Romney And Bachmann Denounce U.S. Troop Withdrawal From Iraq

Former MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R)
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Republican candidates are reacting to President Obama’s announcement that American troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year. And so far, both Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann have released statements slamming the news.

Both Romney and Bachmann focused on the reports that the Iraqi government did not agree to a continued U.S. presence. For example, Romney wrote: “President Obama’s astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women.”

In addition, Bachmann called for the United States to demand Iraq’s oil revenue — apparently as repayment for being liberated.

“We have been ejected from a country by the people that we liberated and that the United States paid for with precious blood and treasure,” Bachmann writes. “The administration claims that we got exactly what we needed, but today’s announcement demonstrates otherwise. The United States needed a working democratic partnership in Iraq and we should have demanded that Iraq repay the full cost of liberating them given their rich oil revenues. I call on the president to return to the negotiating table with Iraq and lead from the front and not from weakness in Iraq and in the world.”

Neither statement acknowledged that the original agreement for U.S. troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011 was forged by President Bush.

Here is the Romney statement:

“President Obama’s astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women. The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government. The American people deserve to hear the recommendations that were made by our military commanders in Iraq.”

And Bachmann’s statement:

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s announcement to pull United States troops out of Iraq by the end of the year:

“Today’s announcement that we will remove all of our forces from Iraq is a political decision and not a military one; it represents the complete failure of President Obama to secure an agreement with Iraq for our troops to remain there to preserve the peace and demonstrates how far our foreign policy leadership has fallen. In every case where the United States has liberated a people from dictatorial rule, we have kept troops in that country to ensure a peaceful transition and to protect fragile growing democracies. We will now have fewer troops in Iraq than we have in Honduras – despite a costly and protracted war.

“President Obama’s decision represents the end of the era of America’s influence in Iraq and the strengthening of Iran’s influence in Iraq with no plan to counter that influence. We have been ejected from a country by the people that we liberated and that the United States paid for with precious blood and treasure. The administration claims that we got exactly what we needed, but today’s announcement demonstrates otherwise. The United States needed a working democratic partnership in Iraq and we should have demanded that Iraq repay the full cost of liberating them given their rich oil revenues. I call on the president to return to the negotiating table with Iraq and lead from the front and not from weakness in Iraq and in the world.”

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