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White House rejects partition idea
20.10.2006
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WASHINGTON , --
Awaiting the recommendations of a commission
exploring U.S. options in Iraq, the White House on
Thursday emphatically ruled out some proposals to
end the long and unpopular war.
Presidential spokesman Tony Snow said a suggestion
to divide Iraq into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish
regions, each with high degrees of autonomy, was a "nonstarter."
Similarly, he said a phased withdrawal of American
troops — perhaps by 5% every two months — also was a
"nonstarter."
"You withdraw when you win," Snow said. "Phased
withdrawal is a way of saying, 'Regardless of what
the conditions are on the ground, we're going to get
out of Dodge.' "
Vice President Dick Cheney said the United States
was not looking for a way out of Iraq. "I know what
the president thinks. I know what I think. And we're
not looking for an exit strategy. We're looking for
victory," Cheney said in an interview posted on Time
magazine's website Thursday.
The notions of partitioning Iraq and withdrawing
troops have been floated recently as a blue-ribbon
commission headed by former Secretary of State James
A. Baker III searches for a bipartisan approach.
Baker has said there are alternatives other than
"stay the course and cut and run."
Among other ideas, the panel is considering whether
to set a timetable for withdrawal and whether to
solicit help from Iran and Syria to stop the
fighting, according to Leon Panetta, a member of the
advisory group and one-time chief of staff for
former President Clinton. Panetta says no decisions
have been made.
The commission's work has been portrayed by some as
a way of providing political cover for Bush to
change course and scale down the U.S. role, which
has cost the lives of at least 2,785 members of the
U.S. military since the beginning of the war in
March 2003. In October alone, more than 70 American
troops have been killed, putting the month on course
to be the bloodiest for U.S. forces in nearly two
years.
Cheney, in the interview, acknowledged he was
mistaken when he said nearly 17 months ago that the
insurgency in Iraq was in its last throes. "I
thought we were over the hump in terms of violence —
I think that was premature," he said. He said he
thought Iraq's elections would have created a
different environment. "And it hasn't happened yet."
Snow said Bush would take the commission's
recommendations seriously but that they were simply
advisory suggestions. The White House has said Bush
would not feel bound by the group's proposals, which
are not due to be released until after the November
elections.
The White House also tried to clarify Bush's remarks
Wednesday when he said the surge of violence in Iraq
"could be" comparable to the 1968 Tet offensive that
prompted Americans to lose support for the Vietnam
War.
"The president was making a point that he's made
before, which is that terrorists try to exploit
pictures and try to use the media as conduits for
influencing public opinion in the United States,"
Snow said.
Acknowledging that the Tet offensive "was successful
from a propaganda point of view," Snow said the
violence in Iraq would not have the same result.
"The important thing to remember is, the president's
determined it's not going to happen with Iraq
because you have a president who is determined to
win," he said. "And the strategy is a threefold
strategy that involves security, economics and
political reconciliation, working with the Iraqis.
And we'll continue to make adjustments as necessary
to pursue victory."
"But the one thing that nobody should have any doubt
about is that we're going win," Snow said.
He agreed that the Tet offensive had become
shorthand for the point at which the Vietnam War
changed course but, again, said there was no
parallel with Iraq.
"We do not think that there's been a flipover
point," Snow said. "But more importantly, from the
standpoint of the government and the standpoint of
this administration, we are going to continue
pursuing victory aggressively."
AP
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