Also in this section:
What they're saying about the Iraq War "surge"
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Gutman, Open letter to George W. Bush about the Iraq War
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What they are saying about the US “troop surge” in Iraq

quotations taken from world media

The consequences of failure are clear: Radical Islamic extremists would grow in strength and gain new recruits. They would be in a better position to topple moderate governments, create chaos in the region and use oil revenues to fund their ambitions. Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Our enemies would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the American people. On Sept. 11, 2001, we saw what a refuge for extremists on the other side of the world could bring to the streets of our own cities. For the safety of our people, America must succeed in Iraq.

George W. Bush

Last November, the American people delivered a strong message of no confidence in the president's Iraq policy and clearly expressed their desire for a new direction. The president had an opportunity tonight to demonstrate that he understood the depth of the concern in the country, make a long overdue course correction, and articulate a clear mission for our engagement in Iraq. Instead, he chose to escalate our involvement in Iraq's civil war by proposing a substantial increase in the number of our forces there. This proposal endangers our national security by placing additional burdens on our already over-extended military thereby making it even more difficult to respond to other crises.

Joint statement by Democratic congressional leaders

For the poor “volunteers” trapped there, Iraq is a dead end street.

La Prensa columnist Betty Brannan Jaén

We agree fully with the goals set by the new strategy, which in our view are the goals that --- if implemented --- would solve the problems that face Iraq.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal

It's viewed as a temporary surge, but I think no one has a really clear idea of how long that might be.

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

There is nothing ahead but even greater disaster in Iraq.

editorial in The New York Times

If America retreats in Iraq, then that has enormous consequences for the stability of the Middle East and it will also be an enormous boost to terrorism in our part of the world.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard

That still leaves you well short of any sort of force that you need to pacify and stabilize Baghdad.

Colonel Paul Hughes (US Army - Ret)

As long as this is a war between a regular army, in the face of gang-style militant groups, Americans will fail.

Galal Nassar, research fellow at Egypt’s Nasser Military Academy

To step back now would force a collapse of the Iraqi government.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair

It is not our intention at the present time to send more troops.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett

We have never supported troops in Iraq.

Speaker of the Russian Duma Boris Gryzlov

Only through dialogue and diplomatic negotiations can a definitive solution be reached.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos

Bush's strategy will be another catastrophe and the Iraqi people will be the only loser.

editorial in the Syrian state-owned newspaper Tishrin

With the new strategy, new forces and new generals President Bush is putting in place, we have a fighting chance to create a virtuous circle whereby better security leads to more anti-insurgent cooperation from the public --- which in turn leads to still better security.

editorial in The Wall Street Journal

I am skeptical.

Senator George Voinovich (R-OH)

The politics Bush faces has been very adroitly dealt with. He is effectively saying, ‘Let's give this one last try, but if the Iraqis don't deliver on their side, then I won't pursue a lost cause.’ American polls show that despite wide opposition to the war, there is a very low level of support for an immediate withdrawal. Bush has judged that the American people will give him this last chance.

Michael Costello, columnist for The Australian

Not since Richard Nixon escalated the war in Vietnam has a US president gone to the country with such a counterintuitive plan, in this case a commitment to send "more than 20,000" more soldiers to Iraq, a mere two months after US voters resoundingly told Bush they no longer had the stomach for an ever-increasing fatality count in the Middle East.

Tim Harper, columnist for The Toronto Star

It’s even worse that the panorama can’t be painted for President Bush, after whose speech the only thing left clear is that that they can’t get out of Baghdad. Not now, because the Iraqi capital is truly a Hell.

editorial in El Panama America

This will not help to solve Iraq's problems.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini

The answers to this situation are to be found not only in security measures but, more broadly, in a range of measures, including the political and a national reconciliation process, and all of these need to be addressed in parallel.

European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin

It is a dangerous illusion to believe that we can depart Iraq and the inevitable killing fields, and terrorist violence will not follow us in retreat, even to our own shores.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

I oppose increasing the number of US troops in Iraq as the president outlined. An escalation of American troops is a flawed strategy for two reasons: it implies that there is a military solution to the violence when what's needed is a political solution among the Iraqi leaders, and it suggests that the future of Iraq is in our hands, not theirs.

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI)

Hatred will increase against America and its allies whether they are in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Pakistani Islamist parliamentary coalition spokesman Shahid Shamsi

No patriot can hope for him to fail. There is far too much at stake for America and the world.

editorial in the Dallas Morning News

The administration has presented no workable plan beyond more death and destruction. The Band-Aid applied by Bush only forestalls the inevitable at great expense and tragedy.

editorial in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

What Bush is apparently trying to do is to depart from Iraq honorably, without leaving behind catastrophic images like when the Americans left Saigon.

Retired French General Jean Salvan

It is an escalation. And I'm hard-pressed to see how we come out of that kind of escalation as victors.

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

I agree with President Bush that we need a new strategy in Iraq but, in my view, that strategy must involve fewer American troops in the region, not more. Our soldiers and their families should not continue to pay the price for the president's failed policies. Our troops should come home as soon as possible and it is time for Congress to use its constitutional and budgetary authority to make that happen. While we should continue to financially support the Iraqi government and their military, we simply cannot allow President Bush to make a bad situation even worse by sending more American soldiers into the quagmire of Iraq.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

I oppose the troop surge in Baghdad because it is not a strategy for victory.

Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN)

I strongly hope that the US efforts toward the stability in Iraq and reconstruction will proceed effectively and bring good results.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso

Bush should have to answer for his brutal policy in Iraq and indemnify all the victims.

Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun

George W. Bush lives in his own world.

Danish Social Democratic leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt

The president should be commended for adapting to the reality on the ground in Iraq.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Too little, too late --- way too late.

Colonel Jerry Durrant (US Army - Ret)

What they're saying about the Iraq War "surge"
Wallis, A criminal escalation of an unjust war
Gutman, Open letter to George W. Bush about the Iraq War
Silié, For peace and development in 2007
Birns, Chávez and Insulza get out of line
Watt, Ecuador says no
Cohen, Negroponte becomes Latin America's problem again
Bernal, Panama facing Poland's frequent fate?

Sirias, A tribute to Virgil Suárez

Jackson, Who's left?