By GottaLaff
And here I thought Thanksgiving would be so slow that I'd have to manufacture news, but no-o-o:
The long, costly story of American military involvement in Iraq moved closer to an end Thursday when Iraq's parliament approved a pact that requires all troops to be out in three years, marking the first clear timetable for a U.S. exit since the 2003 invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. [...]Bush is saying this "affirms the growth" of democracy, and that the Surge worked. Bush is full of... turkey stuffing.
The security deal must now be ratified by the three-member Presidential Council, which is expected to approve it. [...]
Under the pact, Iraq will have strict oversight over the nearly 150,000 American troops now on the ground, representing a step toward full sovereignty for Iraq and a shift from the sense of frustration and humiliation that many Iraqis feel at the presence of American troops on their soil for so many years.
Hmmm. Strings? Attached or otherwise?
Iraqi lawmakers today approved a pact allowing U.S. forces to stay in the country through 2011 after winning support from skeptics by promising a public referendum on the plan. [...]Just get us out of there.
The lawmakers separately approved a resolution calling for a referendum in July 2009, during which the public will get to endorse, reject or demand amendments to the agreement. The referendum was the key demand of Sunni Arab legislators who had refused to join the parliament's ruling Shiite Muslim and Kurdish blocs in approving the agreement without the referendum promise. [...]
If voters rejected the agreement in the July 2009 referendum, Iraq's government would have to cancel SOFA or demand changes to it. The terms of the agreement allow either side to give the other a year's notice of cancellation, so if Iraq scrapped the pact, U.S. forces would have to leave the country in July 2010. [...]
"There is a provision for extension, by agreement of both sides," one U.S. official said in discussing the pact.
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