Kennedy to say Senate not told about Iraq rules of engagement

[Tellurian]

...has there been deliberate sabotage by the Bush Administration in fueling this WAR?

During an appearance on the Ed Schultz Show today, Senate Armed Forces Committee member Ted Kennedy (D-MA) will say that it was "news" to Congressional members that US troops are "restricted by the Iraqis," RAW STORY has learned, after receiving a copy of the prerecorded interview.

"I was startled to find out that our servicemen and women in cleaning out Baghdad have been restricted by the Iraqis," Kennedy says, "and about where they can go, the battles that they can fight." "No, but we've heard that now from the national security adviser," Kennedy says. "Mr. Bartlett said that yesterday on CNN and this is all news to us."

Before President Bush's speech on Wednesday, White House conselor Dan Bartlett had said that troops were "handcuffed by political interference by the Iraqi leadership." "The rules of engagement, where those troops can go, who they can go after," Bartlett had said, "we're severely restricted by politics in Baghdad."

<>

"In earlier operations, political and sectarian interference prevented Iraqi and American forces from going into neighborhoods that are home to those fueling the sectarian violence," Bush said. "This time, Iraqi and American forces will have a green light to enter these neighborhoods – and Prime Minister Maliki has pledged that political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated."

DEVELOPING....

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/kennedy_schultz_0111.html


...GO TEDDY!

[fooj]

1. I've been waiting for this...

Thank you, Senator Kennedy! Keep shining that light!!

[goforit]

12. In honor of his forgotten brothers!

[Tellurian]

2. Like peeling the skin off a rotting onion...

The closer you get to the core, the more rotten the onion becomes..

I dare say, if the Bush Administration instituted or agreed to these terms..
Theres going to be Hell to Pay not only from citizen outrage... But
from the families of the dead and the maimed...

Sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph... how low have they gone..

[Grateful for Hope]

3. Go Senator Kennedy!!

:toast:

[Tellurian]

4. Hoping Sen. Kennedy beefs up his own personal security..

Take nothing for granted, Sen Kennedy.

You're becoming a thorn in their side..

[Igel]

5. He needs to be told this?

Doesn't he have a staffer that tells him what's in the NY Times?

There's been more than one instance in which the Iraqis say "back off" and the US dutifully backs off. There have also been instances in which the US acts and gets chewed out.

The inference is trivial to draw. Perhaps a staffer should have drawn it.

[Quantess]

6. Time for a kick!

:kick:

[Bushies gotta go]

7. I hate to say this... but

Who totally missed the story months ago when our military was ordered out of Sadr City by the Iraqi government while they were searching for the missing GI? Even though that story was on the MSM, showing the troops packing up their cordon of the district, it seems like nobody blinked an eye. THAT should've left not only every American angrier than hell but the dems should have been screaming about it too.

When I saw that our military was taking orders from Iraq, I figured it out. You're telling me that our Dems couldn't?

Sorry, accountability must be met, even if it is in our own backyard.

[VegasWolf]

8. Gotta say, I agree, a LOT of our Democratic leadership has been asleep at the wheel

with regard to this whole war. They have to get their asses in gear now and stop this damn thing in its tracks by doing whatever they can to shine the spotlight on the murky world of the Bush maladministration.

[Bushies gotta go]

11. I think the problem has been fear

The dems, in my opinion, have been too fearful of the right. Afraid of being called traitors. Afraid of losing elections. Afraid of being attacked by the right wing swift boats. And that fear has kept them silent.

I think that for once, they are feeling a bit more on solid ground for the most part. Some want to see blood spilled but not in Iraq. Others don't want to upset the apple cart, so they are trying to look like moderates.

Screw this. Blood on the streets. The streets of DC, political blood. Not soldier's blood in Iraq. These people (the right) want war, they want drama, they want to see blood. I urge the left to give it to them. Now that they are attacking Boxer for saying what we've been saying all these years, it is time for the dems to stand up and fight the swift boaters in the name of our kids who are dying.

Damn, I'm mad.

[gratuitous]

9. Official confirmation, huh?

Gee, it's been almost an article of faith among some of the freeperati that U.S. military forces should never, ever be under the command of a foreigner, which is why they're always so hostile to the U.S. participating in UN or NATO military exercises where some damn Belgian or other might be telling our star-spangled boys and girls where to go or what to do.

And now, here's news that our forces are being ordered around by a bunch of brown-skinned ragheads in Iraq. I wonder if this will still cause them to line up foursquare behind their straight-talkin' good Christian man from by-God Texas?

[Tellurian]

10. No but, they will be lining up over here:..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3103069

[dailykoff]

13. I think what he's getting at is that this is more b.s.

I find it hard to believe that anybody been restrained the US army from accomplishing its mission to destroy Iraq.

[Ouabache]

14. The Maliki Govt was installed to do one thing - Kill Saddam

before he could testify about Reagan-BushI support for his atrocoties. Now, things like this will be used to dispose of Maliki and move on to the next useful neocon puppet.