Pelosi: Bush ignores the American people but cannot ignore Iraqi PMMuriel Kane
Published: Tuesday July 8, 2008
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has called on President Bush to heed Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki's statement yesterday that he expects any pending troop deal with the United States to include a timetable for withdrawal.
"A bipartisan majority in Congress — representing the wishes of the American people — supports a timetable for redeployment as an essential step in ending the Iraq war," Pelosi wrote on her official blog on Tuesday. "President Bush refuses to listen to Congress or the American people, but he cannot support Iraqi political reconciliation and security and ignore Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki’s call for a timetable for the withdrawal."
Iraq's national security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie has now joined Maliki in stating that Iraq will not accept any memorandum of understanding without specific dates for withdrawal. The United Nations mandate which allows US troops to be in Iraq will expire at the end of 2008, and Bush and Maliki have agreed that a Status of Forces Agreement setting out the terms under which they remain must be signed by July 31, leaving little time for negotiations to iron out the many remaining issues.
