"Citing unnamed administration officials, the Times said private security contractors would operate radar to warn of enemy fire, search for roadside bombs, and fly surveillance drones."

I wish that these supposed journalists would call these people the correct name. These people are not contractors - they aren't building houses. They are a paid army. They are MERCENARIES.

I really wish I could unplug from the Matrix because you have to be insane in order to follow this administration’s logic. We’re pulled all combat troops, but we’ll leave 56,000 solider who have been trained for combat but not really. Oh, and we’ll add several thousand mercenaries to the mix to guard 5 mega compounds and over 150,000 civilian personnel. But don’t think about that, nothing to see here, just a little Empire building going on. Unplug me please!

Obama and Democrats must still be held accountable, we still need to reduce our huge, costly 'presence' in Iraq.
The propaganda on t.v. last night about the withdrawl of 'combat forces' was just a show.

Welcome to the insidious world of double speak:

'contractors' instead of 'mercenaries',

'fortified compounds' instead of 'military bases' and 'fortress embassy',

'diplomatic staff' instead of 'CIA operatives'.

Deception, lies, and disinformation rule.

Bait & Switch, Obama-style.

I don't understand how reasonable people would believe anything the United States government says.

there are currently over 95,000 private contractors in iraq - doing the jobs that were traditionally done by the military......

but hey it doesn't make the news when they get killed......

so we're still looking at upwards of 150,000 personnel in iraq - and that's considered the "end of combat duties"

talk about double-speak.....

hell who even needs double-speak when the media simply parrots whatever the gov puts out and refuses to act as reporters and ferret out the information as the media is supposed to do....

The fascist, whore MSM is reporting non-stop that the war is over in Iraq after 9 years because all combat troops are leaving. This is not even worthy of a response except to say: HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-!

Yesterday on CNN, when they were making a big deal about the last combat envoy leaving Iraq, I knew something was way off. The American public will know look at this news in one of two narrow views:

1. The Obama dopes still hanging will lie their teeth out and say "See, Obama got us out of Iraq" the same way they lie about health care reform. Watch for them to say that as they try to campaign to keep the Democrats in power.

2. The rightwing pro-war bulldozers trying to get their Repukes elected will invent more campaign smears about Al Queda rising from withdrawing the troops from Iraq.

The rest of us who have read from independent sources such as this site knew all along that the war turned occupation was only destined to get worse. Unlike Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan will go down in history as two of the worst US occupations with a deadly mix of war and greed.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who will guard the guardians, watch the watchers, etc?)

Not only are these non-contractors really mercenaries but they do what mercenaries do best. Ignore all rules and whenever things look bad cut and run. They have done this since Hector was a pup.

To understand the strategy of the Pentagon/White House in Iraq one must understand that the war in that country became a U.S. occupation when President Bush signed SOFA-Iraq. Occupations are easier to sell to the 'home front" but they are riskier than wars especially when the occupier in this case intends to maintain a "heavy footprint in Iraq". The strategy seems to be: "let the mercenaries defend themselves, hope for the best, and may the occupation last indefinitely, thereby turning Iraq into a U. S. fiefdom". At least that seems to be the policy/strategy of the State Department which is chomping at the bit to become the major player in Iraq.
What if the worst happens namely another "Fallujah" or series of "Fallujahs" next year? Then President Obama will be either forced to ignore SOFA-Iraq and return "combat units" to Iraq or do a "Reagan" and order all troops, mercenaries, and diplomats out of Iraq.
SOFA-Iraq expires on 31 December 2011. Without a new SOFA agreement it is unclear whether any armed mercenaries can legally remain in Iraq. I think that Iraqis can then legally kill any armed American.
If supporters of Mr. Obama believe that he is out of the quicksand and onto solid ground they will eventually be in for a rude awakening. Iraq will remain a quagmire as long as our country is its illegal occupier.

"Some US Troops Out of Iraq, More Mercenaries to Go In"

Actually the enlisted troops are nothing more than mercenaries serving the American corporate imperial military. They signed up for the job and get paid to kill people to back up the American global corporate empire.

There are still about 100,000 private contractors in Iraq and 50,000 troops with combat potential despite the Obomber spin. And now they are adding more contractors to pick up the slack.

This is, of course, at the expense of the American taxpayer obligated to fund an illegal occupation designed to support the corporate takeover of Iraq's oil and economy. Cost to date is at least $3 Trillion. (Stiglitz) But our government is bankrupt and our economy in ruins.

And what could be the cost of a 100 year occupation until Iraq's oil is depleted ?

But only time will tell. The Iraqis resisted the earlier British occupation for decades before the bloody Brits were forced to withdraw.

The Romans, the British, and many others in history eventually went the way of imperial over-extension. End of empire.

Lets be clear here. Forget the "Mercenaries"

Don't let them kid you for a moment. Yes the last Army "combat" brigade left Iraq. The Army designates differences in its units because all do not fight.

There are still 50,000 of our troops in Iraq, quite a lot are Marines. All Marine units are combat units. I understand quite a number of combat veterans have been transferred to "advisor" Army units that will patrol with the Iraqi's.

Make no mistake here, the majority of our troops left in Iraq ARE combat troops. Its political fol-de-rol going on here as usual with this administration.

If I'm wrong you will see no more casaulty reports from Iraq. If I'm right you will see more useless deaths posted. The Iraqi need their country back, bring the rest of our kids home.

Hiring these clowns by the way is simply more payoffs. See whose employees they are.

A small but important clarification.

The Geneva Conventions clearly and specifically prohibit the use of mercenaries as offensive combat troops, it is a specific war crime.

The USA mercenaries officially do everything but offensive combat.

Unofficially they are often assassins which for me qualifies as offensive combat.