Too hot for Iraq's parliment

[Charlie P]

Maybe our troops should take the month off to. Well on the good side they were going to take July and August off.

This place isn't worth our kids lives.


The White House on Friday appeared resigned to the fact that the Iraqi parliament is going to take August off, even though it has just eight weeks to show progress on military, political and economic benchmarks prescribed by the United States.
"My understanding is at this juncture they're going to take August off, but, you know, they may change their minds," White House press secretary Tony Snow said.
"You know, it's 130 degrees in Baghdad in August," he said, sympathetically.
Snow was reminded that U.S. troops will be continuing to fight throughout August in the heat.

[BenGarrett]

I actually agree with a lot o what Bob Schieffer (Face the Nation, CBS) said Sunday about this:

""œHow much hotter do you suppose
it is if you are wearing a helmet, full body armor, carrying ammunition and
walking foot patrols through Baghdad? Which, the last I heard, is how
American troops are spending their August in Iraq. For me, this does it. God
help the Iraqi people, because there is not much America can do to help a
government that leaves Americans dying in the streets while the parliament
escapes to cooler climes. Does this mean we should pull out immediately? No.
A sudden withdrawal could set the entire region aflame. The truth is there
are no good options left. But from here on, we need to put aside the dream of
building a democracy in Iraq and focus solely on what is in our national
interest. It won"™t be pretty, but, for all our good intentions, about all we
can do now is try to contain this mess, pull our troops back from the middle
of this civil war, and concentrate instead on the terrorist threat that this
country faces around the world. As for what kind of government Iraq needs,
let their parliament figure it out. They can get right on it when the Baghdad
weather turns cooler."�

Unfortunately, what's in our best national interest is ensuring that Iraq is secure before we leave there. But I'm close to seeing that these people cannot be helped.

[Champlain Islander]

We pull out of the front lines and act as advisors to the Iraqi army right now. It presently is a civil war and we don't need to be in the middle of it. We can't fix militarily what is wrong over there. Only they can solve the problem of insurgent violence. We got rid of their dictator and helped them establish a democratic government. We can't fight their civil war for them only they can do that. If it weren't a political issue we would have been home long ago. Two years ago this administration could have had the foresight to see where this was going and started to let them stand alone. The Dems have used this war as their battle cry and as a wedge to show the American people how wrong theBush groupis. The stay the course mentality is simply not admitting the present administration was wrong. Too bad we are losing troops, alienating much of the free world and going into debt over politics.

[falcon]

""My understanding is at this juncture they're going to take August off, but, you know, they may change their minds," White House press secretary Tony Snow said."

All those denizens of the sands like to takevacations in August. In August of 1990, the Kuwaiti army took their vacations and Saddam came in the back door.

[Champlain Islander]

If they go on vacation so will we...Stay the course won't wash with the public if that ocurrs. I bet the administration is doing all they can to eliminate this potential fly in the ointment if they truly want to remain in country as combatants. Talk about a failure of Iraq to meet standards. It would, however, give Bush a way to back out of the corner he locked himself into and give the GOP a better shot at 2008. Politics will play this one out I suppose.