CNN/AP: Bush and Blair Acknowledge Iraq 'Setbacks'

Bush and Blair Acknowledge Iraq 'Setbacks'
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 25, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged difficult times in the Iraq war they launched together in 2003, but both vowed to keep troops there until the new Iraqi government takes control.

''Despite setbacks and missteps, I strongly believe we did and are doing the right thing,'' Bush said Thursday evening in a White House news conference with Blair. ''Not everything has turned out the way we hoped.''

For his part, Blair declared that after a meeting earlier this week with Iraq's new prime minister, ''I came away thinking the challenge is still immense, but I also came away thinking more certain than ever that we should rise to it.''

Blair, here for talks with Bush that will spill over to Friday, briefed Bush on his discussions in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who said his forces are capable of taking control of security in all Iraqi provinces within 18 months.

But neither Bush nor Blair would give specifics on when soldiers from their countries can begin to go home....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Bush-Blair.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

specifics...they have no plan...it's as simple as that....

tuning him out --and he was prepared to say this.

d'--(bring it on, wanted dead or alive)--


my question. why not this (the US)?

to me they are both cold-blooded killers, period.

(and I'm not even sure if Bush and Blair know this)

Mr. Al-Maliki is not a US puppet. He does not kiss their butts. He is, in fact, a friend of Muqtada Al-Sadr (remember him? Bush's Enemy of the week, back in 2004).

Mr. Al-Maliki is not very different from the guy they just ousted, Mr. Al-Jaafari.

Someone wrote about Rice & Rumsfeld going over there on a "surprise visit" to hug Mr. Al-Maliki:

"It was the last roll of the dice".