From the AP today. (Hat Tip to MoreWhat.com)
The U.N. Security Council agreed Wednesday to an Iraqi request to extend the mandate of the U.S.-led multinational force after the country's foreign minister said the troops were "vitally necessary."
The council also strongly condemned the bombing of Samarra's revered Shiite shrine and urged all countries, especially those in the region, to support Iraq in its pursuit of peace.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told the council members that despite the senseless violence "the government has made tremendous strides toward the day when security will be provided by a self-sufficient, Iraqi national security force."
"While Iraqis will always be grateful for their liberation from an absolute despot, no Iraqi government official — indeed, no Iraqi citizen — wants the presence of foreign troops on Iraqi soil one day longer than is vitally necessary," he said.
[...]
Russia's Churkin said that without international assistance for the political process, leaders of Iraq's different groups would not be able to overcome "the inertia" of mistrust.
Read the whole thing.
Related is an article in the Opinion Journal from Joe Lieberman, guaranteed, of course, to make the far left liberals heads explode.
BY JOSEPH LIEBERMAN
Friday, June 15, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
I recently returned from Iraq and four other countries in the Middle East, my first trip to the region since December. In the intervening five months, almost everything about the American war effort in Baghdad has changed, with a new coalition military commander, Gen. David Petraeus; a new U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker; the introduction, at last, of new troops; and most important of all, a bold, new counterinsurgency strategy.
The question of course is--is it working? Here in Washington, advocates of retreat insist with absolute certainty that it is not, seizing upon every suicide bombing and American casualty as proof positive that the U.S. has failed in Iraq, and that it is time to get out.
In Baghdad, however, discussions with the talented Americans responsible for leading this fight are more balanced, more hopeful and, above all, more strategic in their focus--fixated not just on the headline or loss of the day, but on the larger stakes in this struggle, beginning with who our enemies are in Iraq. The officials I met in Baghdad said that 90% of suicide bombings in Iraq today are the work of non-Iraqi, al Qaeda terrorists. In fact, al Qaeda's leaders have repeatedly said that Iraq is the central front of their global war against us. That is why it is nonsensical for anyone to claim that the war in Iraq can be separated from the war against al Qaeda--and why a U.S. pullout, under fire, would represent an epic victory for al Qaeda, as significant as their attacks on 9/11.
Some of my colleagues in Washington claim we can fight al Qaeda in Iraq while disengaging from the sectarian violence there. Not so, say our commanders in Baghdad, who point out that the crux of al Qaeda's strategy is to spark Iraqi civil war.
Definitely read the entire piece.
Given a choice on whether to believe our politicians or our commanders with boots on the ground, it is a no brainer.
The commanders win hands down and only an idiot would listen to someone thousands of miles away from where the trouble is, while ignoring those that are there and witness to what they are saying.
Common sense seems to be in short supply these days as you can tell by heading over to many liberal sites and listening to them speak like they are there in iraq, and know what they are talking about simply because they watch the news while sitting on their asses, the whole time ignoring those that are "in the know", the ones fighting, risking life and limb..... the ones that are putting their lives where their mouths are.
At least Joe Lieberman understands that it is those with boots on the ground that understand exactly what is going on.
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