Iraq Fears U.S. Will Leave Too Soon

According to the Democrats, the U.S. is currently "occupying" Iraq. In their view, our military is not there as a liberating force. They say we don't belong there and Iraqis want us out immediately.

Oh really?

From AP:

UNITED NATIONS - Iraq's foreign minister said he's concerned the United States may pull out of the country before the army and police are ready to take responsibility for the nation's security

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari meets with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley on Thursday, and his wide-ranging agenda includes "the continued engagement" of the United States in Iraq.

The Iraqi minister came to New York to urge the U.N. Security Council to extend the mandate of the U.S.-led multinational force, saying Iraqi troops and police cannot yet defend the country against an armed insurgency by remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime and some foreigners.

The council responded positively, issuing a statement Tuesday extending the mandate and saying it looks forward to Iraqi security forces playing a greater role and ultimately assuming responsibility for the country's national security.

Acting U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson, speaking on behalf of the multinational force, told the council it won't remain in Iraq any longer than necessary. But if Iraqi authorities want the force to stay, it shouldn't leave "until the Iraqis can meet the serious security challenges they face," she said.

Even though Zebari repeated numerous times in his speech to the council that Iraq still can't survive on its own and needs help, the foreign minister said Iraq isn't certain Washington will stay engaged.

"I am concerned — I am concerned," Zebari said in an interview at the United Nations late Tuesday. "I'm a realist, OK, and we've seen that before. We need to complete this mission with their help. We are getting very close. The riding is getting tougher."

..."A specific timeline for the withdrawal of multinational forces cannot be set," Patterson said, and "any decision regarding force size will be driven by events on the ground."

Hear that Dems??? Iraq's concern is not that U.S. forces are "occupying" their country. They fear we will leave too soon.

Flashback to January 27, 2005. Remember this?

AP reported:

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military’s continued presence in Iraq is fanning the flames of conflict and signals the need for a new detailed timeline to bring the troops home, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said Thursday.

Just three days before the Iraqi people go to the polls to elect a new government, Kennedy, D-Mass., said the United States must give Iraq back to its people rather than continue an occupation that parallels the failed politics of the Vietnam war.

“The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution,” Kennedy said at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. “We need a new plan that sets fair and realistic goals for self-government in Iraq and works with the Iraqi government on a specific timetable for the honorable homecoming of our forces.”

At least 12,000 U.S. troops should leave at once, he said, “to send a stronger signal about our intentions to ease the pervasive sense of occupation.”

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and Kennedy certainly have different perspectives. Zebari is lobbying for the continued engagement of the U.S. He sees our presence as a necessary and critical part of the solution, not part of the problem.

This is completely opposite of Kennedy's assessment. He yammered that we need “to send a stronger signal about our intentions to ease the pervasive sense of occupation.”

At the time, Kennedy's words were irresponsible, misinformed, and, as usual, imbecilic.

In retrospect, his ramblings are shown to be even more preposterous. Obviously, Kennedy's heated rhetoric was not grounded in facts. It was based in the Dems' unsound strategy to oppose all that the Bush administration promotes. Following this plan only serves to make them look kooky.

Sadly, the Democrats have become a party of falsifiers. Everything they say should be considered with that in mind.