Iraqi Parliamentarian: 70 Percent Of Iraqis Want Withdrawal, Huge U.S. Embassy Not A ‘Positive Signal’
Iraqi Parliamentarian: 70 Percent Of Iraqis Want Withdrawal, Huge U.S. Embassy Not A ‘Positive Signal’
Today, the House held a hearing featuring two members of the Iraqi Parliament in order “to hear their assessment of the proposed U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement,” an agreement proposed by the Bush administration permitting combat forces in Iraq for an unspecified period of time. Iraq is currently seeing “growing and widespread protests…over the scope of the agreement.”
In the hearing, parliamentarians Nadeem Al-Jaberi and Khalaf Al-Ulayyan expressed their support for a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops. In an exchange with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Al-Jaberi said that U.S. presence in Iraq is highly unpopular with the public, as roughly 70 percent of Iraqis favor a withdrawal:
PAUL: What percent of the Iraqi people would agree with us leaving under those circumstances?
AL-JABERI: I ask you to perhaps have a referendum, and that will tell you the truth.
PAUL: So you have no idea. You have no idea. Maybe only 5 percent would support us leaving. You have to have an idea.
AL-JABERI: Of course not. The majority of the people of Iraq are with the withdrawal. … Perhaps even about 70 percent.
Watch it:
Given the Iraqis’ opposition to U.S. forces, Paul asked how the public perceives the 104-acre, $700 million U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which consists of 27 buildings and 3,000 employees. Jaberi ripped its massive scale:
AL-JABERI: It is certainly larger than the diplomatic mission for which it has arrived for. … I mean why do we need 3,000 employees in an embassy in Iraq if we consider it as a diplomatic mission like any other diplomatic mission? From the principle of reciprocity, would it be appropriate for Iraqis to establish a 3,000 employee embassy in Washington? … It [the embassy] certainly would not be a very positive signal to the Iraqi people.
Al-Jaberi also criticized the enclosed nature of embassy activities, which sits in the heavily-fortified Green Zone: “And yes, there is some procrastination in its relationship with the society, because its relations are limited to the Green Zone.”
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Iraqi Parliamentarian: 70 Percent Of Iraqis Want Withdrawal
- - I think we all know Dick Cheney’s response.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:38 pmPerhaps now, people will pay a bit more “honest” attention to Ron Paul. He alone, from the Republican caucus has the balls to ask these difficult questions.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:56 pmThis whole hearing was a remarkable display about what happens when people get together and talk. Neither side has been very happy with the fact that this agreement has been happening behind closed doors and neither their Parliament or our Congress have been consulted or even advised about what is on the table right now. If we could continue this conversation with the Iraqis and maybe start more conversations with nations we have alienated for the past 7 1/2 years, we can begin repairing our image and our status in the world. Excellent post TP!!! Thank you.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:57 pm#3 neither…nor our Congress. Grammar police needed!!!
June 4th, 2008 at 9:58 pmWhat the hell do these Iraqis know, they just live there
snark off
June 4th, 2008 at 10:07 pmTheir 70% are going to have to wait until our 70% elect Obama the next President of the United States. Then, let’s all get together and have a party! The Iraqis can bring the insurgents, we’ll bring BushCo, and we can all play “pin the blame on the jacka**es”.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:09 pm>>The U.S. got rid of one person. It put in hundreds of persons that are worse than Saddam Hussein.<<
June 4th, 2008 at 10:12 pmAnd that is the bottom line. Removal of Saddam by any measure has not helped the Iraqi people. We’ve f’ed up the country beyond the point where any # of troops can put the broken pieces back together again. We should give the country back to the Iraqis, apologize for our grievous error, and wish them luck.
So what? Bush and the Neocons don’t give a damn what the Iraqis want.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:12 pmThis just help identify, one again, that the invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with the Iraqi people, or the American people for that matter.
The invasion and occupation of Iraq was in the works as far back as 1998 when the Neo-Nitwits at PNAC, working in conjunction with the BIG OIL interests plan it out. Then they needed a compliant individual to be placed in a position of power, yet still under the control of a strong puppetmaster.
The plan was fine tuned when a meeting of the BIG OIL interests and a strong member of the new administration came together at a secret “Energy Conference” hosted by a man that had a foot in the BIG OIL business and a foot in the “World Domination” PNAC Neo-Nitwit group.
Then they needed a “New Pearl Harbor” to put the plan into action. They convince the American people to be afraid of Iraq and explain that they “had to” stop the Iraqi government, and the terrorists they supported, or we would have to fight them over here.
The rest, as they say, is history.
We don’t got bin Laden, but we got Iraqi oil fields.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:18 pmRon Paul is completely out of touch if he doesn’t realize that the majority of Iraqi’s want us to withdrawal. Can you blame the 70% of Iraqi’s that want us to leave? We have killed 1.2 million of their people. Maybe more, we will never be sure because of all the mass graves that are holding hundreds of bodies in each.
Only an egocentric would ask how the public perceives our $700 million embassy, when the Iraqi’s have had their homes blown to bits, limited electricity and many have had to move to stay out of harms way. Somebody should have punched him right in the mouth, how insensitive can you get.
George Bush’s only accomplishment was ridding Iraq of Saddam which unleashed more vicious factions to replace him, great job.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:23 pm#6 PatrioticLiberalChristian Says:
Their 70% are going to have to wait until our 70% elect Obama the next President of the United States. Then, let’s all get together and have a party! The Iraqis can bring the insurgents, we’ll bring BushCo, and we can all play “pin the blame on the jacka**es”.
I like that, but I’m for taking it one step further. Ship them all off to a deserted island together, they can have their own private war.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:28 pmThe new security agreement is intended to replace the current United Nations Security Council resolutions which authorize the United States to engage in combat operations in Iraq. The UN resolutions will expire at the end of the year.
Bush disputes those who say congress must approve his agreement.
Delahunt joined with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) to introduce the “Protect Our Troops and Our Constitution Act,” which calls for the extension of the UN resolutions for a brief period of time so that a new agreement can be negotiated by the incoming administration. The proposal would cut off funding for any new agreement negotiated by the Bush Administration that authorizes U.S. forces to engage in combat on behalf of the Government of Iraq without approval by Congress.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:33 pmAnd the beat goes on Says:
“This whole hearing was a remarkable display about what happens when people get together and talk.”
June 4th, 2008 at 10:36 pmI heartily agree.
Ron Paul has to ask seemingly naive and pointless questions, because this is on the public record, and heretofore these questions, if even asked, were asked behind closed doors.
We have to remember that other people in the world are often far more respectful, and at the same time circumspect, in their answers. Example; the Iraqi suggesting we hold a referendum to get the answer to Ron Paul’s question. Knowing we don’t have the time to spare for that, Paul postulates an answer (5 per cent) even he knows is way off, and gets the Iraqi to blurt out the real answer of 70 per cent…
We want out, they want us out, and just a few dimwitted but powerful money- and blood-hungry men in D.C. say “NO”! Will Nancy and Harry fund the next year of war anyway? Don’t answer that, I already know…
PatrioticLiberalChristian Says:
Their 70% are going to have to wait until our 70% elect Obama the next President of the United States.
PLC, according to bandwagon’s math from a few days back, that would make 140%, which would be a super majority!
PEACE
June 4th, 2008 at 10:43 pmwhat this thread needs is keltoi to drive it off topic.
*
June 4th, 2008 at 10:45 pmYes, Freedom Rebel doesn’t quite get it.
Ron Paul asks these questions IN ORDER to get the answer FROM Iraq in the AMERICAN CONGRESSIONAL public record.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:47 pmThe language of the Iraq mess is the modeled for the Clinton electoral primary obfuscation. Same old denial thing. Iraqi’s want U.S. out, Hillary doesn’t accept that she is out. How can we build such an embassy and plan future management of Iraq when they are telling us we are not welcome? The lack of communication is maddening.
We need the change that Obama espouses, not the continued business as usual to benefit a few the Republican push. Obama will listen to the Iraqi’s, McCain will hear what he wants and do what he wants.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:47 pmyes, now this is the highly relevant spectactle we need in washington, as opposed to the inane hearings about which overpaid jock took too much steroids and had sex with which racing horse..
June 4th, 2008 at 10:51 pmBarack Obama (hell yes!) better be the most positive signal to come, or we’re all in a huge heap of trouble.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:00 pmRHF is going for the subtle Obama smear techniques now, acting just like a concern troll.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:03 pmYea, Don’t tread on me. I can certainly understand not wanting any feriners in my backyard. Put that shoe on the other foot. Take a vote, Mr. Democracy. What’ll it be?
June 4th, 2008 at 11:08 pmThere is no ‘Liberation’, it is occupation. There is no ‘freedom’, there are WAR CRIMES’. There were no WMD, there were LIES.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:09 pm‘Perhaps now, people will pay a bit more “honest” attention to Ron Paul. He alone, from the Republican caucus has the balls to ask these difficult questions.’
Today would be a good day to quit using giggly middle school terminology like “Paul-tards” at our “progressive” blogs, too. I want the votes of the Ron Paul people. For Obama. I’ve wanted them all along. Hope it isn’t too late to start a nice NEW TREND in that direction. I think it is, though. Who’s going to hear us being progressive and civil now? They’ve all done as asked, and left.
(You guys at ThinkProgress aren’t real guilty of this. I heard “Paul tard” over at the Daily Kos. I left that fold for good that same day.)
Don’t mind me…I’m just growly over the Obama loss in South Dakota. Losing faith in people. Remember this is the same country that elected Nixon at the height of the Vietnam war. Clearly, we are still the same. There is a lot of work to do, a little of which could have been done already (like offering a spot on the good couch to Ron Paul’s supporters).
Thank you for this article, TP, by the way. Priceless information to me.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:24 pmThanks, Carly, wise counsel.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:29 pm70% of Americans want their occupying troops out….70% of Iraqis want the Americans out. The response from the American regime….”So”.
Thats the much touted American “democracy” at work. The U.S.A has lost all respect and honor in the eyes of the world.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:46 pmAS if the big oil companies are going to want their cash cow disrupted by a little thing like freedom.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:47 pmWell heck, If 70% of them want us out, I say lts get out. Lets impeach Dictator Bush and ship him over there to answer for his Crimes Against Humanity while we are at it!
JT
June 4th, 2008 at 11:52 pmThink your ISP is watching?
Cheney: “So?“
June 5th, 2008 at 12:04 amHave you seen this bit of treason?
June 5th, 2008 at 12:34 amPerhaps we can turn the embassy into the George W. Bush institute for the criminally insane.
He and Cheney could be the first prisoner… er, patients.
June 5th, 2008 at 12:53 amAnd even if this gets MSM coverage, it will be spun to sound like; “two disgruntled Iraqi parliamentarians said things the Bush administration doesn’t like. While we don’t know what motivated their baseless attacks, we are confident they speak for a tiny…” “We are sure they citizens of Iraq would like to thank the U.S. for a job well done.” “BTW, They and their families are on several no-fly lists. They are potentially dangerous and we believe they are enemy combatants.”
June 5th, 2008 at 1:04 amYou mean that big, giant, arrogant, in-your face, we got basic necessities and you don’t, eff-U and die, US Embassy isn’t a good signal?
I thought it was at least environmentally friendly, being the “Green Zone” and all. Those Iraqis are just ungrateful!
/sarc
June 5th, 2008 at 1:29 amRUCerious Says:
Perhaps we can turn the embassy into the George W. Bush institute for the criminally insane.
He and Cheney could be the first prisoner… er, patients.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:32 amJune 5th, 2008 at 12:53 am
I’d rather turn him loose on a certain bridge in Fallujah.
I can’t help but think this hearing is a huge step in the right direction. It has felt for a few day’s now as if there’s been some sort of shifting of the tide. As if this administration is trying to batten down the hatches, but they can’t keep from going under, and fast.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:50 amWhat I’m not understanding is how committing war crimes doesn’t get you removed from your position of power, arrested and prosecuted. I just don’t get it. Is there any crime for which these people can be prosecuted ?
Al-Jaberi said that U.S. presence in Iraq is highly unpopular with the public, as roughly 70 percent of Iraqis favor a withdrawal…
And nearly that many Americans want us to withdraw from Iraq as well. Does that make any difference to Bush? Hardly, and this man has the audacity to talk about “democracy.”
http://progressiveworldreview.com
June 5th, 2008 at 2:15 amAL-JABERI: I ask you to perhaps have a referendum, and that will tell you the truth.
Huh? Why should *we* have a referendum? It’s *YOUR* country. It’s pretty clear that Iraq is dominated by folks who have no interest in the US leaving because it takes all the responsibility for running their country out of their hands. More proof that there really is no option except to leave.
June 5th, 2008 at 2:22 amApparently these Iraqi PMs need to travel with McCain to Iraq to educate themselves about the country
June 5th, 2008 at 2:38 amClinton to bow out on saturday–She will probably retain her candidates, in case Obama picks ‘another Wright opportunity.’–
June 5th, 2008 at 4:08 am.
Q U E S T I O N:
Just how can America call China an oppressive Nation toward Tibet when America won’t even FREE IRAQ?
.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:08 amlol
June 5th, 2008 at 6:55 amWe have needed this dialogue for a long time
Some shorthand from the hearing
“…we believe that Iraq has the ability to defend itself…”
“…maintaining American troops…i now believe this necessity is no longer needed”
“I believe maintain American presence is a destabilizing force” - Parliament Member
“I would like to see a scheduled withdrawal… in order to build up our forces” -Sheik
June 5th, 2008 at 7:49 amThis is the only way for Congress to know what’s going on iside Iraq…and that is to ask the Iraqis themselves..not just relying on government and media reports.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:04 amCongress needs to have more hearings like this one talking to all segments of Iraqi society..women,Christians and minorities,workers and slave markets to see how they are impacted by this war.
Also Congress need to know where are Iraqi and American monies are going, how are they spent, and who is really benefiting.
For years Congress relied on rosy pictures assessments presented to Congress unchecked.
Time to take another approach that might lead Congress to the truth about what’s going on really inside Iraq.
Now that Obama will be our next President, here’s to hoping to a swift end to the illegal occupation of Iraq (stop calling it a war, people, only Congress can declare war)
June 5th, 2008 at 8:08 amMore short hand
“The Ayatollah has agreed that no military bases should remain”
“Increasing the level of forces did not decrease the levels of violence… the war there is a war between ghost factions… the reduction is due to the volunteers…(Iraqi mercs)”
To create a lasting peace
“release Iraqi prisoners…bring back the 4.6 million refugees… reparations should be paid… geographic federalism instead of sectarianism”
“Once the foreign troops leave the militias will have no justification… the presence of foreign troops serves their purpose”
June 5th, 2008 at 8:16 amhave the TV networks given this ANY coverage?
June 5th, 2008 at 8:23 amAnd did you hear the latest line they’re trying to spin as evidence of Iranian meddling in Iraq? Wait for it–Iran is helping Turkey conduct its cross-border raids to root Kurdish terrorists. C’mon–you can do better than that. We ourselves say that we will pursue terrorists into any country where they are hiding. Unless its a country that we control, in which case other countries pursuing terrorists into the country we control becomes an act of war.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:25 amjoe in oklahoma Says:
have the TV networks given this ANY coverage?
Not that I’ve seen joe, but Ed McMahon is facing foreclosure on his home in Beverley Hills…..
June 5th, 2008 at 8:41 amHere’s some more scary stuff…
http://www.independent.co.uk/ news/ world/ middle-east/ revealed-secret-plan-to-keep-iraq-under-us-control-840512.html
June 5th, 2008 at 8:59 amBush repeatedly has stated that our commtiiment was not open ended. Now he is trying to make a back room deal to keep us there permanently.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:14 amThe man is a bald faced liar. Congress should immediately investigate this possibliity. After all, we do not want any Bush poo after January 20,2009. The new POTUS will lead us out of Iraq with a re-dployment of troops over a reasonable time frame.
There’s No media coverage on this story. The Liberal Media strikes again! And the Republicans claim Obama’s a Stalinist! Control information and you control reality!
June 5th, 2008 at 9:17 amImpeach Cheney and Bush and Save the Constitution!
but we should not be surprised by this…within a year after taking over Iraq we began the construction of 12 permanent airbases, and used the metal from the temp bases to build the US-Mexico border war.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:18 amI thought parliamentarians were the kids that had a dog-eared copy of Robert’s Rules of Order and weren’t actually ‘members of parliment’. Then again, Im probably wrong.
Cheers to Ron Paul and one of the few things he’s actually right about.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:37 am