| I still don't trust this guy. |
Chalabi, the controversial former exile who came to New York after meetings with top U.S. officials in Washington, said the Iraqi army should be equipped with American weaponry and properly trained to protect itself against the armies of its neighbors, which include Syria and Iran. They must also be given "more latitude" in recruitment, he told a gathering at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"If we do the right thing together, I think significant American troops can be withdrawn from Iraq without causing a serious security threat during 2006, next year," he said.
Chalabi's prediction contradicts the message from the Bush administration, which has refused to set a timetable for withdrawal for the estimated 150,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq.
| Not contradictory at all. We're not setting a timetable, and neither is Chalabi: he's speculating. |
He got one question about claims that his exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, may have fed information to the U.S. that Saddam Hussein had amassed hidden arsenals of weapons of mass destruction. His critics say that helped fuel President Bush's case for war. "I want to tell you that the fact that I perpetuated a case for war based on weapons of mass destruction is an urban myth which is not rooted in reality," he said, echoing remarks he made in Washington earlier this week.