Maliki: Iraqis could assume security by June 2007

[matcom]

<snip>

WASHINGTON --Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Thursday that his country's forces would be able to assume security command by June 2007 -- which could allow the United States to start withdrawing its troops.

"I cannot answer on behalf of the U.S. administration but I can tell you that from our side our forces will be ready by June 2007," Maliki told ABC television after meeting President Bush on Thursday in Jordan.

Maliki was replying to a question about whether U.S. troops could start withdrawing at that time. ABC released a transcript of the interview ahead of its broadcast later on Thursday.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/30/maliki_iraqis_could_assume_security_by_june_2007?mode=PF

[acmavm]

1. If he wants to stay alive for a long time he'd better plan on us

never leaving.

[wisteria]

2. He has made those types of comments before and they amount to nothing.

I suspect we are being manipulated and pacified.

[meegbear]

3. Maliki making an statement ?!?

dubya's gonna be pissed!

[matcom]

4. a TIMETABLE no less!

:rofl:

[meegbear]

5. He must be trying to shake his 'punk' status ...

being known in the world as "bush's bitch" ain't the way I'd want to be remembered.

[gkhouston]

10. I think he's trying to shake his "corpse-to-be" status.

Hope he succeeds.

[lapfog_1]

6. The magic 6 or 7 months away from complete control...

Sorry, we've heard that number before. The trend lines all say otherwise.

[independentpiney]

12. Yep, how many times have we heard 6 or 7 months now? n/t

[endarkenment]

7. or October 2007, or March 2008, or June 2009 or sometime in 2012.

it could happen.

[Massachusetts]

8. Maliki: Iraqis could assume security by June 2007

Scratch that, I meant to say Iranians could assume security by 2007..............

[warrens]

9. I'll count on it. Not.

[Tempest]

11. He's right

But when he says "from our side our forces will be ready", he's talking about the Shia militias that support him and he answers to, not the Iraqi army.

[some guy]

13. agreed

they did reportedly just come to agreement with Iran on Iraqi security.

Such a clusterfuck. I did recognize before the invasion that it was a bad idea, but I don't think I foresaw it totally destabilizing the entire middle east, which is what's coming. I think we're nearing the point where Arabs and Persians and Turks and Kurds completely redraw the national boundaries that Britain imposed nearly a hundred years ago.