Iraq Timetable Rejected

[Diamond Cross]

Rumsfeld rejects Iraq timetable

By John Diamond and Steven Komarow, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — American officials running the war in Iraq told skeptical lawmakers Thursday that the conflict is not turning into a quagmire despite an unabating insurgency, and they rejected calls to impose limits on how long U.S. troops should stay there.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers testify Thursday.Alex Wong, Getty Images

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and three top generals faced tough questioning in a Senate hearing, including a renewed call by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., for Rumsfeld's resignation. Rumsfeld said President Bush has twice rejected offers by him to resign.

The hearing came a week after a bipartisan group of House members, including Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., proposed setting a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal. (Video: Senators clash with Rumsfeld)

"This war has been consistently and grossly mismanaged," Kennedy said.
If U.S. and other coalition forces leave before Iraqi forces are able to maintain control, Rumsfeld said, the world would have to "confront another Iraqi regime, perhaps even more dangerous than the last." (Related audio: Rumsfeld testifies)

Concern about the war and about when the 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq can begin to withdraw was not confined to Democrats. "Public support in my state is turning," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he is "very worried" about the impact of the war on military recruiting.

Gen. John Abizaid, who commands all U.S. forces across the Middle East, said, "There are more foreign fighters coming into Iraq than there were six months ago." He said the insurgency's strength is "about the same" as it was then. Vice President Cheney, who said in a CNN interview last month that the insurgency was in its "last throes," stood by that comment in another CNN interview Thursday. He acknowledged that "there will be a lot of violence, a lot of bloodshed" in the coming months in Iraq.

The potency of the insurgency was demonstrated again in Baghdad on Thursday as insurgent car bombs struck four Shiite mosques, killing 15.
Rumsfeld, also accompanied by Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called his field commanders, Abizaid and Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, to Washington for consultations. Bush was set today to meet Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari at the White House.

From

USATODAY.com - Rumsfeld rejects Iraq timetable

Me:

The people who're there in Iraq know better than anybody what is going on there because they're right there in the middle of it all. They should be allowed to finish the job and to clean up the terrorists (the so-called insurgents) that are still there, and the troops should be given the freedom to act accordingly.

[Scrum]

He will be gone soon and thigs will change with the Baker report.

[kinggovernor]

Posted 6/23/2005

what is your point?

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

Posted 6/23/2005

what is your point?

I didn't even notice that.

[Diamond Cross]

Whoops, I'm sorry, even I didn't notice the date on that one. In the Sacramento Bee today is an article about the Generals that are rejecting the current proposed timeline and thought this was the same thing.

But the Democrats should listen to the Generals that are in the fieldfor they should know better than anybody else what is needed to be done over the armchair generals.

[ballz2wallz]

/thread