in their own words
 |
|
|
|
 Press Briefing by Tony Snow 2/26/07 (Topic: Iraq) — Tuesday, February 27, 2007 — MR. SNOW: Here's what he was talking about: What he said was that in certain parts of the south in Iraq, you have now the ability to transfer primarily security operations to Iraqi forces. The combat footprint of the Brits is the same as it was, they still have the same combat capabilities. But they have been able to move out a number of people who have been involved in stationary guarding activities, and allow the Iraqis to stand up and take responsibility for some of those. That has always been the aim on both sides, is to figure out ways to build greater capability on the part of the Iraqi fighting forces, and to hand it over to them. It is also important to note, as the Prime Minister and others have said, that this does not mean that the Brits are, in fact, slackening in their commitment to contributing to security. As a matter of fact, they talked, among other things, about the ability to remain flexible even in some of those places where the Iraqis are now engaged in guard activities. Q Do you also agree with the Vice President's assessment that the Democratic calls for a pullout in Iraq -- U.S. pullout -- validates the al Qaeda strategy? MR. SNOW: Yes. What he was saying was that the al Qaeda strategy has been to use acts of violence as a way to weaken will in the United States and to move out short of having success. Now I think the question -- really what the Vice President was merely doing was reiterating what's in the National Intelligence Estimate, and also the Baker-Hamilton commission. I would guide you to the section there where it talks about precipitant withdrawal, which is not three to six months, but 12 to 18 months. That was regarded as the kind of thing that would create a power vacuum that would unleash incredible sectarian violence, could lead to much greater bloodshed than we now see in Iraq, would create levels of instability that not only would create opportunity for terrorists, but also for Iran and others, and therefore would be unacceptable. What the Vice President merely was reiterating is the consensus view of the intelligence community and of the Baker-Hamilton commission. Q Do you see a contradiction at all in the fact that when the Brits pull out, it's a success on the ground, that's why they're pulling out; when the Democrats call for U.S. troop pullout, it's, well, the job is not finished, they want to help al Qaeda. MR. SNOW: No. Maybe I didn't explain it clearly enough. The Brits were pulling out a small number of forces precisely because they were able to transition authority to the Iraqis and they had succeeded. This was not withdrawing on a time line; this was not saying, we're going to leave no matter what. The goal of the Brits is to win. And the goal in some of these resolutions is to leave. There is a difference. White House Press Corps | Press Briefing | Tony Snow | News Media | Bush Administration | Iraq >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 1:00:00 AM
|
|
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
< whpc home