Much Ado About Nothing
So Blair flies into Baghdad's Green Zone and announces that the withdrawal of British and American forces is to begin.
This, coupled with the formation of the new Iraqi government, is surely the beginning of the end of the Iraqi operation?
Well, that's what they want you to think.
That's Tony's latest spin as he attempts one last push to rewrite the nightmare that is Iraq on his C.V.
Yesterday Nuri al-Maliki, the new Iraqi prime minister, told a joint press conference with Mr Blair in Baghdad that Iraqi forces could take over from the US-led coalition in 16 of the country's 18 provinces by the end of the year.
Mr Blair and Mr Maliki said the "process of transition" would start in some provinces in the coming months, and that "by the end of this year responsibility for much of Iraq's territorial security should have been transferred to Iraqi control".
Mr Blair, in his fifth visit to Iraq since the invasion, flew to Baghdad to become the first leader to greet the new Iraqi government, which was inaugurated on Saturday. Mr Blair is investing his hopes of salvaging his legacy in the new Iraqi prime minister and described the government as "a new beginning" after three years of hard struggle.
President Bush echoed him yesterday, saying that the new government was "the beginning of something new; constitutional democracy at the heart of the Middle East". Mr Bush acknowledged that there had been mistakes in Iraq, but said repeatedly that there had been "incremental" progress.
However, the numbers are nowhere near as dramatic as their claims would lead you to believe.
They are talking about reducing British troops from 8,000 to 5,000 and US troops from 133,000 to around 100,000. It's hardly what could be called earth-shattering after three years of combat. We should also bear in mind that, in about six months time, Bush will have employed US troops in Iraq longer than it took the US to rid Europe of Nazism.And, lest we forget, both Bush and Blair are now rescinding on earlier promises never to name timetables for fear of fear of emboldening the Iraqi insurgency.
There's no consistency to these people. They are literally making it up as they go along.
To be fair, there is always the chance that Blair was mugged by al-Maliki, and that he didn't see the claims that the new Iraqi Prime Minister made coming - although even that level of generosity towards Mister Blair begs the question of who exactly is in charge of this nightmare.
What remains constant is the US and UK's governments attempts to always portray Iraq is the most positive light.
Blair claimed yesterday that, 'We have a government of national unity that crosses all boundaries. Iraqi people are able to write the next chapter of their history themselves.'
As he said those words, two car bombs killed nine people in Baghdad, and at least twenty three died in other parts of Iraq bringing the death toll to 848 for May alone.
Mr Blair stayed overnight in Kuwait and then travelled into Baghdad's high-security green zone by Chinook helicopter. After meeting the prime minister, Mr Blair saw the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, who hailed him as "a great friend to the people of Iraq".
The very fact that Blair flew into the Green Zone in a Chinook helicopter, flanked on either side by machine gunmen, gives a more realistic idea of the state of security in the capital than one could ever glean from Blair's rosy text.
The US and UK forces do not have any control of the capital more than one third of a mile outside the Green Zone.
It is against that background that these claims of imminent withdrawal should be measured.
Click title for full article.
Related Articles:
No comments:
Post a Comment