Argue With Everyone Political Forums - View Single Post - Cartwright: Changes in Iraq Taking ‘Permanent Hold’

noneof yourbusiness · #3 (**permalink**) 11-26-2007, 02:39 AM

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The administration of US President George W. Bush has whittled its political goals for Iraq, setting achievable targets so it can continue claiming success, The New York Times said on its website late Saturday.

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Citing unnamed administration officials, the newspaper said one of these goals includes assuring passage of a 48-billion-dollar Iraqi budget that the Iraqi parliament is bound to do in any case.

The report follows a statement by US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, who said last week that all types of attacks in Iraq had dropped by 55 percent since the US troop "surge" became fully operational in June.

Smith warned, however, that progress was fragile and "far from irreversible."

Sheikh Abdul Hadi al-Mohammedawi, an aide of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr warned during Friday prayers in the central Iraqi town of Kufa that an operation by Iraqi and US forces targeting the Mahdi Army could have grave consequences.

Two bombs hidden in a carton exploded at the same time in a popular Baghdad pet market on Friday, killing 13 people, while nine people died in two bombs attacks on police in Mosul.

The Times report said other US political targets include renewing the United Nations mandate authorizing the US presence in the country and passing legislation to allow former Baath Party members to join the government.

"If we can show progress outside of the security sector alone, that will go a long way to demonstrate that we are in fact on a sustainable path to stability in Iraq," the paper quotes an unnamed senior official as saying.