McCain And Feingold To Iraqis: Form A Government Now Because We're Ready To Leave.

Source: MSNBC

Feingold has joined forces with McCain in putting pressure on Iraq to form a government now because of impatience and readiness to leave Iraq among Congress (and probably more than half the U.S., too).

As a gunbattle raged south of Baghdad Saturday, two key U.S. senators told Iraqi leaders that American patience was growing thin and they needed to urgently overcome their stalemate and form a national unity government.

The delegation led by Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who supported the invasion of Iraq, was the second group of top American politicians in less than a week to journey to Baghdad to pressure Iraqi leaders to speed the process of forming a government.

"I come away with the impression that the Iraqi leaders understand the sense of urgency we have conveyed to them. We all know the polls show declining support among the American people," McCain said at a news conference. "So I am guardedly optimistic that this will happen within weeks."

Wisconsin Democrat and war opponent Sen. Russell Feingold joined McCain in pressing for the quick formation of a government, but he also declared his concern that the continued presence of American forces was prolonging the conflict.

"It's the reality of a situation like this that when you have a large troop presence that it has the tendency to fuel the insurgency because they can make the incorrect and unfair claim that somehow the United States is here to occupy this country, which of course is not true," Feingold said.

Thank you, gentlemen.

I've always liked Feingold, and I have to admit, I admire McCain for having a mind of his own (mostly). I've seen him labeled a "Bush shill" elsewhere on the net, and while I've been disappointed with him in the past for reversing his stance to align with Bush because of pressure, he mostly speaks from his gut. It appears he's doing so again (well, it is almost election time again).

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