Nancy “The Blade” Pelosi Returns From Iraq
Posted by MichaelW on 31 Jan 2007 at 3:28 pm | Tagged as: MichaelW's Page, Foreign affairs, Domestic Politics
Less than 24 hours after telling Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki “Go forward. We are all with you.”, and with rapidity that would make even Janus blush, U.S. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, returned home to declare “What is happening in Iraq is chaos.”:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has just returned from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. She sat down with NPR’s Renee Montagne, who asked her for one word to describe the situation in Iraq.
“Chaotic,” Pelosi said. “What is happening in Iraq is chaos.” She went on to say that after nearly four years in Iraq, “We just have to end it.”
While there, she met with various Iraqi and American officials, including the Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki. She said that in all of her conversations, she was disappointed that there didn’t seem to be a political strategy in Iraq to go along with the military strategy. She said that Maliki told her that the increased number of U.S. troops in Baghdad had to be successful in the next four to six months in securing the Iraqi capital.
“Everyone that we spoke to said that this escalation that the president is engaged in is the one last chance,” she said, adding, “Many did not believe it would be successful.”
I’m sure that Al-Maliki feels quite encouraged by Pelosi’s sentiments. But just in case the Iraqis were not clear on how the Madam Speaker stands behind them, Pelosi brandished her steely blade:
Pelosi also criticized the competence of Iraqi troops. She said that she did not believe the training effort had been serious, as the troops are still not ready. But, she added, after all that American troops have accomplished in Iraq — overthrowing Saddam, providing security for elections and a constitution and a new government — it is now an Iraqi responsibility to protect Iraqis.
“Whatever the adequacy of their troops,” she said, “it’s their responsibility now to get the job done. And the longer we stay the more dangerous the situation, the more deaths to Americans, and the less stable the country.”
To recap, Pelosi goes to Baghdad, assures the Prime Minister that the Democrat’s have his back despite any differences with Republicans, comes home and immediately declares the situation beyond repair, insults the Iraqi troops as inadequate, and declares that it’s time for the U.S. to leave.
But she supports the U.S. troops, right? Maybe it would be better if she didn’t.
Technorati Tags: Nancy Pelosi, Nouri Al-Maliki, Iraq, “support the troops”
5 Responses to “Nancy “The Blade” Pelosi Returns From Iraq”
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Nancy ‘the Blade’, or Nancy ‘the Bullet Dodger’. As bent as the Soviet sickle, and as hard as the hammer that crosses it. Apparently, it’s just impossible to kill the bastard. [/movie quote]
Heh. That’s one of my favorite movies.
[…] Original post by A Second Hand Conjecture and software by Elliott Back […]
Well to her credit she does aim her point straight at our remaining mission, to leave the elected government of Iraq capable of protecting itself. She didn’t twaddle on about some straw man, she jacked the real mission. But in doing so, she’s essentially saying screw the 80%+ of Iraqis who voted for a normal government. Hers is an argument for dishonor, but at least it’s an honest argument.
yours/
peter.
[…] Yes we do, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t in fact harm our effort. Life is full of tough contradictions and tensions, this is one of them. We often are told this is an ideological war and an information war. A war where how we are seen makes a compelling difference. I can’t argue against that, in fact I agree wholeheartedly. yet the same people who make this argument tell us that the debates in congress, the unwillingness to support our troops mission wholeheartedly has no bearing on the ultimate outcome of the conflict. That it does not affect our troops morale, the willingness of Iraqis to stand firm with us, and risk the price that they will pay if we decide to leave. That makes no sense to me. Maybe we should leave, but let us not lie to ourselves about what it means to them. We have heard from the troops repeatedly and Nancy Pelosi even heard it from the Iraqi government before lying to them. Who can blame Maliki for hedging his bets with the militias given we might leave them to their tender mercies if we leave? What might give him the idea we might? The Iraqi soldiers who will likely be slaughtered if we leave certainly are worried, what does that do to their morale? […]