McCain's foreign policy fantasies

By Libby

The latest news out of Iraq on the Status of Forces Agreement leaves McCain in a difficult place. Having spent the last many months insisting that we can't withdraw from Iraq until we 'win,' he now has to address Maliki's latest announcement that calls for a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops. McCain returns the volley with his usual strategy, an incomprehensible denial that Maliki meant what he said.

Mr. McCain said it was the same as when Iraqi officials said recently that they doubted an agreement with the United States could be struck over the status of American forces. “Prime Minister Malki, is, has got his, he is a leader of a country,’’ Mr. McCain said, according to a pool report. “And I am confident that he will act, as the president and foreign minister have both told me in the last several days, that it will be directly related to the situation on the ground, just as they have always said. And since we are succeeding and then I am convinced, as I have said before, we can withdraw and withdraw with honor, not according to a set timetable. And I’m confident that is what Prime Minister Maliki is talking about since he has told me that for the many meetings we have had.”

Whatever that is supposed to mean. Maybe McCain should be talking to Iraqi's National Security Adviser who passed on the word from the most influential man in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

We will not accept any memorandum of understanding if it does not give a specific date for a complete withdrawal of foreign troops," Mr al-Rubaie told reporters in Iraq's holy city of Najaf.

"Our stance in the negotiations under way with the American side will be strong," he said, but added that it was proving "very difficult" to set a pullout date.

In case that's not clear enough, there's this further clarification.

In a meeting with Iraqi national security adviser Muwaffaq Al-Rubaie who was briefing al-Sistani in Najaf on the progress of the government's security efforts, and the talks on US security deal, Ayatollah said his country will not accept such a security deal which is seeking to justify the illegal presence of US military troops in the war-torn country.

I've been expecting this development since last December when the Iraqi pariliament was threatening to revoke the agreements for a continued US presence. I'm surprised it took so long.

Bush famously turned over sovereignty to the country years ago. The bottom line here is that the Iraqi people want to use it and McCain's pipe dream of having a 100 year occupation there is going up in smoke. The Iraqis don't want permanent bases unless they get be in charge of them. They, like all humans, fear the unknown but they don't want to live under foreign overlords either. In the end they want control of their country and their own destiny. It's well past time to give it to them.