We Gotta' Get Out Of This Place

Friends,

  Just pack up and fucking leave. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Peace, Love and Hope,

Rev O

Iraqi Cabinet Wants Security Agreement Altered

By ALISSA J. RUBIN and KATHERINE ZOEPF

New York Times

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued a stark warning to the Iraqis to think hard before rejecting the agreement.

"BAGHDAD — In a sign of growing unease with the proposed security agreement between the United States and Iraq, the Iraqi cabinet said Tuesday that it would demand changes to the deal and key Iraqi leaders said it was important to have a backup plan in case there was too much opposition for the pact to win approval."

  "Several senior members of Parliament said there were worries that the agreement left too much leeway for the Americans to stay in Iraq beyond the scheduled deadline for withdrawal in 2011."

"Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was traveling in Latvia, issued a stark warning to the Iraqis to think hard before rejecting the agreement. In some of the sharpest comments to date from the American side, he said that Iraqi Army and police forces would not be able to counter insurgent and terrorist violence after Dec. 31 without the help of the American military. The Iraqis, he said, “will not be ready to provide for their own security.”

Underscoring that point, a deadly firefight broke out in a troubled area south of Baghdad soon after American troops withdrew recently, raising questions about the area’s stability in the absence of American forces."

Senior members of the largest Sunni bloc in Parliament, Tawafiq, indicated that they were worried the pact might fall through. They want the Americans to stay, both because they fear a return of Sunni extremists who are antagonistic to more moderate Sunnis and because they fear the Shiite-majority government."