Iraqis Call for Timetable, America Cracks Down

Aaron Glantz

Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld paid an unannounced visit to Baghdad today, after telling reporters the Iraqi government is not yet ready to determine the pace of U.S. troop reductions. “We haven’t gotten to that point,” he said.

So much for Iraqi sovereignty.

It’s perhaps no accident that Rumsfeld’s visit comes as the Iraqi Parliament prepares to vote on a measure that would demand a timeline for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

The U.S. military has been cracking down on proponents of the measure.

The U.S. military launched an assault last week on the movement of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, conducting separate raids in Baghdad and Babylon and killing and arresting dozens of people.

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