It’s taken a while and longer than most Americans would have preferred, but the United States will be completely withdrawing all troops from Iraq by year’s end, fulfilling a campaign promise President Obama made in 2008.
From this Washington Post story:
The Obama administration has decided to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of the year after failing to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government that would have left several thousand troops there for special operations and training.
President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki spoke Friday morning to cement that agreement in a scheduled telephone call, according to people familiar with the agreement.
Another win the Bush
It sounds like Obama wanted to leave thousands of troops in Iraq but the Iraqui government said no. Is that the case?
That is indeed the case.
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/21/about_that_iraq_withdrawal/singleton/
It seems rather disingenuous of BHO to claim this as keeping a campaign promise when he was actually negotiating and intending to keep troops in Iraq.
disingenuous
yes, it is, especially since the withdrawal timeframe was set by president Bush and Obama was trying to extend it.
Out of Iraq into Africa,
http://www.thetotalcollapse.com/obama-sending-us-troops-to-africa/ but only as advisers, “only advisers” is how the US entered the Viet Nam war. Viet Nam had its Tonkin Gulf incident; North Vietnamese patrol boasts firing on a US Destroyer, this incident (real or fake) kicked the US involvement to the next level, – combat troops on the ground.
Africa will also have its “Incident” (real or fake) that will “force” Barack Hussein Obama to take the US military to the next level, – Combat Troops on the ground.
Other than Ron Paul this African adventure has strong bipartisan support.
Good decision by Obama, even if he was backed into a corner by Iraq. Next step is to get the State Department civilian contractors left to train both military and Police, out as well. Put an immedicate halt to American tax dollars going to Iraq and use all of Iraq’s frozen assets to repay the debts they owe us. That would be a good start. Now, lets do exactly the same thing in Afghanistan and leave the ingrates to return to the tribal culture practiced for thousands of years. Moving right along with ending America’s role as “Policeman to the World,” how about we stop providing security for most of Europe and make NATO fund it themselves. Moving on to Korea, we could bring home about three quarters of the military there while making it clear to N.Korea that an attack on S.Korea is the same as attacking America. Think of the billions of dollars that could be cut from the Defense Budget? Perhaps some of that money could be used for creating jobs here at home and paying down the National Debt to get our credit rating back.
Not an easy task, especially with the Military-Industrial Complex having their hands in the pockets of most members of Congress from both political parties. It would take an inordinate degree of leadership and backbone to execute such a plan and unfortunately, I don’t see anyone on the horizon from either Party with such abilities. Bottom line appears to be, more of the same old bankrupt the country government from our elected officials in Washington.
Stop being the “Policeman to the World” means the U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations, and getting the UN Headquarters out of the U.S. I vote Yes and Yes.
http://www.jbs.org/issues-pages/united-nations
“Put an immedicate halt to American tax dollars going to Iraq and use all of Iraq’s frozen assets to repay the debts they owe us”
Uh, Pat. We invaded them. There was no group seeking Saddam’s overthrow. We went to war under the guise of riding WMDs and a False Iraq-al Qaeda link. I have to ask, are the innocents in Iraq killed by US gunfire entitled to be compensated?
I find it fascinating in 2003 we have a war president in a flight suit on an aircraft carrier proclaiming our victory in Iraq; this president effectively ends the Iraq war without fanfare.
This war never should have been fought. It was paid for on a credit card and its costs far outweigh the stimulus package and healthcare reform. It’s a 100 percent GOP ownership issue too.
Dan, having worked there twice, I can tell you that there are very few innocents in Iraq. Billions of tax dolllars and far too many American lives have been expended to give them the freedom they have today. My question to you is, just how much longer should our resources be poured into the toilet there? That’s right the toilet, with corrupt politicians and propping up a shill Prime Minister.
Come on Dan, quit rationalizing and making excuses for your fellow Democrats because Bush might have been the driving force of getting us into the Iraq mess, but most Republicans and many Democrats in Congress were equally complicit. Regardless of who was driving the car that took us to Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and now central Africa, it needs to stop. Those resources need to be brought home and used for problems here. Iraq, Afghanistan and all the other backwater Third World countries will be fighting among themselves long after we are gone. Sadly, both Iraq and Afghanistan will end up in full scale Civil War, as the Islamic factions battle for control. All those American lives will have gone for naught.
Cutting to the chase Dan, the real guilty party for this fiasco are people like you and I, for allowing it to happen in the first place. Frankly, I have had enough and will be fighting for change on the conservative side, just as I expect you will do for the liberal persuasion. Good luck and see you on the battle lines.