Comment by Wayne — May 31, 2007 @ 4:07 pm

Come on, I was being blatantly sarcastic on that one

Hi Bobbo! When are you rotating to Okieville?

Comment by RUCerious — May 31, 2007 @ 4:11 pm

As I type this I have 30 days 5 hours 28 minutes 47 seconds…

But who’s counting?

How you doin’?

Comment by gummitch

Except you got it backwards! What a surprise!

US forces have officially stripped the Iraqi government of its security control over three Kurdish provinces in a measure hailed by Kurds.

Prime Minister of the Kurdish autonomous region, Nechirvan Barzani, has welcomed the US initiative.

Some Iraqi officials have deep concerns about the move which they say might accelerate a demand by Iraqi Kurds for a full independence from the central government, which may eventually lead to separation of Kurdistan from Iraq’s territory.

What do you say now?

Comment by Patrick1

So, which is it? Did the DoD announce it or not? And if not, how do you know?

This is from a briefing yesterday, from the DoD website:

Q You handed over control of three Kurdish cities today to Iraqis. Are you still on track for the fall to hand over all the provinces, as Major General Caldwell said earlier this year?

GEN. WIGGINS: Well, you’re talking about the provincial Iraqi control of the three Kurdish pieces up to the north. As you probably can remember, there was another date associated with that particular Iraqi control. And so I will tell you that we’re on track as of right now, but you know, conditions change and commanders on the ground got to make their assessment to determine whether the conditions are right for provincial Iraqi control of the other provinces.

No surprise at all, at any rate, because the Kurdish provinces have been largely pacified since the invasion. What is clearly not settled is Mosul, where Sunni Arabs are forcing Kurds out of the city and region. What is also not settled is Turkey, and whether or not they’re going to send combat troops into Kurdish Iraq. Want to bet which side the US troops will be on?

Incidentally, a quick Google News search reveals that your “secret” is out . . . on Iranian tv!

If you haven’t heard about it, it is because for all intents and purposes a news blackout has been imposed on this event. No Defense press release. No CENTCOM press release.

Why? Who knows?

The three Iraqi provinces that make up Iraqi Kurdistan, Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk, took responsibility for their own security operations yesterday.

According to DoD these three provinces join four other provinces, Maysan, Muthanna, Dhi Qar, and Najaf, now completely responsible for providing their own security.

“Now Jamie, both the president and Senator Kerry agree that part of the solution for getting out of Iraq is to turn over security to the Iraqis. The president said that is already well under way.

Let’s listen to the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: The best way for Iraq to be safe and secure is for Iraqi citizens to be trained to do the job. And that’s what we’re doing. We’ve got 100,000 trained now, 125,000 by the end of this year, over 200,000 by the end of next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Jamie, are those numbers right?

MCINTYRE: There’s a big dispute, Paula, about whether the Pentagon is overstating the number of Iraqis that are truly combat ready.

But the general who’s in charge of the training, very respected general, General Petraeus, insists that 100,000 is the right number out of 164,000 in Iraq.”

[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/01/pzn.01.html]

take your pick

Comment by hacker bob

ummm, from the post……
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that his “country’s forces would be able to assume security command by June 2007 — which could allow the United States to start withdrawing its troops”: “I cannot answer on behalf of the U.S. administration but I can tell you that from our side our forces will be ready by June 2007.”

Funny thing, 2007 looks like a year to me

Iraq has one more day, June is not until tomorrow.

or

al-Maliki said June, but not what year.

take your pick

Sounds like a plan to me…

Cheers.