Yuschenko: How’s that attempted murder investigation going? Just asking.
UPDATE: David Beito reminds me that Yuschenko is doing something creditworthy that should be mentioned. From Juan Cole:
The Ukraine announced that it would withdraw its 1600 troops, the fourth-largest national contingent in Iraq, by summer of 2005. Seven Ukrainian troops were killed in an explosion recently, which now appears to have been an attack rather than an accident.
It is noteworthy that the democratically elected president Viktor Yushchenko vowed to withdraw the troops from Iraq, which had been sent there by the authoritarian previous government against the will of the Ukrainian people, presumably in search of patronage from Washington. Sending troops to support the US occupation of Iraq has been almost universally unpopular with actual publics, and it is unlikely that any of the foreign contingents in Bush’s “coalition of the willing” could stay there if it depended on a popular referendum.
That is indeed excellent news.
UPDATE: For all of you emailing me to point out that Kuchma ordered the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Iraq, I will grant that you are technically correct with these caveats:
- The Ukrainian public has consistently opposed Ukrainian troops in Iraq and the Ukrainian parliament has passed resolutions calling for their withdrawal in the past, which were ignored by Kuchma.
- Troop withdrawal has been considered by Kuchma only since 8 Ukrainian soldiers were killed Sunday in what now appears to be an attack.
- Yuschenko and Yanukovich have both supported troop withdrawal throughout their campaigns.
Will that make everyone happy?