Republican senator slams Iraqi government
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate on Sunday expressed frustration with the Iraqi government, saying Republicans were "overwhelmingly disappointed" with the lack of political progress.
"The Iraqi government is a huge disappointment," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN'S Late Edition on Sunday.
"So far, they've not been able do anything they promised on the political side," the Kentucky Republican said, citing the Iraqis' failure to pass a new oil revenue bill, hold local elections and dismantle the former Baath Party of Saddam Hussein. "It's a growing frustration."
"Republicans overwhelmingly feel disappointed about the Iraqi government," he added.
McConnell spoke as the Senate is trying to approve funding for the Iraq war with a compromise that President George W. Bush can sign. Bush has threatened to veto a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that provides only enough money to continue combat for two or three months.
McConnell said there was a growing sense of frustration across all political divides in the U.S. Senate with failures of the Iraqi government.
"I don't know what their problem is but this country has made an enormous investment in giving the Iraqis a chance to have a normal government after all of these years of Saddam Hussein and his atrocities," he said.
(Continued here.)
"The Iraqi government is a huge disappointment," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN'S Late Edition on Sunday.
"So far, they've not been able do anything they promised on the political side," the Kentucky Republican said, citing the Iraqis' failure to pass a new oil revenue bill, hold local elections and dismantle the former Baath Party of Saddam Hussein. "It's a growing frustration."
"Republicans overwhelmingly feel disappointed about the Iraqi government," he added.
McConnell spoke as the Senate is trying to approve funding for the Iraq war with a compromise that President George W. Bush can sign. Bush has threatened to veto a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that provides only enough money to continue combat for two or three months.
McConnell said there was a growing sense of frustration across all political divides in the U.S. Senate with failures of the Iraqi government.
"I don't know what their problem is but this country has made an enormous investment in giving the Iraqis a chance to have a normal government after all of these years of Saddam Hussein and his atrocities," he said.
(Continued here.)
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2 Comments:
Arrogance or Audacity ?
So McConnell is blaming the Iraqis for our mistakes?
The first act of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) under Paul Bremer was to issue order of de-Ba'athification of Iraqi society … and now it is a Bush Benchmark to be reversed … and the Iraqi’s don’t want to … in fact, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council ( one of the largest political parties in the Iraqi Parliament) just had their party convention and that one of the planks of the party is to oppose any reinstatement of Baathists.
Sure there were elections, but in Anbar only 2% of the Sunnis participated … so the “elected” government is not the “peoples” government … and this has been the problem.
On May 23,2003, CPA Order Number 2 formally disbanded the Iraqi army and the Bush mantra WAS "As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down," ; now, we are “surging” with more troops.
Is the problem that America’s priorities not the same as Iraqi priorities?
Cheney went to Iraq last week and the oil revenue legislation was on his agenda. However, that legislation may actually be uniting Iraqis … against passage.
Suggested Reading :
U.S. benchmarks elude Iraq
Iraqis resist U.S. pressure to enact oil law
McConnell blaming the Iraqis is an example of why nothing gets done in our own Congress ... "it's the the other guys fault for not doing what I want done"
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post made an insightful comment on Keith Olbermann's show Monday night.
MILBANK: Well, it‘s an extraordinary statement that the Senate minority leader made there, because he‘s now saying that we‘re not there to protect American interests, we‘re there at the desire of the Iraqis, so if they don‘t want us there, we‘re out of there. But what happened to the whole line about, if we don‘t fight them there in Baghdad, we‘ll be fighting them here in Baltimore?
So I think what‘s happened is, Mr. McConnell has weakened the position on this. They‘re going to have a lot more trouble resisting here. And at any rate, things seem to be headed more and more each day towards more pressure on the president with this funding legislation.
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