As long as the Iraqi army is engaged in conflict with the resistance, the US presence can, conceivably, be justified as a back-up. But what if the army and the resistance start to reach an understanding? This, it seems, is precisely what happened when army was sent into Basra to deal with Sadr’s men and ended up fraternising with them. That this was the moment that broke the back of the US/UK occupation, is confirmed by the US hopes, expressed below, that hostilities between Sadr and the army will recommence.  Contrary to the hopes of Western imperialists and their stooges, the Iraq nation, rather than fragmenting, is cohering in opposition to the occupation.It is the structures of power in the US/UK which will be fragmenting!

A double-edged sword: US generals welcome Iraqi military’s new confidence, but also worry

Robert Burns(AP news)

wiredispatch.com

13th July, 2008

Wajih Hameed is an Iraqi general with an attitude. 

With a satisfied look, he listened as a subordinate officer explained to the deputy commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad how he plans to reposition his troops in the coming weeks. 

“Before, they would have asked us to propose a plan” in such a circumstance and then would have accepted it with little argument, said Brig. Gen. Will Grimsley, who led a group of American officers to Hameed’s office on Thursday. “Now they are telling us how they will do it,” he said in an interview afterward.

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“The American soldiers should be based in agreed camps outside the cities and population areas.”

It sounds more like hostages than occupiers: but, anyway, anything’s better then them coming home where they might start venting their anger on the chicken hawks

Sunday,13th July, 2008(Missing Links)

WaPo this morning (Sunday July 13) says the Bush administration has scaled back to trying to negotiate an “interim” agreement insofar as its military presence and operations in Iraq are concerned, having finally realized the solidity of Iraqi opposition to the idea of open-ended American presence, and the difficulty of negotiating a withdrawal schedule.

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Any long-term deal on extended presence will wait for next administration

Karen DeYoung

MSNBC

13th July, 2008

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have abandoned efforts to conclude a comprehensive agreement governing the long-term status of U.S troops in Iraq before the end of the Bush presidency, according to senior U.S. officials, effectively leaving talks over an extended U.S. military presence there to the next administration.

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Gareth Porter (IPSNews)

WASHINGTON, Jul 10 (IPS) – Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s demand for a timetable for complete U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, confirmed Tuesday by his national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, has signaled the almost certain defeat of the George W. Bush Read the rest of this entry »

Yahoo News

9th July

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. ground troops in Iraq will be mostly finished with security operations by the middle of 2009, the senior U.S. Army officer in charge of training Iraqi forces said on Wednesday.

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“Asked to explain the “contradictory statements” of the Iraqi prime minister and the White House spokesman, he says that the US Administration is afraid of directly announcing a deadline for its withdrawal for two reasons. He adds: “The first reason is because this would affect the morale of the US Army, which is essentially collapsing, desperate, and in a state of confusion and disorder. They believe that the gunmen would step up their activity and would have greater power and morale.” He further notes that during the previous six months there has been a lot of “confusion and contradiction” amongst the parties to the political process, the Iraqi Government, and US leaders.

He adds: “What is being promoted by politicians now is a way to conceal the US defeat in Iraq. This is because they realize that, as soon as they announce this, the political process will collapse, either gradually or suddenly.””

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

iStockAnalyst

Doha Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel Television in Arabic at 0501 gmt on 8 July carries the following announcer-read report over video: “White House Spokesman Gordon Johndroe has denied that the security discussions on the presence of the US forces in Iraq between the Iraqi Government and the US Administration aim to set a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki has hinted that negotiating a memorandum of understanding between Iraq and the United States includes setting a timetable for the withdrawal of the US forces, rather than a long-term agreement.”

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