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Calif. Senator Nancy Pelosi Meets With
Iraqi Leaders
27.1.2007
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Pelosi visit to Iraq signals new era in foreign
policy
Baghdad, January 26, -- House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi's visit to Iraq is a clear sign the newly
empowered Democratic Congress is not going to abide
by the notion that foreign policy is the sole
province of the White House.
While President Bush met Friday with military
leaders in the Oval Office, Pelosi and antiwar Rep.
Jack Murtha turned up in Baghdad.
The timing of the trip, from the White House's point
of view, couldn't have been worse. It came just days
after Bush asked Congress in his State of the Union
address to give his revised Iraq strategy a chance.
It also provided for dueling photo ops: Bush at the
White House with his commanders and Pelosi and her
congressional delegation in the heavily fortified
Green Zone with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki told Pelosi that he would like to see
50,000 U.S. troops leave by the end of the year,
Iraqi officials said. |
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Photo:Reuters |
"We came out of the meeting with a greater
understanding of the others' point of view," Pelosi
said after the meeting.
Pelosi also met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani,
a Kurd, to discuss security and the political
process in Iraq.
The lawmakers also visited U.S. troops on what they
billed as a fact-finding mission and a mission to
"thank our troops."
While the administration did not take issue with the
visit by Pelosi and Murtha, Bush on Friday had a
message for congressional opponents who want to stop
his plan to increase U.S. troop strength in Iraq.
"I'm the decision-maker" on the war effort, he said.
"I know there is skepticism and pessimism and that
some are condemning a plan before it's even had a
chance to work," he said. "They have an obligation
and a serious responsibility therefore to put up
their own plan as to what would work."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday the
effort in Congress to pass a resolution opposing
President Bush's troop buildup undercuts U.S.
commanders in Iraq and "emboldens the enemy."
At the same time, he said the Pentagon is hoping to
speed the deployment of five additional Army
brigades to Baghdad to bolster security in the
capital. They had been scheduled to arrive a brigade
per month through May, each containing roughly 3,500
troops.
Pelosi has been a sharp critic of the
administration's conduct of the war and has led a
drive in Congress against his decision to send
21,500 more troops.
"We stressed our belief that it is well past time
for the Iraqis to take primary responsibility for
the security of their nation," Pelosi said in a
statement after the delegation's meeting with al-Maliki
and top U.S. officials in Baghdad.
AP
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