Think Progress

In 2007, Bush promised Iraq withdrawal if asked by Maliki: ‘I don’t see how we could stay.’»

Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he would like to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Today, however, the Bush administration rejected the timetable. In an April 24, 2007 interview with Charlie Rose, however, President said he would remove troops if asked by Iraq, but he predicted that Maliki would not ask for a withdrawal:

bushwithdrawal.jpgROSE: But if he said get out now, we don’t want you anymore–

BUSH: I don’t see how we could stay. It is his country.

ROSE: But if he said that, it would lead to the catastrophe that you have suggested.

BUSH: That’s why he’s not going to say it.

ROSE: You don’t think he’ll say it?

BUSH: I don’t. No, I don’t.

“[W]e’re looking at conditions, not calendars here,” State Department spokeperson Gonzalo Gallegos said today.

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51 Responses to “In 2007, Bush promised Iraq withdrawal if asked by Maliki: ‘I don’t see how we could stay.’”

  1. Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:

    Has Bush ever told the truth about anything? Why would we think he would start keeping his word today? He hasn’t ever done it before. We all do remember his saying that if anyone in his administration was involved in the Plame outing, he would no longer be working for Bush. We all know what happened there.


  2. shoeless Says:

    I’m sure glad neither Bush nor Mcain are my in-laws.


  3. TheRadicalRightisRadicallyWrong Says:

    Has Chimpy ever been correct about anything?

    (cue chirping crickets)


  4. nanlichi Says:

    Watch your back Maliki. Remember who put you in power and who can pull the props. Now just hand over the oil and step back quietly.

    Bush didn’t waste $3 trillion, 4,000 soldiers and the honor of the USA for nothing.

    Or did he?


  5. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    Well, c’mon. We’re talking about an administration that could not have foreseen terrorists flying airplanes into buildings, even though they were warned of that very possibility. An administration that could not have foreseen that the levies in New Orleans would fails in a Cat 5 storm.

    Heck, they didn’t even foresee that they would lose their Republican majorities in Congress in ‘06.

    Let’s face it. Prescience is not their strong suit.


  6. StratRat Says:

    Today was the second day in a row an Iraqi leader says it is best for us to go. Yesterday, the WH suggested this notion (the US leaving) was a typo error on a transcript, rather than the actual words. How about that as an insult to the people whose land we have invaded?

    “You have decided we should go, but we think it is a typo error instead.”. Today the Iraqi’s had to say again that it was time for us to go, and leave the job to them.

    So what is it gonna be? We stay as occupiers or we leave as requested?


  7. paleolib Says:

    “[W]e’re looking at conditions, not calendars here.”

    Yes, and last year your commander in chief conceded that those conditions would be met if they told us to get out. Here is where the “surge is working” front collides with the “conditions for withdrawal haven’t been met” low pressure system. It’s gonna start raining bull@#&^ any second.


  8. Nashoba nowa Says:

    ralph the wonder llama Says:
    ————————————————————–

    Let’s face it. Prescience is not their strong suit.

    I agree with you 100% but their strong suit is Total and Complete Incompetence…………………


  9. Leftside Annie Says:

    OMG!!! Our Dear Leader is a …*gasp*… LIAR!?!?!?

    Oh, noooooooooooooo!!!!


  10. StratRat Says:

    Our trolls will support this king’s decision no matter how far fetched it is or how unstable he may be. That is the easy part of being a troll - you need authority to guide your life.


  11. Guido the Loving OBGYN Says:

    Is there anything more degrading than being a Bush Puppet?


  12. Zimzone Says:

    Hmmm, TP is photoshopping pics again.

    Note how Bush looks old, tired, &, well, burned out.

    By looking at that pic, one would think he’s a mean, misinformed,
    dictator like man, not the loving leader we all worship.


  13. Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre Says:

    The Thousand Lies of Bush: a never-ending series of BS until he is either Impeached, Tried, Convicted and Removed from Office for Treason, High Crimes and Misdemeanors or when his Term of Office expires in January, 2009.


  14. Buckie Boy Says:

    jabberjaw, thanks for the lying republic talking point. Obama is not pandering, although the King Pander Bear McSame sure is pandering.

    You’re still an idiot.


  15. Leftside Annie Says:

    13 - ZZ - Heheheheh! Good one. ;o)

    ~A


  16. Zimzone Says:

    Rubberjaw, this is NOT the Nader site…kapiche?


  17. shoeless Says:

    Guido the Loving OBGYN Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    Is there anything more degrading than being a Bush Puppet?

    Maybe, being Dick Cheney’s puppet?


  18. ninique Says:

    liar, liar repuke-pants on fire!


  19. Witch1 Says:

    Seem’s to me the poster’s are now turning on any one not agreeing with their point of view….Much like the reich winger’s do….Hummm..So many will leave instead of bothering with posting their progressive view’s because they have little in common any more with centerest and right leaning Dem’s..Blessings


  20. curious Says:

    Well Maliki has asked us to leave. And yesterday the state department and the Whitehouse said it was probably and mistake made in the transcript. It wasn’t. It also wasn’t the first time he asked us to leave his country. Last year he said he did not need us there. This year he was forceful and articulate. He wants a timeline. Actually I don’t think he should give a timeline. If it were me, I would just say get out now.

    Last poll was 80% of people in Iraq wanted us to leave. And the year before it was the same. They want us gone.

    First Bush said we would leave when Saddam was captured. He was captured and executed. Bush said we would leave when they had a constitution. They have one. Then Bush said we were NOT BUILDING permanent bases. That we would be leaving. We built permanent bases. You could line up the lies told regarding this war, lay them end to end and circle the globe.

    It is not our decision to make. We should leave. We should take our hands off their oil. And the joke of the so called security agreement that takes their oil, and leaves them nothing. The security for Iraq and for our military is to get out.

    There is a time to cut your losses and move on. Bush said we won the war. We did. So why are we there in the midst of a civil war?


  21. MapleStreet Says:

    From Deus Ex: Invisible War (a videogame - see write up in wikipedia). From Memory:

    As long as the people only remember the last sound byte, that is all that is needed for Tyrany to prosper


  22. DigDug Says:

    So are we a colonial power now?

    If they are a true sovereign nation as the Bushies love to proclaim then we will leave when they want us to leave. Period.

    I we do not leave, we will be revealed for the illegal occupiers that I suspect we really are.


  23. Bob Says:

    How many times does one have to be proven wrong before you don’t believe him or at least be skeptical of what he says?

    What excuse will bush make if al-Maliki says “We want the US out of Iraq.”? If it was put in no uncertain terms, perhaps written in all-caps and crayon, maybe voted unanimously with purple thumbs and all, what would bush’s excuse be then?


  24. misshusseinmolly Says:

    Zimzone Says
    July 8th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
    Note how Bush looks old, tired, &, well, burned out.
    By looking at that pic, one would think he’s a mean, misinformed, dictator like man, not the loving leader we all worship.
    ____________________________________________________

    Is THAT what that is? And here I thought he just looked constipated…


  25. DaTruth Says:

    Pathetic Idiot Freak he eats, sleeps, drinks, and breathes failure every second of criminal life! Wrapped in failure freak!


  26. nanlichi Says:

    Poor JJ thinks it is doing the Lord’s work to promote Nader with the hope of a repeat of 2000 by siphoning off Obama support. We all remember what a disatrous turn that was for the USA and we will not repeat that horrible mistake.

    It’s not going to work dipshit, give it up.


  27. rat618 Says:

    George Bush Presents:

    Coming soon to Iraq…..the Shah of Iraq. That will take care of that pesky Maliki and his requests for us to leave his country.


  28. Marie Says:

    Now that it has been said, Bush will have to find a vision that tells him to stay.
    So his aides will parse the words. Transcription errors and mis-translation didn’t pass (the laughter must have been hard to cover — funny how Ahmadinejad’s words are always interpreted without error), so now, they will look for conditions and circumstances, not calendars. hahahhahaha
    196 days left for the reign of witches — the conjurers of all things evil — the plague of America.


  29. Witch1 Says:

    Bush is a fool, warmonger and get’s off killing by extension..everyone know’s that.The only thing that could of stoped him, house and senate, refused by giving him everything he wanted..Now one solution would be to impeach, jail and seize all asset’s….We know there are only one or two people back in D.C with the ball’s to do that….Kucinich/Finegold and a few other’s..Look’s like the public is to busy to do what we did during Nam, only token marche’s are managed…Not many wanting to do what we did during the civil right’s day’s either…Maliki and the public here will have to wait for the little dictator’s to get voted out of office, if they get voted out of office and depending on who replace’s them…Blessings


  30. Uncle Ho Says:

    Guido says: Is there anything more degrading than being a Bush pupppet?

    yes, there is.

    Being Dickhead Cheney.


  31. RUCerious Says:

    When Maliki stands up, BushitCo fires up the ExtraHighCapacityBullShitterator.


  32. Zimzone Says:

    misshusseinmolly Says:
    Is THAT what that is? And here I thought he just looked constipated…

    lol, you may very well be right. He can’t even get THAT done.

    Thx, Leftside Annie.


  33. DaTruth Says:

    It’ll take years to clean up the mess this idiot has done! He should go down in history as a nasty and soot-like stain.


  34. Paul W Says:

    “I don’t see how we could stay.”

    I’m guessing you’ll figure something out.

    http://progressiveworldreview.com


  35. LibertyLover Says:

    But Bush really doesn’t think that Iraq is Maliki’s country. He thinks that it belongs to Halliburton.


  36. LibertyLover Says:

    Nader is irrelevant.


  37. trollsbwild Says:

    Well, at least we can now officially call it what it is- anoccupation!


  38. RUCerious Says:

    McIIIrd’s plan ~ bring the troops home, but replace them one for one with Blackwater Mercs. The damned oil, goddamit!!


  39. backup Says:

    The negotiations come amid a marked improvement in the security situation in Iraq that has allowed a drawdown of US forces, which now number 146,000, down from over 160,000.

    http://www.nst.com.my/ Current_News/ NST/ AfpNews/ 080708180341.7wdzsf4l.txt/ afp

    “The US government and the government of Iraq are in agreement that we, the US government, we want to withdraw, we will withdraw. However, that decision will be conditions-based,” State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said.

    I don’t think the Maliki is saying “get out now”. He’s trying to get a timetable for withdrawal negotiated in a security agreement.

    If we can’t come to an agreement and Maliki (or other future elected Iraqi leader) wants us to “get out now”; we should go.


  40. Bob Says:

    If we leave, the region will stabilize and the price of oil will consequently go down. The sooner we leave, the sooner that will happen. My proof is that it is the opposite of what bush and his thug brigade is saying, and therefore it is the only possible outcome.


  41. barfly Says:

    I don’t think the Maliki is saying “get out now”. He’s trying to get a timetable for withdrawal negotiated in a security agreement.

    If we can’t come to an agreement and Maliki (or other future elected Iraqi leader) wants us to “get out now”; we should go.

    Again, no one needs the opinion of a person who has supported incompetence, and corruption, for the last seven years.

    We would more value the opinions of a small child, than that of someone proven so disastously wrong, for so long.


  42. hussein toasterhead Says:

    jabberjaw Says:

    Zimzone, this is not the Obama site. It’s a progressive site. Nader is progressive. Obama is a pandering, race for the middle Democlican. Try to think outside of the two party box. Open your mind and ThinkProgress.

    July 8th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
    _______

    Sorry, guy, but America is just not ready for an Arab president.

    Don’t get me wrong - I like Ralph Nader, I agree with him on most issues, and I respect his sysiphian attempts to fight the two-party monolith. Unfortunately, the country is not ready to take the blue pill yet.


  43. Dr. Hussein Matt Says:

    backup = jabberjaw

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    jabberjaw Says:
    al-Maliki has not yet said “get out now, we don’t want you anymore.” Rather, he said that he wants to negotiate a time table for future withdrawal. “Now” and the “future” are two different things unless you are in “Back to the Future.”
    July 8th, 2008 at 3:14 pm

    backup Says:
    I don’t think the Maliki is saying “get out now”. He’s trying to get a timetable for withdrawal negotiated in a security agreement.

    If we can’t come to an agreement and Maliki (or other future elected Iraqi leader) wants us to “get out now”; we should go.
    July 8th, 2008 at 4:29 pm

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Exposed.


  44. hussein toasterhead Says:

    Bob Says:

    If we leave, the region will stabilize and the price of oil will consequently go down. The sooner we leave, the sooner that will happen. My proof is that it is the opposite of what bush and his thug brigade is saying, and therefore it is the only possible outcome.

    July 8th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
    ______

    What’s interesting is that they only seem to be talking about withdrawing US troops. There’s no mention of a drawdown of the 140,000 private security mercenaries in Iraq, who continue to operate in a state of legal immunity. Which leads me to believe that if we do begin to remove troops, we just might see an increase in Blackwater-sponsored violence.


  45. had enough Says:

    In 2007, Bush promised Iraq withdrawal if asked by Maliki: ‘I don’t see how we could stay.’

    Isn’t it more like - Bush: “I don’t see how the Iraqi people will be able to ask US to leave.”

    It is more than past time to end this so called war, lay off Cheney’s Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR, which are sucking this country dry plus making the have mores richer and begin restoring our treasury.


  46. Bob Says:

    hussein toasterhead Says:
    There’s no mention of a drawdown of the 140,000 private security mercenaries in Iraq, who continue to operate in a state of legal immunity. Which leads me to believe that if we do begin to remove troops, we just might see an increase in Blackwater-sponsored violence.

    I thought I heard something about Iraqis taking away that legal immunity. If they’re competent enough to insist on US forces leaving, I would think that would include the mercenaries. Also, I’m not sure that they make the distinction: just more foreigners destroying their country. Besides, they did make a fuss about that one Blackwater incident.


  47. christopher wiwi Says:

    The decider has been overidden by another decider who has the BRASS to tell us to leave and the SHRUB will heed this advice and bring our troops home and let Barack take the helm and right the wrongs committed by the SHRUB and his crime family.


  48. pete Says:

    Bushco must maintain the War of Terror in order for the GOP to keep their pathetic, frightened, 23%ers. As long as Uncle Sugar is dropping bombs on Muslims the sheeple will be appeased. And even McPander Bear doesn’t seem to be splitting them up much.


  49. pete Says:

    George W. Bush

    A falsehood, wrapped in incompetence, buried in bullsh!t.


  50. schoolbusser Says:

    Let’s not forget what is really important here: supporting our troops and fighting for their rights while they are at war.


  51. republicanSScareme Says:

    Has everybody got it straight that Republicans say whatever they feel like? Truth mean nothing to these clowns.

    The Republican Party is the Nazi Party. Pass the word.


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