Car bombs kill 10; P.M. vows Iraqi forces ready to take over security

[ECH1969]

Two car bombs exploded in Baghdad Thursday, killing 10 people and injuring 16, officials said. Iraq's prime minister insisted the country's forces were ready to take over security duties in most provinces despite rising violence.

Still, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said government forces were ready to take over the country's security in most areas, a statement from his office said.

It quoted al-Maliki as telling the visiting Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, that: "Iraqi forces are capable of taking over the security in most of the Iraqi provinces and will be able to fill the vacuum if the multinational forces withdraw."

Falah Alamri, head of the State Oil Marketing Organization that is responsible for Iraq's imports of oil products, said the money normally allocated by the government to buy oil products was doubled in August to the equivalent of about $470 million Cdn. A similarly doubled amount would be allocated for September, Alamri told Dow Jones Newswires.

http://www.canadaeast.com/cp/world/article.php?articleID=33767

[CottonBear]

1. Is BushCo planning to start withdrawing prior to the November elections?

The Iraqi PM has not previously said that "Iraqi forces are capable of taking over the security in most of the Iraqi provinces and will be able to fill the vacuum if the multinational forces withdraw."

[maddezmom]

2. kick

[RamboLiberal]

3. WP: Premier Calls Iraqi Forces Ready to Extend Control

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081701757.html

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday that Iraqi forces were prepared to take over security in most provinces if the U.S. military withdraws, as at least 23 Iraqis and an American soldier were killed in violence across the country.

The bloodshed, which included a car bomb in Baghdad that killed at least eight people, came as U.S. and Iraqi forces attempt to thwart the growing sectarian violence engulfing the country.

The U.S.-led military coalition has set no timetable for removing troops from Iraq, but Maliki said in a statement that Iraqis "have become capable of taking over security tasks in the majority of the provinces and that they will be able to fill the vacuum in case the Multi-National Forces withdraw."

Iraqi forces have taken full military control of only one province so far -- Muthanna, in a relatively calm area of southern Iraq -- but Maliki said they would soon take security responsibility of the area around Diwaniyah, in Qadisiyah province.

[acmavm]

4. That guy is such a jokester. Hell, he's a goner when (if) we pull out.

I bet he's a riot at parties.

[krkaufman]

5. His statement was very possibly compelled by Bush/Rove

Bush can use this statement to say "OK, thanks, we're done. Mission complete." And Bush starts bringing the troops home before the mid-term elections, under a facade of "victory."

(Of course, Iraq is no safer, the Iraqi forces incapable of protecting themselves let alone the citizenry, and the country will spiral into further chaos and bloodshed. But Rove/Bush will hope to keep this info from the public eye by pressuring the media.)

[Barrett808]

6. Iraqi forces have already taken over security

They just happen to be insurgent forces and militias.