July 20, 2010Biden says U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq remains on schedule
BAGHDAD, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden insisted that despite the political stalemate in Baghdad, the United States remains on track for the drawdown of troops from Iraq by August, according to the FoxNews.
“I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we’ll be able to meet the commitment of having only 50,000 troops there and it will not in any way affect the physical stability of Iraq,” the television quoted the vice president as saying.
He added, “There is a transition government. There is a government in place that’s working.”
Indeed White House press secretary Robert Gibbs Monday echoed the vice president’s optimistic outlook, telling reporters, “I think that we are on the verge of making a considerable drawdown in Iraq, that, if I recall correctly, a year before that, many said wasn’t going to happen.”
But Biden’s comments contradict what he said a few years ago when he advocated dividing Iraq into three parts based on ethnicity. He argued at a democratic presidential debate in August of 2007 that his plan would “separate the parties and give them some breathing room in order to establish some stability.”
He added that the fundamental mistake both the Bush administration and his colleagues continued to make was simple, clinging to the hope that “there is any possibility in the lifetime of anyone here of having the Iraqis get together, have a unity government in Baghdad that pulls the country together.”
When confronted about his change in attitude, the Vice President denied having ever suggested a three way partition and boasted that the country’s political parties “are in negotiations right now to figure out how to allocate the power within that government. In other words, share power. And it is about just that. And it’s underway. And it’s going to happen.”
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