BAGHDAD — Vice President Joe Biden sought Monday to reassure Iraq that America is not abandoning it as the U.S. military steps back and a stalemate over who will run the war-battered nation's next government approaches its sixth month.
| Even though Joe and his boss wanted to many a time ... |
Biden flew into Baghdad a few days before a military ceremony formally marking the end of U.S. combat operations seven years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. He will also try to spur the nation's leaders to forge a power-sharing agreement to bring some much-needed political stability to Iraq after March parliamentary elections failed to produce a clear winner.
"We're going to be just fine. They're going to be just fine," he said during a brief photo opportunity at the U.S. Embassy, sitting next to Ambassador Jim Jeffrey and surrounded by top U.S. generals overseeing Iraq and the rest of the Middle East.
| Thanks for the reassurance, Joe, you bumbling fool ... |
The Sept. 1 ceremony marks the start of the so-called "Operation New Dawn" — symbolizing the beginning of the end of the American military's mission in Iraq.
Now, officials said, the American military will take a backseat to the U.S. State Department's efforts to help Iraq's security, economy and government stand alone as all U.S. troops leave by the end of 2011. Even after that, officials said, the U.S. will continue to assist Iraq in what Biden adviser Tony Blinken called "a long-term partnership."
"We're not disengaging from Iraq," Blinken told reporters. "And even as we draw down our troops, we are ramping up our engagement across the board."
| Rather how John McCain said we should do it. Might take fifty years, John said. |
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