I don't think they have a choice. The only public that can reject these is the American public. And, of course, that question won't be part of the debate---what little there is---in the presidential contest.

Sad story. Expect the bases to be built. And the shopocalypse to continue.

kelmer, I was thinking 27 buildings of bowling alleys but a Disney theme park will do. Isn't it amazing that people are still walking around talking about others underestimating George W. Bush when all anyone has ever done is overestimate him? And saying what a genius General Petraeus is, not having heard or absorbed the unprintable thing his own superior Admiral Fallon said about him. How can we as a nation be so stupid as to still be in Iraq?

Hee hee! Hasn't al-Maliki and other Iraqi officials learned anything from the West's barbaric interventions in their part of the world? The US, Britain and their other lapdogs went there to reinforce white supremacy and to dominate a vital region for energy, so what makes Iraqis think arrogant Westerners are going to heed their requests?

The rebels fighting against the invaders of Iraq need to have their own surge, get a new batch of IED's, and run the Westerners out by force. Westerners don't respect the wishes of ANY non-whites, so the Iraqis must spill the blood of their invaders if they want to live free from under the calloused heel of white supremacy.

It's too bad that's the way it has to be, but one thing we all know for sure is that the Western world is relentlessly violent and will continue it's attack on into the next century if need be.

Curtis, M. (1998). The great deception: Anglo-American power and world order. London: Pluto Press.

page 14... the US 'inevitably sought only limited, top-down forms of democratic change that not risk upsetting the traditional structures [15] of power with which the United States has long been allied'. Thus US policy was to support 'the basic order of ... quite undemocratic societies' and to avoid 'populist-based change' that might upset 'established economic and political orders' and open a leftist direction'.

On a related note

It is time we start calling Islamists by what they really are:

Right-Wing Muslims

He's probably just saying that to keep the Iraq resistance movement off of his back and because that's what US intelligence told him to say.

The USA goverment has proven time and time again that they can't be trusted, nor can the governments that trust them. Clearly they want to colonize Iraq.

As is typical with the corporate press, this article doesn't mention that the invasion was justified with lies. It mentioned the # of u.s. soldiers killed, without mentioning the estimated 1 million Iraqis who've been killed, or the hundreds of thousands who've been crippled. Another thing that would be nice to see is mention being made of the # of Iraqi doors that get kicked down every night. Last time I heard it was around 900.

The good news just keeps commin...no Complaint from me.

Mowaffaq al-Rubaie will be panhandling on a corner by the end of the week.

As an aside, he said we need the [US] for economic support and we need them for diplomatic and political support...

Economic support? A country that we were told would be using oil revenues to pay for the GWOT? Maybe the Iraqis are playing smart and using the US, rather than vice versa?

I guess they will turn that embassy they just opened into a Disney theme park.

The bush admin won't listen to the demands of it's 51st state, Iraq. how dare they want us off after we so kindly "liberated" them?

Perhaps there are some diplomats of stout standing still left. I agree Jim Glover, this seems like good news.

Peace,
Ken Hausle
Charlotte, NC

Depends on what 'permanent' means. Could mean "close all bases sometime before the sun goes nova."

2008. Yeah right.

The bushes do not care what Iraq wants. Just as BP did not care what Iran wanted when they tried to overthrow an elected government in the 1950's, (eventually overthrown with the CIA's help)
As long as there is oil in the middle east and the USA wants it, we will be there exploiting the resources.

Just more Republican spin that can't be believed. It gets nauseating the depths this bunch with sink too. It sounds like someone's dream.

Oops! Don't look now Iraq, but what's that large building in the green zone? (Hint: it's not a WalMart)

"...al-Maliki signed a declaration of principles last month agreeing to friendly long-term ties. Arrangements for U.S. troops to stay beyond next year will be negotiated in early 2008."

Sure, the 'Principles' agreed it was best-discussed after election-here...

Neither Party here wants 'too much focus' on long-term, cross-aisle Plans for further-adventures in the ME/Caspian.
" 'Permanent', of course-not -- see that Ziggurat over there, and Ur? They weren't 'permanent', either."

Am I to believe that the US gives a crap about what the Iraqi government or it's people desire? Last I heard, the embassy there is a billion dollar behemoth that makes Hussein's former palace look like a log cabin. Well, maybe they will turn it into a ME Disney World as another way to extract the Iraqi peoples resources and condition them to believe they really live in La La Land. There goes another billion dollars of our childrens future down the tubes. Is there no end to the waste and fraud being perpetrated by this administration?

Does anyone really think that with Hilary or Obama that the gravy train for U.S. companies in the Middle East will end?

"The United States has around 160,000 troops in Iraq"

Not to mention the 100,000+ trigger-happy, steroided, gang-raping 'contractors' that are winning hearts and minds everywhere.

WILLYBILL__Don`t worry about what those bases and the biggest embassy in the world are costing us. As long as the Japanese and Chinese are financing it and our dollar is losing value so fast it may become worthless, it won`t cost anything. How can you beat that, all of those goodies over there for nothing. Bush is really a financial genius and is not appreciated enough.

What about the largest embassy in the world and those PSAs?

And (dreaming here) will the Bush administration pay for the construction already completed on those bases no longer to be permanent and that embassy from their own personal wealth instead of with taxpayer money since they didn't get Iraqi or US Congressional permission to build the damn things? That was an expression of utter contempt for both the Iraqis and Americans.

The so-called surge is only "working" because the US military is acting as the local police force. There is now no pretense that Iraqi police forces can maintain the local imperial order.

Second, the US military is using the cordon sanitaire method of imperial control. This is visually apparent when observing the huge cement walls surrounding "dangerous" Baghdad neighborhoods. Of course, the walls have checkpoints operated by US military personnel.
These military policemen have to scan each Iraqi's documents, eyes and/or fingerprints to ensure the "right" citizen is entering or exiting the "right" detention center...oops...I mean neighborhood.

How long does anyone believe the above situation can be sustained...especially when the formal Shi'ite dominated government has made no moves toward establishing a national unity government nor toward legalizing US/UK corporate control over Iraqi oil assets?

Last, the Iraqiinfrastructure is still in ruins and doesn't function for the majority; repairing or rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure will take years to complete. However, the surge's method of operation doesn't allow for the efficient movement of materiel, personnel, etc. needed to start this process.

The "surge" is essentially a political act for internal US consumption. The present rulers want to reestablish their reality which is: properly applied military force can solve all diplomatic and social problems. This is especially true for any form of urban terrorism.

Of course, Iraq's landscape is also being prepared for those institutions that will supposedly solve Iraq's economic and infrastructural problems: US corporations.

And that is the rub. How can the US and Iraqi elite establish a good business climate while continuing to place most of Iraq under a lockdown?

Thar's the blood of a million Irqais in them thar gas tanks.

Iraqis don't want permenant bases in Iraq. Americans don't either. Unfortunately the decider does.

www.pollingreport.com

On Iraq...

74% of people expect US troops to be out in less than two years...

Are people that freakin oblivious!!!

We're in Iraq for 30+ years at least untill the oil runs out.

Uh,oh. More controversy for American politics. The "goal" of Republicans was a Westernized democracy in Iraq, permanently hosting our military for regional security. If Iraqi's are beginning to think "no" to that, perhaps Democrats in America could help us figure out exactly where that other elusive point in history can be found (the one defined by President Bush)---you know, "As soon as the job is done."

Cuba doesn't want gitmo, South Korea does not want permanent US Military bases, neither does Japan...

Good luck with that Iraq.

Mrs. Clinton will never tolerate those in Iraq who want us out. She blames these people for not being on their hands and knees and thanking us for all we have done for them. The new Queen of the American Empire will be even tougher than Bush in imposing America's will in the Middle East.

Kernel December 11th, 2007 12:55 pm ...No argument there. Hell, by the time all those bills come due, we and our children will all be in debtors prison run by the Rothchilds and enforced by Blackwater. I knew there had to be something behind that smirk. No one could be that obnoxious without a righteous motive. My hat is off to the Naked Emperor...whoops, I mean our handsome leader in the Armani suit. Praise Caesar! Praise Caesar!

Tony Soprano has been running the US for 40 years.

I thought that this was settled by the North South War in the early 1860s. Iraq has no right to secede.

What a load of crap. The permanent bases are already built and manned. In our entire Congress only a handful or so are demanding we get our asses out of there and some of those say, maybe in ten years or so.

It's Korea all over again. A big difference though, in South Korea there was very little violence and we didn't have hired, insane mercenaries, killing the civilians whenever they wnted to have some fun. We will stay in Iraq until we have our coming depression, or when all of the Arab nations stand together and toss us out.

When the day that our ability to borrow, or print money, that is totally worthless finally arrives, our troops will leave Iraq in full retreat. Then Cheney's Green Zone "Embassy" will be torn down, until there is not a single stone atop another. And we Americans, will have no place to hide. Bush, Cheney, Rimsfeld, Pelosi, Conyers, Halliburton, etc, you insane over-educated morons, just stop and look at what you have done.

Iraqis:

Settle your differences, nicely tell the Americans to leave, and don't sign the PSAs. Anny's right about that. Its your country and your oil.

ALSO: What is not said.

It's more peaceful because we turned security over to the (gulp) insurgents that used to shoot at us.

But there is a rif.

They get mad when we target their security forces with our air strikes be cause we think they look like bad guys.

Airpower is how we avoid casualties, but we don't have a clue who the "bad" guy really is.

I imagine they don't want airbases because they are tired of 17 years being bombed!!!

Is it just me, maybe I just missed it, or has there been less "live" coverage of bombings and killings in Iraq by the MSM. It is being scrolled at the bottom of whatever "news" they have on but not the actual coverage of the bombings like we had since the beginning. I guess the surge is working if people don't see it.

Just like not covering the homecoming of the coffins of the fallen; nobody dy'n here, move along, nothing to see.

Gee, I wonder if occupation of the sacred ground of the Middle Eastern countries has anything to do with their being so PO'd. What's our oil doing under their sand? This will never be a foreign policy that will succeed.

I just read an article about how Sadr has called off his people (Shi'ites insurgents definitely not connected to al Qaeda) to build, regroup and improve their position politically for the long haul in Iraq.

I need to correct a false perception. The author writes, "Iraq has become less violent in recent months after Bush sent an extra 30,000 troops." There are two basic reasons why violence is down in Iraq. First, the occupiers are now working with the Sunni insurgents who were once leading the attacks on US and British forces. Switching tactics from fighting the enemy to working with the enemy reduced the intensity of the conflict. Second, there has been a sharp decline in mixed Shi'ite and Sunni neighborhoods. Ethnic-religious segregation has increased, partially removing a major source of ethnic-religious conflict.

To Kem Patrick- What possessed you to include Rep. John Conyers in your list of names of the government's warmongers? John Conyers is a man of integrity who has done his utmost to expose the criminal theft of the 2004 presidential election. If he had the power, he would have impeached Bush, etal years ago.

"It is time we start calling Islamists by what they really are:

Right-Wing Muslims"

Or just conservatives.

Baghdad is like Kabul insofar as they are both stages on which US puppets perform. Neither is a seat of national power. Baghdad controls neither Basra to the south nor the Kurdish autonomous region to the north.

The level of violence has dropped because the people are all suffering from Gulf War Syndrome.

Okinawa entry continued:

Note that there are other sources that support these claims e.g. Author: Abshire, David M. Title: National security: political, military, and economic strategies in the decade ahead. New York, Published for the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace by Praeger [1963]

But wait, ... this was being done in Okinawa under a secret U.N. Trusteeship in 1945 until at least the end of the U.S occupation in 1972. Some people believe that the Okinawa society is still being strongly manipulated by these powers with the help of our Nation Builders the Free Masons (who are present throughout Japan in higher education)... very nice.

But what about the murder of approximately 1/3 of the population (during The Battle(s) of Okinawa at the end of World War II), who just happen to be poor? It appears that the poorest Okinawans were cut off in the South of the Island of Okinawa and murdered by the US forces under the incompetent leadership of Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. (a number of sources available--General MacArthur committed in his memoirs that there was mismanagement of many of the battles against the Japanese leading to high casualties) leading to high US and civilian casualties. In the north part of the Island, far fewer casualties and immediate surrender of solders and civilians as the Battle began...What? Hard to believe as other Okinawans were told to commit suicide rather than be captured, raped. abused, even "eaten" by the Americans. Was there a treaty between the Japanese and Western powers months prior to The Battle of Okinawa? Is this one of the reasons that Japan's strongest naval force Unit#9 (#10?) left for Taiwan in January 1945 just prior to the battle starting at the end of March 1945.

Unbelievable that someone could imagine that enemy forces could be working together to solve domestic issues ... until I found that a eugenics program to remove genetically inferior people [1940 National Eugenics Law: to promote sterilization of genetically inferior people Eugenics movement supported by Hiratsuka Raicho, Ichikawa Fusae] was supported for many years by the UN and the US until 1956. ["Rescission of GRI Law Number 42, 1956: an act concerning Eugenics Protection Whereas, the Act for Eugenics Protection (Act No. 42 of 1956) passed by the Legislature of the Ryukyu Islands contains measures and provisions which are not in the best interests and welfare of the Ryukyu Islands in that said Act would endanger the life and well-being of individuals by permitting medical practices without providing necessary basic medical and legal safeguards..."]. Records reveal that the poor continued to suffer, starve, and die in Okinawa throughout this early part of the US Occupation of Okinawa.

...

Well, with the Council on Foreign Relations orchestrating behind the scenes and the Office of Strategic Services taking care of business on the ground lead to the CIA (from 1947) creating one of the strongest outposts for the genocidal operations throughout Southeast Asia from the late 1940s and still in operation today; based in Okinawa--supported by the United Nations.

Today, Okinawa is known to the world as a paradise where people enjoy the longest lifespans (due to caloric restriction[starvation] under US Occupation and genocide), happy and harmonious relations (aided by cognitive dissonance and coercion), supported by post-modernist illusions.

An intellectual posed this question to me regarding the fate of Okinawa: Would it be better to know the truth or live in an illusion?

Is this to be the fate of nations with foreign bases on their soil?

Cool. Now that they've made THAT clear, all we need to do to wrap it all up is a criminal indictment for the Bush Crime Family for crimes against humanity and we're ALL SET!
Oh, and educate the Lemming-like U.S. Sheeple to the fact that just because you rule here doesn't give you "carte Blanche" to screw the world, Just the idiots here.

"But I say one thing, permanent forces or bases in Iraq for any foreign forces is a red line that cannot be accepted by any nationalist Iraqi," he told Dubai-based al Arabiya television in an interview broadcast late on Monday.

Mr. Mowaffaq al-Rubaie is essentially telling us that Iraqis will not give up their nationalism or national laws to be replaced by WTO, "free market" predators.

The U.S. and WTO are not going to appreciate this critical analysis by the Iraqis. They're still living in the world of "make believe", thinking that Iraqis are incapable of unraveling their global economic marketing scam. The Iraqis decided a long time ago that the process of global economic restructuring isn't going to work for them; that's why the Iraqi government still hasn't passed the "oil law" which was written by Paul Bremer and his fellow neocons.

This is only one reason why there's no such thing as winning this war!

Hi Earthsong

Congressman Conyers is the ONLY person on this planet, who is preventing the impeachment Bill HR -333 from being put on the floor of Cogress for a vote. Cindy Sheehan took a million petitions to him for that reason and she was arrested and jailed for refusing to leave his office.

I'm sorry so many are unaware that Congressman Conyers is failing to do his sworn duty as perscribed by our Constitution.

What does this camel jockey think he's talking about? That's our oil he's got his sand on and by God, we are going to take it! We'll tell him whether or not we will have permanent bases in our 51st state, and he will just have to suck it up. God Bless America!

The above message sent to you courtesy of EXXONMOBIL, George Bush, the Dick, and the American Enterprise Institute.

They slaughtered 1 million Iraqis. Made 4.3 million refugees.

Do you think the oligarchy really cares what the Iraqi "government" or it's people thinks?

Who is this so-called "Iraq" you're talking about? The puppet government in the Green Zone? The only way that the United States is leaving Iraq is the same way they left Saigon, on the last helicopter off the roof of their heavily fortified "embassy."

Don't know what their objection is. Kosovo seems Ok with the Bondsteel Base and now they get to be independent after the KLA that we trained up and armed with links to Al Qaeda ethnically cleansed the Christians. I tell you, All Qaeda sure is useful, makes a great enemy when we need an enemy (9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan), and makes a great friend when we need help (Kosovo, Macedonia, Afghanistan).

Why did we need a base in Kosovo? Well, to protect the AMBO pipeline and Trepca mine (has oil, gold, lots of minerals). Also, it is good to have a base in the region for the coming war with Russia after we bomb Iran. But then, you probably thought we needed to be there to keep the peace. Silly.

Back to Iraq, we probably already gave Halliburton and KBR contracts to keep them supplied for the next 5 years. Ungrateful critters. How dare they not appreciate all we have done for them.