNOWS he will have a better chance to WIN the election if he brings the troops home
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Good point. And having the word of the U.S. being willing to leave if asked starting from lower down the chain distances Bush from having had them say that.
 
Originally posted by: conjur
Originally posted by: dahunan
Bush KNOWS he will have a better chance to WIN the election if he brings the troops home
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Good point. And having the word of the U.S. being willing to leave if asked starting from lower down the chain distances Bush from having had them say that.
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What happened to the "stay the course" BS GWB borrowed from the old man?
 
And then a very shaky Iraqi gov will take control, fall a few months later and civil war starts. And then its "dont look at us, the Iraqis blew it".
 
Originally posted by: Czar
And then a very shaky Iraqi gov will take control, fall a few months later and civil war starts. And then its "dont look at us, the Iraqis blew it".
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YEP and the Kurds will BE MURDERED AGAIN... because we CREATED CHAOS AND LEFT
 
If Bush is smart he will withdraw quickly. Obviously, the country will continue to disintegrate if the US leaves. However, Americans will quickly forget about it if the adminstration stops issueing propoganda about it and people do not hear about troop casualties. I'm not saying this would be right, but I think it would help Bush's re-election.
 
Iraqi Leaders Demand More Powers from Washington

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders and some of the United States' closest allies in the occupation demanded on Tuesday that Washington relinquish more powers than it intended to the Iraqi government due to regain sovereignty next month.

An Iraqi delegation will leave for the United Nations on Wednesday to seek full control of oil revenues and an end to the heavy legacy of war reparations left by Saddam Hussein.

Its standing among Iraqis battered by a scandal over prisoner abuse and a failure to halt violence in which the head of Iraq's Governing Council was killed on Monday, Washington is offering somewhat less than total control to an Iraqi interim government which it will establish, with U.N. help, on June 30.

Heading for talks with President Bush, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he wanted a ``clear breakthrough'' on giving Iraqis real power.

Some 135,000 U.S. troops will stay in the country for the foreseeable future and U.S. generals will control Iraq's new defense forces, which are still being established.

The cost in American blood and dollars is weighing on Bush's campaign for re-election in November. But Washington and Baghdad are agreed that a sudden U.S. departure would risk bloodier anarchy in a country of religious and ethnic divides.

Yet there are signs of impatience among Iraqis, some of whom see the U.S. troops more as part of the problem than the solution, and among U.S. allies anxious for an ``exit strategy.''

CONTROL OF OIL

Limitations on economic sovereignty, notably control over the world's second-biggest oil reserves, and international negotiations over a new U.N. resolution to approve the U.S. handover plan prompted Iraq to send representatives to New York.

``Iraq must have a say in the next U.N. resolution,'' Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid al-Bayati told Reuters. ``Iraq must be fully in charge of its resource wealth.''

Iraq still owes some $280 billion in reparations for Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, a vast sum compared to the $9 billion its ravaged oil industry has earned since the U.S.-led invasion in March last year.

Planning Minister Mehdi al-Hafedh, a candidate for prime minister in the interim government, told Reuters: ``It is unjust for Iraq to pay for the crimes of Saddam with its future.''

Washington wants an international board that monitors Iraq's oil accounts to remain in place after the June 30 handover.

Another staunch U.S. ally Poland, with 2,400 troops in Iraq, also called on Washington to ensure full sovereignty for Iraqis.
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Originally posted by: conjur
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/16211.html

TONY Blair and George W Bush have speeded up their work on a new plan to ensure the new Iraqi administration to be set up on June 30 is a sovereign government supported by a new UN resolution, according to the prime minister's spokesman last night.

As Robin Cook, Mr Blair's former cabinet colleague, stepped up pressure for a change in strategy in Iraq and anti-war campaigners demanded that the prime minister seek a fresh political mandate if he decides to send more troops there, Downing Street admitted it had announced details of the new strategy in an attempt to convince the public that it had a grip of the political and military strategies.

The prime minister's spokesman, insisting that Mr Blair was not diverted by speculation over his future but was concentrating on getting the job done, denied the new strategy was a panic measure to silence the anti-war critics on both sides of the Atlantic.

He said: "They have been working on a joint strategy for the last few weeks and it has speeded up in the last few days. It is a recognition that people need to see we have a grip, that we are not there for ever amen, politically or militarily.

"Neither is this a case of cutting and running, but showing we have a strategy of achieving what we said we wanted to achieve: the transfer of authority to an Iraqi government and responsibility to an Iraqi security system."

Mr Blair is visiting Turkey today, when he is expected to explain the strategy in neighbouring Iraq. However, he would have been in little doubt about the feelings of some factions in the country when last night, on the eve of his visit, three bombs exploded outside branches of the British bank, HSBC, in Ankara and Istanbul.

The bombs caused minor damage and no casualties but were a sharp reminder of four devastating blasts which targeted British and Jewish targets in Istanbul in November, including the main local offices of HSBC in the city. Sixty one people, including the British consul, Roger Short, died in those attacks, blamed on a Turkish Islamist group linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Yesterday, Mr Cook demanded the government find a quick exit strategy for British troops once the elections are held next January since they were now so unpopular, but Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, gave his remarks short shrift. Expressing disappointment in his former cabinet colleague, Mr Hoon said: "I worked with him when he was foreign secretary. He knows these decisions have to be taken in light of events on the ground . . . events for the moment certainly require the presence of British troops on the ground."

According to a report in a Sunday newspaper, allies of Gordon Brown believe Mr Cook would return to the cabinet if Mr Blair stood down to make way for the chancellor. But there are those who believe Mr Brown would never consider reinstating Mr Cook.

Whitehall sources suggested yesterday that the prime minister had taken advantage of a nervous US administration to persuade them to embrace the UN and speed up the handover of political and military control in Iraq.

Downing Street disclosed the new plan was proceeding on a twin approach.

On the security side, the coalition was speeding up creation of the Iraqi army, civil defence and intelligence services, and had focused on creating and training Iraqi authorities. Major General David Petraeus has been put in charge of the speeded-up process and British sources said he is keen to learn lessons from the south of Iraq where the British troops were in charge of security.

On the political side, the coalition has accepted there "must be a real, visible difference when power is transferred on June 30 and that there is a sovereign Iraqi government which is supported by a new UN resolution that will set out arrangements for a multi-national force".

The net was closing yesterday around the soldiers behind the faked Daily Mirror Iraqi prisoner abuse photographs. Military investigators hope that the newspaper will reveal their identities this week.
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when they run *ahem* go toward the exits will they be pack pedaling or forward pedaling?
 
Originally posted by: Genx87
Amazing how you can argue in another thread that there is no "accelerated exit strategy".
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Yes, and the fact you cannot understand the points behind each speaks volumes about your (lack of) intelligence.
 
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