Putin says Iraq campaign 'pointless' and US official engaged in 'political erotica'
 The United States is engaged in a "pointless" war in Iraq and should set a date for its final pull-out from Iraq to force the war-torn country's leadership to build up its security forces, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
"One can wipe off a political map some tyrannical regime ... but it's absolutely pointless to fight with a people," he said. "Russia, thank God, isn't Iraq. It has enough strength and power to defend itself and its interests, both on its territory and in other parts of the world."
Putin made no mention of the Second Chechen War, a civil war in his own country in which the Russian army drove 200,000 from their homes and disappeared some 3,000 to 5,000 civilians, according to Russian rights groups. Chechen rebels have launched several high profile attacks on Russia proper, notably the Beslan school siege and the takeover of a Moscow theater than ended in Russian security services gassing hostages and rebels alike.
Putin said the US had "learned to shoot" in Iraq.
"The best example of that are the events in Iraq -- a small country that can hardly defend itself and which possesses huge oil reserves. And we see what's going on there. They've learned to shoot there, but they are not managing to bring order," he said.
Putin suggested the U.S. campaign was aimed at seizing control of Iraq's vast oil wealth, and said a concrete date must be set for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
"I believe one of the goals is to establish control of the country's oil reserves," he said.
"The Americans say you should not name a date for withdrawal. I think this should be done because unless it is done the Iraqi leadership feels under a US umbrella and won't rush to build up its own security forces," Putin said during a televised question-and-answer session.
Asked about a quote in which former Secretary of State Madeline Albright declared that Siberia had too much oil for one country, Putin said.
"I know that some politicians play with such ideas in their heads," he said, dismissing the notion as wishful thinking, or "political erotica that ... hardly leads to a positive result."
With wire services.
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