It looks like John Murtha is flat out wrong again.
It’s not the US troops’ fault that there is violence in Iraq after all…
And… It surely isn’t the Iranians who want the US to remain in Iraq as Murtha wrongly suggests in this interview with Face the Nation here:
“Let me tell you, the only people who want us in Iraq is Iran and al-Qaeda. I’ve talked to a top-level commander the other day, it was about two weeks ago, and he said China wants us there also.”
In fact… The Iraqis want the US to stay in Iraq…
And… They said so this week!
Iraqi News website Voices of Iraq (Aswat al-Iraq) and Pat Dollard are reporting that the Iraqis not only want the US to stay in Iraq today, but that they want permanent US bases!
Baghdad, Aug 30, (VOI)- Iraqi Foreign Minster Hoshyar Zibari said on Thursday an expanded conference for Iraq’s neighboring countries is to convene in Baghdad in early September, unveiling that Iraq is seeking a long-term security agreement with the U.S. next year once the U.N. mandate given to the Multi-National Forces’ presence in the country was over. Iraq wants to establish a long-term U.S. military presence many years into the future, likely to include permanent bases.
“Iraq is currently making preparations for a meeting that will include Iraq’s neighbors, U.N. Security Council permanent members and G8 on the experts’ level during the first week of September in Baghdad,” Hoshyar Zibari told a news conference today in Baghdad.
The Iraqi minister stressed that the meeting is expected to review the points implemented by the three work committees set up by the Sharm al-Sheikh conference held in May in the fields of energy, security and Iraqi refugees.
“The conference is also to discuss the preparations for the ministerial conference scheduled in Istanbul,” Zibari told reporters.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Foreign Minister unveiled that Iraq “is seeking the signatory of a long-term security agreement with the U.S. next year once the U.N. mandate given to the presence of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq was over.”
Minister Zibari noted that the agreement recently reached among the Iraqi political leaders included a clause indicating the readiness of the Iraqi government to have a long-term partnership with the U.S. in security.
Hat Tip BG
It looks like it’s not just the “cold-blooded” Haditha case that is falling apart on the antiwar democrat.
Related… Katie Couric reports good news from Iraq(?)
Via Glenn Reynolds.
