Maliki should go, says Hillary Clinton

[nivi]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070822/pl_afp/usiraqpoliticsclinton_070822220656

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Leading Democratic Party presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton, on Wednesday urged the Iraqi parliament to get rid of embattled Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki saying he was not up to the job.
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She was speaking after Senator Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, hinted after a two-day visit to Iraq that Maliki should go.

Levin had "confirmed that the Iraqi governments failures have reinforced the widely held view that the Maliki government is nonfunctional and cannot produce a political settlement, because it is too beholden to religious and sectarian leaders," Clinton said in a statement.

"I share Senator Levin's hope that the Iraqi parliament will replace Prime Minister Maliki with a less divisive and more unifying figure when it returns in a few weeks."

Earlier Wednesday, President George W. Bush reaffirmed his support for the Iraqi leader, saying he was "a good guy, good man, with a difficult job, and I support him."

Clinton, who voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has made withdrawing the 160,000 troops in the country a plank of her campaign to win the Democratic Party nomination for the 2008 presidential elections.

"It is abundantly clear that there is no military solution to the sectarian fighting in Iraq. We need to stop refereeing the war, and start getting out now," she reiterated in her statement Wednesday.

That doesn't seem too democratic, does it? Maybe she is just giving it a test run before trying it at home.

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

Yeah right, let's urge more political instability in Iraq...

 

[Merkinball]

Yeah right, let's urge more political instability in Iraq...

Isn't that the idea? Iraq just HAS to fail.

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

Isn't that the idea? Iraq just HAS to fail.

Are you one of those people who think that the evil pinko lefties want America to lose the Iraq War?

 

[Merkinball]

Are you one of those people who think that the evil pinko lefties want America to lose the Iraq War?

Uhhh...

They do want America to lose the war. They are politically invested in losing the war.

I suppose that would be why when Patreaus reports, that if there is good news, one of the highest ranking Democrats said, "Well that would be very bad for us."

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, have both declared the war lost. In fact, the surge was a failure to these people before it was even fully implemented.

They are entrenched in defeat. If we should stay the course, if Iraq turns into anything positive, it would be a complete disaster for the Democrats. Which is why you now have Democrats continuiously pushing political short comings, and calling for Maliki's resignation all of a sudden now that military progress and regional political progress is being made.

 

[Gilder]

Isn't the White House writing Petraeaus' report?

 

[Merkinball]

Isn't the White House writing Petraeaus' report?

Per the Democrats request, yes.

 

[JohnRM]

Better headline...

Hillary Calls for Regime Change

 

[JollyRoger]

Maliki should be replaced in January 2009 by Bush. No retirement to Crawford until the mission is accomplished.

 

[MobBoss]

Are you one of those people who think that the evil pinko lefties want America to lose the Iraq War?

I precisely think that people like Cindy Sheehan would like to see us lose that war instead of fight it all-together...even more so since they are on record as saying as much...so yes.

 

[JollyRoger]

I precisely think that people like Cindy Sheehan would like to see us lose that war instead of fight it all-together...even more so since they are on record as saying as much...so yes.

Sheehan is on record for that proposition? Got a source?

 

[MobBoss]

Sheehan is on record for that proposition? Got a source?

Your're kidding right? I mean she even protests democrats who are not big enough surrender monkeys in her book. This one, I will leave for you to look up...it should be about as hard as googling 'cindy sheehan quotes'.

 

[Arwon]

Clinton's hardly the only onw having a go at Maliki. Both sides of Australian politics have been criticising him and his government lately.

 

[JollyRoger]

Your're kidding right? I mean she even protests democrats who are not big enough surrender monkeys in her book. This one, I will leave for you to look up...it should be about as hard as googling 'cindy sheehan quotes'.

I wasn't kidding and your search terms didn't reveal any. A bunch of anti-war and anti-Bush rhetoric, to be sure, but none wishing for us to lose.

 

[bhsup]

Withdrawing before the situation is stable IS a loss. So anyone urging that does indeed want us to lose.

 

[JollyRoger]

Withdrawing before the situation is stable IS a loss. So anyone urging that does indeed want us to lose.

Saddam is dead. We have verified that there isn't a WMD threat. Withdrawal now is a win and anybody saying otherwise just wants to mark one down in the L column.

 

[dh_epic]

The war is actually unwinnable. We are occupiers during a civil war between Sunnis and Shi'ites. Occupation either ends in annexation or withdrawal. Are we trying to annex Iraq?

Our troops are doing a great job of winning battles, but there's no conventional war there for the US to win.

 

[Merkinball]

A bunch of anti-war and anti-Bush rhetoric, to be sure, but none wishing for us to lose. - JollyRoger

Oh, it's a roundabout, politically friendly way of wanting us to lose. The entire idea is to make this a GOP failure. The only way to ensure that is to bring the troops home prematurely.

 

[JollyRoger]

Oh, it's a roundabout, politically friendly way of wanting us to lose. The entire idea is to make this a GOP failure. The only way to ensure that is to bring the troops home prematurely.

It already is a failure on the part of everyone who authorized this misadventure whether we leave today or leave a few decades from now. The failure is that if we bring the troops home today, it is post-mature, not premature. Four and a half years in and still sacrificing 70-130 lives and billions of dollars per month to 3rd world dead enders is a failure if you have the world's best military at your disposal.

 

[Ayatollah So]

Saddam is dead. We have verified that there isn't a WMD threat. Withdrawal now is a win and anybody saying otherwise just wants to mark one down in the L column.

Exactly. The stated aim of the war is achieved, verified absence of WMDs. The chief unstated aim, regime change, is also achieved. JollyRoger FTW!