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Joe Biden ("the Verbose Blue Hen") riffs on Iraq
Jake Tapper, "Political Punch" @ ABC NewsOn a flight to Kalispell, Mont., Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., was asked by a reporter, "Do you still believe in a tripartite solution to Iraq?" His answer lasted 13 minutes, 20 seconds. Before we reprint it, in full, it's only fair to ponder how long Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's answer to such a question would be. Mr. Biden's response: "The Bush administration's policy in the beginning -- and John's -- continues to be a strong, central government, democracy, that will gain the confidence of all the Iraqi people that would be a democratic institution that would make the dominoes of the oligarchies fall in the Middle East. That was success, that's what they talked about. Now what's happened? Where there's relative peace, where is it? It's up in the Kurdish area. Where? Where they don't allow Shia troops to come up. Where they don't allow the Iraqi army to come up without their permission. There is now relative calm in Anbar. Why? They did exactly what I proposed two years ago. They turned over authority and trained homegrown local Sh-- Sunnis. And said we promise you, those Shia aren't coming and patrolling your streets. That's called the awakening. That's what got all of the sheikhs to come together and say OK. I predicted if you ask the sheikhs to have their sons join the army or join the police force, the security forces and you told them they'd protect their own area, they'd join in droves. The first day Petraeus wisely made that offer, a thousand Sunnis showed up for the police force. . . . ." Click through if you really want to read it all. According to MS Word, it's 1,317 words long. Posted by: Mike 2008-09-08 |
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