White House responds to democratic phased Iraq withdrawal idea
Iraq-USA, Politics, 11/13/2006

The White House spokesman was asked today if a phased withdrawal from Iraq was talked about by the "Iraq Study Group" this morning while meeting with president George W. Bush.

This comes following the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who was very controversial, where the resignation came following a win by Democrats of both houses of Congress on what many have said is being due to dissatisfaction with the Bush policy in Iraq as being a major factor.

Snow said "Number one, I can't tell you any further what went on, other than what the President has said. But this was not a time -- this was not proposal shopping by the Iraq Study Group. They're going to have their proposals; we don't know what they are. It was a conversation, a general conversation about the situation there. They asked the President questions, he asked them questions. But there was care taken not to sort of try to prejudge or also to get a jump on what they're going to do. As far as phased withdrawal, the President has always said, look, this is dependent upon the conditions on the ground. And that remains our position. The President believes that as Commander-in-Chief it is his obligation to make sure that our forces get the job done so that people don't die in vain, have not died in vain. And, furthermore, that we have the ability, when this is all over, to be able to say to moderate Arab states, we have been here, we have defended your interests; to say to the Iraqi people, we have kept the faith with you; and to say to terrorists, you failed."

Snow added about the phased withdrawal idea "It's an idea that still doesn't have any detail in it. It isn't fleshed out. It is not something that allows you to have any metric by which somebody does this. And, furthermore.. there are more than -- there are a whole series of Democratic proposals... So what are the benchmarks?"

Asked about Senator Carl Levin, who is due to assume leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committe next year as a democrat, where Levin said in "four to six months, I'd like to see troops start coming home?" Snow said "I think what you need to do is to ask Democratic leaders who are now grappling with the fact that they're going to have real responsibilities. The New York Times said over the weekend, its slogans. Now what you have to do is to have firm proposals for dealing with what's going on. Senator Levin and others have made comments, but at this point, I don't think anything has gotten to the proposal stage. We are happy to take a look at anything that will achieve the goal that we've talked about, which is an Iraq that can defend itself, sustain itself and govern itself, to be an ally in the war on terror. It is also our view that, on the military -- from the military front, all those decisions ought to be made based on the conditions on the ground."

Snow was asked if previous President Bush, the father, either directly or indirectly offered his advice to his son, the current president, and that perhaps people like Eagleburger or Secretary Baker or anybody else be involved and should be listened to. Snow said "I have absolutely no idea. But keep in mind, you just mentioned Secretary Baker and Secretary Eagleburger -- they are part of a congressionally-appointed committee.. The President picked Bob Gates because he figured that he would be an effective Secretary of Defense, a sentiment that's been echoed by people at the Pentagon and in both parties on Capitol Hill. He picked a guy that he thought would be able to do the job."

Snow quoted Bush saying "any decisions made on troop levels, and any decisions made are going to be based on the conditions on the ground. He also mentioned that General Pace, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is also conducting a thorough-going study to take a look at all options for achieving our objectives. But the objectives are the same -- an Iraq that can sustain, govern and defend itself and be an ally in the war on terror."

Asked "We hear a lot about the fact that the President believes we're not succeeding quickly enough. He has replaced the Defense Secretary, he is now awaiting not only ideas from Democrats, but from an Iraq Study Group, he's chosen a new Defense Secretary from this group. Is this not an acknowledgment -- and some straight talk here -- that the policy in Iraq is broken?"

Snow replied "No, it's an acknowledgment that you've got a tough situation. What you've just -- what's interesting is that you tried to insinuate that Bob Gates was brought in by virtue of his membership in the Iraq Study Group, which isn't true."

Previous Stories:
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  Iran: US, UK should leave Iraq, region   (11/7/2006)
  White house denies differences with Iraqi PM   (10/31/2006)

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