Posted on 01/12/2008 10:26:26 AM PST by tobyhill
Camp Arifjan in the desert kingdom of Kuwait, America's depot to the Iraq war, feels about as far away as you can get from South Carolina, Super Tuesday and the election-year squabbles back home. And George W. Bush, who is currently midway through his six-nation tour of the Mideast, is doing a good job of distancing himself from the politics of 2008. But as Bush rallied U.S. troops at the base here on Saturday with a "Hoo-ah" and conferred with his Iraq dream team, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, he indicated that he was setting in motion policies that could dramatically affect the presidential race--and any decisions the next president makes in 2009.
In remarks to the traveling press, delivered from the Third Army operation command center here, Bush said that negotiations were about to begin on a long-term strategic partnership with the Iraqi government modeled on the accords the United States has with Kuwait and many other countries. Crocker, who flew in from Baghdad with Petraeus to meet with the president, elaborated: "We're putting our team together now, making preparations in Washington," he told reporters. "The Iraqis are doing the same. And in the few weeks ahead, we would expect to get together to start this negotiating process." The target date for concluding the agreement is July, says Gen. Doug Lute, Bush's Iraq coordinator in the White House--in other words, just in time for the Democratic and Republican national conventions.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Doing which? Staying in Iraq?
The ambiguity on the drawdown?
What? You mean the President is not following the drive-by media’s quagmire scenario/suggestions? Way to go W!
Sorry I wasn’t clear. I was referring to this article in Newsweek.... about the negotiations that are about to begin on a long-term strategic partnership with the Iraqi government and by doing this it is seen as somewhat “sneaky” and unilateral. What do you think?
Oh, Newsweek would perceive things that way.
I personally think the idea of a strategic partnership with Iraq is a great idea. It is crucial to our national security that we have a strong ally in the region. We had one once, but Jimmy Carter helped to muck that up pretty badly.
Iraq is large enough, centrally located and is richer in natural resources (aside from oil) than most other nations in the Middle East. A long-term strategic partnership would greatly benefit both nations in so many ways.
I’m reading that others think he should be doing this with the involvement of Congress. I say, what good would that do? We’d get nowhere and Bush knows it. Right?
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