Edwards Calls Iraqi Leader Weak

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070714/edwards-iraq/

Edwards Calls Iraqi Leader Weak
AMY LORENTZEN | July 14, 2007 03:50 PM EST | AP


MAQUOKETA, Iowa — Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Saturday the U.S. needs help from Syria and Iran in stabilizing Iraq and he called the Iraqi prime minister a weak leader.

Edwards again said that if he were president today, he would immediately draw reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq by about 50,000.

"The Iraqis are going to have to take responsibility, and they haven't," he told about 200 people at a town hall-style meeting in eastern Iowa.

The prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, says his country's army and police are capable of keeping security and that American troops can leave "any time they want."

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, told reporters that the U.S. "should be making our own evaluation about the circumstances in Iraq" and that al-Maliki has not proved effective in stopping violence.

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