Iraqis' Take on Democrats--More Security, Please!

Here's a series of interesting reactions to the Democrats' victory from the many players in Iraq--From The AP (via Russ):

To Col. Al Kelly, whose brigade patrols dangerous Shiite neighborhoods on the north side of Baghdad, Donald H. Rumsfeld did the best he could, made tough decisions and "now he's paying for it."

"He made hard decisions no one else would make," said Kelly, 45, of Weldon, N.C., after President Bush announced that he was replacing Rumseld as Pentagon chief with former CIA director Robert Gates.

While U.S. troops have complained Rumsfeld sought to control Iraq with too few troops, many Iraqis say the U.S.-led forces failed to offer day-to-day protection against insurgent and militia attacks.

Some expected Rumsfeld's resignation and the Democrats' gains in Congress to improve security and spur an earlier withdrawal of U.S. troops. Others expected little to change.

"I expect a major change in military commands in Iraq," said Hassan al-Sunnaid, a member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party. "We have to wait and see the strategy of the new secretary (Gates) and how we will deal with him. We hope he will be more effective and more serious in achieving security in Iraq."

"The Bush administration including Rumsfeld was able to topple Saddam Hussein's regime but it did not succeed in administering Iraq," al-Sunnaid said. "Defense officials, on top of them Rumsfeld, failed and so did the American ambassador. Changing Rumsfeld should have happened a year ago because their work in Iraq did not achieve any results." (more)

By the way something, one of those victorious Democrats, Rep. Charlie Rangel, wants to renew the draft--upper limit: age 42! Holy crap, good thing I already got my dodge worked out.

Tags: Iraq War, Charlie Rangel, The Draft.