Bush Forced Maliki To Drop Withdrawal Plan - In 2006!

By Cernig

Here's a must-read by Gareth Porter at UPI:

Many official and unofficial proponents of a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq are dismissing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's demand for a U.S. timeline for withdrawal as political posturing, assuming that he will abandon it under pressure.

But that demand was foreshadowed by an episode in June 2006 in which al-Maliki circulated a draft policy calling for negotiation of just such a withdrawal timetable and the George W. Bush administration had to intervene to force the prime minister to drop it.

Back then, Maliki's predecessor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, and the Iraqi national security advisor, Mowaffak al-Rubaei, had developed a plan for Iraq to take over security in all 18 provinces by the end of 2007. The key component of the deal was an agreement with all the largest Sunni tribes that they would cease insurgent actions if there was a timetable for U.S. withdrawal by the end of 2008. Maliki, upon taking over from Jaafari, referred to the plan publicly twice - but when Bush got wind of it he made a surprise visit to Baghdad to personally force Maliki - with only five minutes notice of a summons to meet the Emperor - to nix the deal.

How different the current Iraqi situation, and the context of the 2008 elections, might have been. But Bush and his neocon Wormtongues truly believe they have the right to own Iraq forever - a sentiment John McCain wholeheartedly agrees with.