"Iraqis get an earful from Rumsfeld"

[Bluebear]

"Hurry up and form your government or I'll sock you" -- and what's up with all these SURPRISE (!) visits to Iraq? Does Bush and Rumsfeld and company not believe their own press releases that everything is safer, hospitals and churches are being built etc etc? Why the need for surprise if such great progress has been made?

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BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday. NBC News’ Charles Sabine reports from Baghdad on the message Rumsfeld brought to Iraqi leaders, mainly stressing the need to quickly establish a new government.

Rumsfeld’s message was made extremely loudly and clearly in his indomitable style when he told the interim Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari about Washington’s frustration with the fact that 10 weeks after the historic elections here in Iraq, the government has still yet to be formed.

The defense secretary made the Iraqi officials fully aware of his belief that this delay is having damaging effects on Iraq’s future. It not only undermines the faith of the Iraqi people in democracy. But, every day the formation of the government is delayed is yet another day that U.S. troops are going to have to remain in this country. In addition, the power vacuum only feeds the insurgency that is making the daily lives of regular Iraqis so miserable.

There were numerous vivid illustrations that the insurgency is still alive on Tuesday. As Rumsfeld was meeting with both Iraqi politicians and later with U.S. military commanders there was an incident in Mosul, to the north of Baghdad, where five civilians were killed after a car bomb attack on a U.S. convoy there.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7476696/

[BigMcLargehuge]

1. Did he also offer to sell them mustard gas?

[Brotherjohn]

3. ROTFL!!

:rofl:

[Bluebear]

4. There ya go.

[Brotherjohn]

2. I love the way he told them THEY need to get a handle on the insurgency.

We've got 150,000 troops over there...
the insurgency started to fight those 150,000 troops...
and he tells them "It's YOUR problem!"

What a laugh riot!:sarcasm:

This visit was simply a "wash our hands" visit, in preparation for when we leave the country in chaos, and to act as though they have a functioning government (HINT: one that's not US). Bush can say "We've been TELLING them they need to get rid of the insurgency for years!"

It means nothing. But he'll still say it.

[skypilot]

5. "I'm gripping something in my hand...

...It could be a known known or a known unknown or an unknown unknown or..."

[Bluebear]

7. Maybe he's playing rock, paper, scissors for the oil fields

[0007]

6. Wish the Iraqis would tell Rummy that they want to go nuclear

like Israel and until such time if Rumsfeld can't help, well he'll just have to keep the U.S. troops there.

What's good for Israel should be good for a new Democratic Iraq.