Demoralised US troops can withdraw - Iran ready to fill the vacuum
TEHRAN
SyriaTimes
August 29th, 2007
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday the power of the United
States was rapidly collapsing in Iraq and that Iran was ready to step
in to help fill the vacuum, in comments likely to irritate Washington.
"The political power of the occupiers (of Iraq) is being destroyed rapidly and very soon we will be witnessing a great power vacuum in the region," Ahmadinejad told a news conference broadcast live on state television.
"We, with the help of regional friends and the Iraqi nation, are ready to fill this void."
[section from Syria Times' report, deleted]
"They are trapped in the swamp of their own crimes and have no choice but to accept the failure and accept the independence and rights of the Iraqi nation," Ahmadinejad said.
"If you stay in Iraq for another 50 years nothing will improve, it will just worsen."
[section from Syria Times' report, deleted]
Opinion polls suggest most Americans have turned against the four-year-old war and Democrats in Congress want President George W. Bush to start pulling out U.S. troops as soon as possible. Bush has resisted the calls.The above article has been shortened here. It appears as an English translation from Tishreen, the Syrian Government new paper, at Syria Times (Teshreen)
U.S. Media:
BBC - Soldier Suicides
The Guardian Unlimited - U.S. Troops question presence in Iraq
CBS News - Low-Morale letters from Iraq
Common Dreams - U.S. soldiers complain
Christian Science Monitor - Morale hits rock bottom