Iraqis say 'No Thank You' to Indefinite Geopolitical Interventionism

The report coming from Iraq is that Iraqi lawmakers have given the political middle finger to the Smirking POTUS and his neoconservative foreign policy wish list.

Iraqis Condemn American Demands

BAGHDAD, June 10 -- High-level negotiations over the future role of the U.S. military in Iraq have turned into an increasingly acrimonious public debate, with Iraqi politicians denouncing what they say are U.S. demands to maintain nearly 60 bases in their country indefinitely.

Top Iraqi officials are calling for a radical reduction of the U.S. military's role here after the U.N. mandate authorizing its presence expires at the end of this year. Encouraged by recent Iraqi military successes, government officials have said that the United States should agree to confine American troops to military bases unless the Iraqis ask for their assistance, with some saying Iraq might be better off without them.

"The Americans are making demands that would lead to the colonization of Iraq," said Sami al-Askari, a senior Shiite politician on parliament's foreign relations committee who is close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "If we can't reach a fair agreement, many people think we should say, 'Goodbye, U.S. troops. We don't need you here anymore.' "

Congress has grown increasingly restive over the negotiations, which would produce a status of forces agreement setting out the legal rights and responsibilities of U.S. troops in Iraq and a broader "security framework" defining the political and military relationship between the two countries. Senior lawmakers of both parties have demanded more information and questioned the Bush administration's insistence that no legislative approval is required.

Perhaps this latest bid for Iraqi sovereignty on the part of the Iraqi lawmakers will put a rhetorical dent in the argument that repeats the tired refrain that the U.S. needs to maintain a military presence in Iraq in order to prevent a sectarian civil war. In typical fashion though, our soon-to-be-departed POTUS referred to these nationalistic rumblings as mere "noise".

Bush Confident Iraq Troop Level Agreement Will Be Reached

MESEBERG, Germany, June 11-- President Bush said Wednesday he is confident the United States would reach an agreement on the role of U.S. forces in Iraq, calling opposition to a U.S. proposal part of the "noise" of a freer Iraqi society.

Bush, appearing at a news conference here with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "appreciates our presence there" and suggested that much of the local opposition to a status of forces agreement was based on inaccurate media reports and misunderstandings.

"There's all kinds of noise in their system and our system," Bush said. ". . . I think we'll get the agreement done."

Top Iraqi officials are calling for a dramatic reduction of the U.S. role in Iraq after the United Nations mandate for the U.S. military presence in the country expires later this year. Iraqi critics complain that the agreement proposed by the United States would turn Iraq into a virtual colony and allow the United States to maintain nearly 60 bases in their country indefinitely.

Bush administration officials say a deal is necessary to preserve order in the battered country, and that a new agreement "will not involve permanent bases, nor will it bind any future president to troop levels."

With the U.N. mandate expiring, Iraqi officials calling for a dramatic reduction of the U.S. role in Iraq, and the Senate Committee report about the faulty use of pre-war intelligence by the managerial class of the out-going administration, perhaps the "noise" that the POTUS is complaining about is really just the buzz of plain old Common Sense.