The people calling to “bring the troops home now!” need to examine their cause carefully (not that they will), because as Iraqi President Jalal Talabani makes clear, the anti-war crowd is literally on the same side as the Dark Ages terrorists trying to destroy Iraq’s future: Iraq appeals to US not to quit Iraq early.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani urged the United States on Friday not to withdraw hastily from Iraq and said U.S. forces should be reduced gradually over the next two years.

“For those who call for an immediate pull-out of American troops, we say that we honor the sacrifices the United States has made,” Talabani said in a speech at a Washington hotel. “A withdrawal of American and multinational forces in the near future could lead to the victory of the terrorists in Iraq and create grave threats to the region,” he added.

Asked how long he would like U.S. and other forces to stay in Iraq, Talabani said the plan was to gradually reduce U.S. forces over the next two years.

“Not only would we need American forces to fight against terrorism, we need some of them to frighten our neighbors and prevent them from interfering in our internal affairs,” he said.

Talabani complained of interference from Syria and “terrorists” infiltrating Iraq. He also blamed the Arab media “without exception” for supporting terrorism.

UPDATE at 9/9/05 1:47:05 pm:

But on the other hand, Talabani also said that Iraq is not ready for relations with Israel.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani made clear Friday that Iraq is not yet ready to begin a process of recognizing the state of Israel.

In a speech at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington, Talabani said that his country will not move forward before Israel adopts the Arab League resolutions concerning the Palestinian Israeli conflict.

“We are committed to the decisions taken unanimously by the Arab summit in Beirut. Many Arab states are forming relations with Israel and, if Israel will reach an agreement with the Palestinians, it will facilitate [having relations with Israel]”.