281105:US 6MONTHS TO GET RIGHT IN IRAQ Body

30-Nov-2005

AddedNote: I think the US Admin suggested small troop withdrawl, atleast, must be taken as "public recognition" for its failures in Iraq. Whether this democrat senator initiated withdraw scheme was entirely feasible, he seems to be right in suggesting there is only "six months windows period" to get things rights.

The net of WMD investigation on the Bush Administration is ever closing in, we might even see George Bush impeachment proceedings by the time next year. That will be music to the ears for those folks in alt.impeach.bush.

Have a nice day to all. -- U Ne Oo.

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US ADMITS 50,000 TROOPS TO QUIT IRAQ

From correspondents in Washington

www.theaustralian.news.com.au-printpage-0,5942,17387584,00.html

28nov05

THE White House has admitted it has an Iraq withdrawal plan, arguing that a troop pullout blueprint unveiled this past week by a Democratic senator was "remarkably similar" to its own.

The Bush administration also signalled its acceptance of a recent US Senate amendment designed to pave the way for a phased US military withdrawal from the violence-torn country.

The statement late on Saturday by White House spokesman Scott McClellan came in response to a commentary published in The Washington Post by Joseph Biden, the top Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which he said US forces will begin leaving Iraq next year "in large numbers." 20

The United States will move about 50,000 servicemen out of the country by the end of 2006, and "a significant number" of the remaining 100,000 the year after, according to Senator Biden's article. 20

The plan calls for leaving only an unspecified "small force" either in Iraq or across the border to strike at concentrations of insurgents. 20

In the White House statement, which was released under the headline "Senator Biden Adopts Key Portions Of Administration's Plan For Victory In Iraq," Mr McClellan said the administration of President George W. Bush welcomed Biden's voice in the debate. 20

"Today, Senator Biden described a plan remarkably similar to the administration's plan to fight and win the war on terror," the spokesman went on to say. 20

Mr McClellan added that as Iraqi security forces gain strength and experience, "we can lessen our troop presence in the country without losing our capability to effectively defeat the persons." 20

Mr McClellan said the White House now saw "a strong consensus" building in Washington in favour of Bush's strategy in Iraq. 20

Speaking on US television overnight, Senator Biden said that with or without a near-term troop withdrawal, the window is rapidly closing on the opportunity for a US success in Iraq. 20

Even if conditions on the ground there improve, "I have to admit that I think the chances are not a lot better than 50-50," the Democratic lawmaker said. 20

"Are we going to have traded a dictator for chaos? Or are we going to have traded a dictator for a stable Iraq? That's the real question. And that depends on the president's actions from here out," said Senator Biden. 20

Less than two weeks ago, McClellan blasted Democratic Representative John Murtha for calling for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. 20

McClelland accused Murtha of "endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore," a stridently anti-war Hollywood filmmaker. 20

Senator Biden's ideas, relayed first in a November 21 speech in New York, however, got a much friendlier reception. 20

Even though President Bush has never publicly issued his own withdrawal plan and criticised calls for an early exit, the White House said many of the ideas expressed by the senator were its own. 20

The Biden plan calls for preparatory work to be done in the first six months of next year, ahead of the envisaged pullout. It includes: 20

-- forging a compromise among Iraqi factions, under which the Sunnis must accept that they no longer rule Iraq and Shiites and Kurds admit them into a power-sharing arrangement 20

-- building Iraq's governing capacity 20

-- transferring authority to Iraqi security forces 20

-- establishing a contact group of the world's major powers to become the Iraqi government's primary international interlocutor

The White House statement also embraced a Senate amendment to a defence authorisation bill overwhelmingly pbutted by the Senate on November 15 that asked the administration to make next year "a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty" thereby creating conditions "for the phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq." 20

The measure was largely seen as a reprimand to the Bush administration, which has often been accused of lacking a viable strategy in Iraq. 20

But the White House insisted this had been its plan all along "The fact is that the Senate amendment reiterates the president's strategy in Iraq," the statement said.