France warns against hasty U.S. pullout from Iraq

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29754471.htm

France warns against hasty U.S. pullout from Iraq

PARIS, Nov 29 (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, one of the sharpest critics of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, warned Washington on Tuesday against pulling out troops without regard to regional security.

Villepin, interviewed in Paris by CNN, said a badly planned withdrawal could cause chaos in Iraq, "which of course would be disastrous for the whole region."

...

Asked whether Washington should set a timetable for bringing home troops, Villepin said any withdrawal "should be coordinated with the local situation in Iraq and the regional situation."

"I think that the timetable should be a global timetable," he said. "The real timetable is the Iraqi situation."

[Contradistinction]

1. In other words....

The US made our bed, so sleep in it.

[Jacobin]

4. Yup

I'm waiting for them to say "I told you so"....but they haven't as far as I know.

btw, welcome to DU

:hi:

[K-W]

15. Or "Don't let your war interupt our oil."

I think France is worried that a US pullout would destablize oil dictatorships in the region, thus interupting everyone's supplies.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. Aw, come on!

Surely France should understand that we're attempting to surrender!

:hide:

[Flagg]

12. 2110 American soldiers have already surrendered

permanently

[mmonk]

3. Get their asses

in there to help if they want this thing solved.

[wookie294]

5. NATO should help America surrender in Iraq

Support Our Militants. Bring them home!

[Jacobin]

6. Um, I think they understand better than anyone

that sending more western infidel invaders into IraqNam is the WORST way to deal with this problem.

France was right, btw.

Bush was wrong

[mmonk]

7. Seems I'm misunderstood.

I say leave and to hell to anyone who suggests we stay longer unless they want to help the situation by internationalizing our withdrawal over time.

[Jacobin]

13. I misread you

:blush:

Excuse my smart ass reply.

Peace

[mmonk]

21. No problem

Everybody else did too. The problem was my choice of words. Sounded almost rightwing, didn't it? I'm just tired of hearing how we must stay now unless I can be shown it can be turned into something good.

[Tom Bombadil]

19. I say America

created this mess and America should clear it up.

[ECH1969]

8. France knows the price of US failure in Iraq

Will be a massive economic resession around the world (and in France) brought on by 150$ a barrel oil and al-Qaeda crazies having a far easier time hitting anywhere they want in Europe.

That doesn't mean they are going to lift a finger to help though.

[K-W]

17. That is half true.

The US pulling out of Iraq might destablize local governments and create a major oil crisis for all developed nations, and I imagine that is France's concern.

It would not however make anything easier for Al-Queda, quite the opposite. They would immediately lose thier biggest source of advertising/recruiting, thier biggest source of sympathy, and thier most effective training ground.

[Christa]

11. You cannot be serious? nt.

[bspence]

9. Great thinking France!

Now we know that Bush will do the OPPOSITE of what you say and pull out immediately!

j/k.

I actually think we need to stay to stabilize the place and then get the hell out. I think we should truly internationalize the occupation, leaving the decision making up to NATO or the UN.

[ECH1969]

10. They wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole

[Voltaire99]

14. Vous le brokez, vous le fixez!

In a manner of speaking. ;-)

Villepin is right wing, remember, even if he did oppose the invasion.

Still, if only in his diagnosis and not his RX, he's right about one thing. Against the advice of 9/10 of the planet, the US has destabilized the entire region and thus imperiled not only the world's supply of oil but its economy, too.

However, as that great American thinker Tom Clancy might say, more failure is not an option. This occupation can't go on. Even Bush-lovers have come around to realizing as much. (Not that your Hillarys and Kerrys have figured it out yet; too busy triangulating, they'll be the last to speak any sense--and only when it's completely safe to do so.)

The sooner the imperialists are out of Iraq, the sooner Iraqis can run their own nation and the sooner the region can begin to handle its own affairs. Unhappily for SUV Land, odds are Iraq in the near future won't look anything like it does in the wet dreams of PNAC or the DNC: not a giant gas pump for America, but an Islamic state very unhappy with the foreigners who wrecked it.

This "world's last superpower" biz ain't all it's cracked up to be, is it?

[PurityOfEssence]

16. Pssst...we're not leaving.

This is all ridiculous. The very idea that we'd stomp in there and smash everything just to have our hooks into the most important oil region on earth (not to mention slaking the PNAC's fixation for buttressing Israel) and then leave is silly beyond belief. It's amazing so many people think this way.

We're staying. The right will withdraw as many troops as necessary in front of elections to make it look like we're leaving, but we aren't. We don't give a tinker's cuss about giving them democracy and never did; it's about the oil, Israel, and the fear of the Saudis imploding (which is also about oil).

The number of people on this board, in both parties and among the unaligned who actually think we're leaving is just a further reminder of how gullible mankind is. It's like religion: even if one of the major faiths is correct, the vast majority of mankind is absolutely wrong, yet seemingly everyone is completely convinced. It's nuts.

Personally, I think de Villepin's right: to abruptly leave would be a disaster, whereas staying and phasing out or something gentle and sincere would be the only sensible thing to do. Sadly, we won't do the latter, and it's just going to be a mealy-mouthed mess, careening through the desert of lies and sloganeering.

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. Maybe the Iraqis should invite the UN back in

to take our place?

[JVS]

20. So France and the Freepers are agreeing on something now?

Great

[freedomburn]

22. Yeah, why don't those damn Freeptards move to France if they agree with

their policies so much??

[madmark]

23. Too bad France, we're getting out