Good question, if somewhat backward
So, Kevin Drum is startled by the Allies all saying they'll leave after June 30th "if we're asked to."
SOVEREIGNTY UPDATE....On Wednesday I mentioned that the UK foreign secretary had told a talk show host that if the Iraqis wanted us to leave after June 30, then we'd leave. I was....surprised.
Then, on Thursday, a State Department lackey said that was our policy too. However he was contradicted shortly afterward by Lt. Gen. Walter Sharp, the policy and plans director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
On Friday, Paul Bremer contradicted Sharp's contradiction: we'll leave if the Iraqis ask us to, he said. Finally, later on Friday, Colin Powell, echoed by the foreign ministers of Britain, Italy and Japan, confirmed that this was everyone's policy: the Iraqis are in charge after June 30. If they want us to leave, we'll leave.
What do you think are the odds they'll ask us to leave? Pretty small, I'd say. It'll be a demand.
People are getting all confused about this. Apparently the people who've been supporting this drop dead date only did so because they didn't really believe the troops would be gone. The point was to be able to claim no responsibility for any grief that arose after that date…hopefully that would give folks enough time to forget about it by the time November came around.
Kevin pointed to a TNR article which says:
It's not like Bush hasn't put his political interests ahead of the nation's. Remember when Bush signed on to the November 15 Agreement, which locked us into this June 30 deadline for transferring power? He didn't do that because Iraqis had significantly increased demands for political authority--he did it because the U.S. took several weeks of pronounced, dramatic casualties in the insurgency, such as the downing of Black Hawk helicopters, and he saw what images like those would mean in an election year.
Now an election year is here, and the images aren't getting any better. Bush needs to say whether he agrees with Powell and Bremer. (And if he says he doesn't think Iraqis would tell us to leave, that's playing with fire, as the post below argues.)
So why the surprise?
I'll tell you what surprises me: Powell getting his mouth to fit around another talking point. I'm more interested in whether Powell agrees with Bush
Well, I guess I'm not surprised. He's the closest thing the Bushistas have to a trustworthy entity. And he is, after all, a Good German Soldier.
