Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr reacts to Bush's speech скачать в хорошем качестве

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr reacts to Bush's speech

(1 Dec 2005) SHOTLIST 1. Men gathering for news conference 2. Abdul-Karim al-Inazi, Minister of State for the National Security speaking to another man 3. Wide of news conference, man speaking at podium 4. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr walking into the hall where news conference is held 5. Al-Sadr 6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Muqtada al-Sadr, Shiite Cleric: "I'd like to comment on the US President's speech when he said that it was impossible to set a time table for US withdrawal. I regard such an address as an encroachment on the Iraqi public because all Iraqis agreed in the Cairo conference that the occupying troops should leave the country. All parties have agreed to setting up a timetable for the troops withdrawal." 7. Cutaway of man writing 8. Muqtada al-Sadr leaving STORYLINE Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said on Thursday that US President George W. Bush's speech contradicted Iraqi and world opinion when he refused to set up a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Al-Sadr called Bush's speech "an encroachment on the Iraqi public". Amid growing pressure to bring US troops home from Iraq, Bush is refusing to set a timetable, but indicated that by 2006, Iraqi forces will be sufficiently trained to let American troops move to less visible, and possibly, less dangerous roles. In a speech on Wednesday at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis in Maryland, Bush spelt out what he called his strategy for victory in Iraq, a plan which contained no new approaches and no start date for withdrawing troops. Bush urged patience, claimed steady progress and vowed to accept nothing less than what he called complete victory. Bush's definition of victory in Iraq suggested years of additional US military assistance. But it also may have set the stage for what Pentagon officials have said already is an expected 2006 lowering of US forces, which now totals nearly 160,000. Bush emphasised recent progress in the training of Iraqi security forces, noting they now control several sections of Iraq, including large portions of Baghdad. So far, more than 2,100 American troops have died in Iraq. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...