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In another Woody Allen moment reminiscent
of George W. Bush pinning the Medal of Freedom on disgraced ex-CIA
Director George Tenet, a third George - General Casey - has taken
a page from the Democrats' troop withdrawal playbook.
After being prepped with the
Pentagon's 74-page cheat sheet about "staying the course"
rather than "cutting-and-running" from Iraq, the Republicans
walked in lockstep for the past two weeks, shooting down the
Democrats' calls for bringing our soldiers home.
Late last week, Casey, the
US commander in Iraq, condemned the concept of a withdrawal timetable.
"I don't like it," he declared. "I feel it would
limit my flexibility. I think it would give the enemy a fixed
timetable, and I think it would send a terrible signal to a new
government of national unity in Iraq that's trying to stand up
and get its legs underneath it."
At the same time, speaking
out of both sides of his medals, Casey was secretly recommending
that Bush drastically reduce our troop commitment, coincidentally,
just before the November elections. How bizarre.
Maybe it wasn't Woody Allen
who said, "When you're being run out of town, get in front
of the crowd and make it look like a parade." But that's
just what the un-indicted Karl Rove is best at.
Rove knows that the mess his
boss created in Iraq will be on voters' minds come November.
By pulling the rug out from under the (semi-unified) Democrats'
strongest issue, he maximizes the chances of GOP retention of
Congress.
Senator John Kerry, who finally
admitted a couple of weeks ago he was wrong to vote for the war,
said Casey's plan "looks an awful lot like what the Republicans
spent the last week attacking. Will the partisan attack dogs
now turn their venom and disinformation campaign on General Casey?"
Unlikely, given the GOP's proclivity to goosestep to its commander
in chief.
Keeping his options open, Bush
conditions the pullback on the Iraqis' ability to do the job.
He can always send the troops back in after the election.
Things are not going swimmingly
in Iraq right now. Twelve US troops died or were found dead this
week. On Friday, a car bomb killed at least 5 people and wounded
18 in Basra. A bomb hit the Sunni mosque in Hibhib northeast
of Baghdad where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed earlier this
month; Friday's bomb killed 10 worshippers and wounded 15. Also
on Friday, the Iraqi government declared a state of emergency
in Baghdad as US and Iraqi forces battled resistance fighters
armed with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and rifles
near the Green Zone.
On Monday, bombs at markets
in two Iraqi cities killed at least 40 people and at least 22
others died throughout Iraq.
The same day, Zalmay Khalizad,
US ambassador to Iraq, verified claims in a paper he signed documenting
retaliation against Iraqis working with the US in the Green Zone.
He touted the 8 hours of electricity per day that people in Baghdad
now enjoy, up from 4 just a month ago.
Ultimately, the Bush administration
plans to retain a small contingent of about 50,000 troops and
the large "super" military bases it is building in
Iraq, the raison d'etre for Operation "Iraqi Freedom."
Bush has no intention of ever leaving Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki presented a 24-point national reconciliation plan
on Sunday.
Maliki's original plan called
for the recognition of the legitimacy of the national resistance,
differentiating it from the terrorists. It also advocated a timetable
for withdrawal of coalition forces, and amnesty for Iraqis who
had not killed civilians. Under intense pressure from the Bush
administration and the Shia-dominated United Iraqi Alliance,
these provisions were removed from the final document.
According to recent surveys,
87 percent of Iraqis favor a withdrawal timetable for US forces.
On Monday, one Sunni leader in Iraq said the insurgency would
persist until Washington sets such a timetable, but 7 Sunni groups
offered the government a conditional truce.
The prime minister's plan aims
to offer amnesty to insurgents "not proved to be involved
in crimes, terrorist activities and war crimes against humanity."
That would seem to exclude Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice.
Oddly, it was the Democrats
who screamed the loudest about the amnesty plan. Senator Carl
Levin called it "unconscionable," exclaiming, "For
heaven's sake, we liberated that country." Tell that to
the Iraqi people.
Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson
School of Law and president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild
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