Democracy with Honor

FOXNews.com - U.S. Officials Sympathetic to Al-Maliki Weapons Request

President Bush and members of his administration aren’t taking offense to comments by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who argued Wednesday that U.S. troops could go home sooner if the U.S. military lived up to its commitment to arm Iraqi forces.

“A lot of people here doubt he’s going to take the moves necessary. He has been constantly asking for an upgrade of troops as well as equipment and we’re providing that. We may not be providing it as quickly as he wants, but nevertheless, it’s a good sign the prime minister says, ‘Just give us the capabilities,’” Bush said Thursday in an interview with the Belo network.

“That’s precisely what my new strategy and new plan is attempting to do,” Bush said.

Other officials echoed the president.

“I dispute the characterization that he was very critical of the president,” White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said. “We’ve said it’s important to make sure there is more money, training and equipment for the Iraqi forces. Also, this is another indication that here’s a guy who’s serious about taking on responsibility when it comes to providing security within Iraq.”

On Wednesday, al-Maliki told an Italian newspaper that if the U.S. military had equipped Iraqi troops with more and better weapons, they could begin drawing down troops.

Give the Shiites guns and call it a “peaceful, stable, and secure” Iraq. What the Hell. Let’s let them “stand up.” I never wanted to be caught in the middle of a Sunni-Shiite banana anyway.

Comments

  1. Grim wrote:

    It seems to me that we bear some responsibility for weapons we distribute. Not that I’m not broadly in favor of the idea — actually, it sounds pretty good. I’d just like to ensure that we likewise arm and train some of those tribes in al Anbar who have worked with us, so that we don’t see the situation turn into a general ethnic cleansing.

    Suppress the violence and create order? Fine. Suppress the Sunnis? Well, some of them have worked with us, and deserve better from us than that. We can probably get by with passing out rifles to those few who don’t have them, and teaching them defensive tactics. That should raise the cost of cleansing beyond what the new government wants to pay, without giving Sunnis a greatly increased capability for insurgency.

    Those who haven’t worked with us, Sunni or otherwise — good luck, boys. Whether we leave now or later, once we are gone, the Iraqi government isn’t going to be as gentle as we have been.

    Posted 23 Jan 2007 at 2:43 pm

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