Britian is staying the course:
Iraq is at a critical juncture and faces a real risk that violence will escalate even further, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Thursday, warning against a precipitous withdrawal by the U.S.-led coalition. Beckett said the electoral wins by Democrats and the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would prompt a reassessment of strategy in Iraq, but were unlikely to lead to a major shift in policy.And here is big news, the MSM finally admit it:
[...]
"I am not myself anticipating some major upheaval in policy. What I do think we will see is a reassessment ... of how the international community can best move forward.
Eventually there will be a new direction in Iraq, but nothing will happen in the immediate future," he said. "The Democrats don't have a policy or a coherent plan. Nothing will happen until they figure our their policies."Then there's this:
The recommendations of an independent U.S. commission led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton would be key to determining America and Britain's next moves, she said.I'm going to make a bold prediction here that the report will recommend that we train the Iraqi police and troops and slowly ease them into protecting Iraq.
"What is really important is the development of the Baker-Hamilton report, the discussions, the conversations that are taking place on that," Beckett said. "I am not myself anticipating some major upheaval in policy. What I do think we will see is a reassessment ... of how the international community can best move forward."
And finally buried at the end of the article, after much criticism of Rumsfeld there's this:
"We are sad that he has resigned," Karzai's chief of staff, Jawed Ludin, told The Associated Press. "We in Afghanistan are very pleased and very grateful for (Rumsfeld's) support for Afghanistan."I may be the only one, but I love Rumsfeld! He successfully executed two wars in record time. The Soviet Union tried to bring down Afghanistan for years and how many days did it take Rumsfeld? And how quickly did we have Hussein in custody. He was the best and history will judge him kindly. (Though, I know there were problems but every war has problems.)
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