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Obama Pulling Troops From Iraq by End of Year
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. will pull out all of its troops from Iraq by the end of December, drawing the nine-year war to a conclusion.
U.S. Army soldiers make their way to a C-130 aircraft at Sather Air Base in Baghdad to begin their journey home on Aug 2. (Associated Press) The announcement signals the imminent end of a war that has cost the U.S. more than $800 billion dollars and claimed the lives of 3,525 American service members.
Obama administration officials had considered extending the U.S. troop presence beyond the end of the year, leaving a force of between 3,000 and 5,000 for contingencies. The proposal was controversial, dividing administration officials. But the president's announcement will settle the debate and spell an end to the U.S. troop presence.
Military leaders wanted to keep a presence in Iraq to serve as a training role, and a deterrent to Iranian meddling in Iraq's affairs.
But negotiations with a divided Iraqi government foundered over the issue of whether U.S. forces should be given a measure of immunity from Iraq laws while serving in the country. The military routinely demands such protections as a condition of deploying troops abroad, but Iraqi officials balked.
Even with a full troop withdrawal, a very small number of military personnel will remain in Baghdad and at U.S. diplomatic facilities to help Iraq with matters such as purchases of American weapons systems, including Abrams tanks and F-16 fighters. But there will be no long-term military-led training program.
Mr. Obama held a secure conference call Friday morning with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in which the president and Mr. Maliki "strongly agreed that this is the best way forward for both countries," a White House official said.
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103 Comments so far
Show AllSo how many US mercenaries will remain to protect the Green Zone / US embassy? 100,000?
That is the $64,000 question
Last plan I saw called for 90,000 permanent, peace-keepers and trainers. The rest go to Afganistan, or Libia??? >^^<
Could this fiasco be over. Our foreign policy stance is foolish. Iraq was a great place, but now it is a country of radioactive waste and destruction. War crimes, to be sure. We need a new world order that requires that the nation that destroys is required to fix. The nation that makes a toxic stew is required to clean it up. The nation who makes kids sick is required to nurse them. This deal is about leaving, so don't we get to say, "I am sorry i destroyed your country"' or something. I really think this was not about oil. It is all about showing Israel that we are better Nazis than they are, sort of some weird junior high gang thing. The best thing would be to gather up all the Neocons and deport them to Irag, and have them clean and rebuild.
"Fiasco" is too mild a word. Probably a million dead Iraqi people. Many millions made into internal or external refugees. The eduction and health systems destroyed. This was NOT a proud action, as President Obama declared. It was shameful, illegal, and criminal. Abu-Ghraib. Fallujah. Collateral murder of journalists and children by soldiers laughing in a helicopter. And remember that our Republican and Democratic politicians voted in mass for this, and now cheer and congratulate themselves for this. We have to start voting anti-war. That means Libertarian or Green.
Good question. From Wikipedia:
The Embassy of the United States in Baghdad is the (unrequested) diplomatic mission of the United States in Iraq. A new embassy, which has been described as the largest and most expensive embassy in the world at 0.44 square kilometers— nearly as large as the Vatican City,.. The embassy complex comprises 21 buildings on a 104 acres (42 ha) site, making it the largest and most expensive U.S. embassy in the world. It is located along the Tigris river, west of the Arbataash Tamuz bridge, and facing Al Kindi street to the north. The embassy is a permanent structure which has provided a new base for the 5,500 Americans currently living and working in Baghdad. During construction, the US government kept many aspects of the project under wraps, with many details released only in a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report.[8] Apart from the 1,000 regular employees, up to 3,000 additional staff members have been hired, including security personnel.
This number of people does not include the uninvited military bses the US established in Iraq.A few pictures here:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12319798/
First thing that popped into my mind also. They just built a huge 1 billion dollar embassy.
More like a command/control post for all the other imperial aggression in that part of the world! 24hrs closer to the actual lines of combat! >^^<
Will the mainstream media ask that question AND will they report it to people? If not, millions of people will assume the "troops" have left Iraq and remain clueless about our military industrial complex. Don't expect NBC, MSNBC or any other G.E. affiliate to report the information accurately or completely.
TRANSLATION: Just as long as you Prime Minister Maliki, remain our American quisling in Iraq, we will pull most of our troops out by the end of the year. But Mr. Maliki if you get too far out of line and make too many waves, don't forget what happened to Saddam Hussien!
Too bad our cities can't afford to sweep up all the confetti left from the sure-to-come victory parades.
No jobs either... Maybe they can join the OWS movement? >^^<
Expect this talking point to emanate from the right wing noise machine very soon, 'Obama lost Iraq.'
That and all the soldiers who died, did so in vain.
They are leaving millions in equipment too istead of shipping it home.
They are donating it so someone is going to get a huge tax deduction.
Too bad millions of Iraqis were liberated from life, their homes, their very country.
Trillions wasted for the oil cartel. But it is the lives of the innocent that hurts me the most. I do not give a flying f-ck about the soldiers.
Iraq was more wasteful than Vietnam, and much more stupid as the hindsight of history was extant. If one judges the Iraq debacle from a Realpolitik point-of-view, then the whole thing was 'lost' when Daddy Bush bungled the end game to the First Gulf War in 1991. Therefore what Dubya, Cheney, & Co. did was violate a basic rule of business in this whole sordid affair; throw good money after bad (among other things). Among the many galling things about this whole thing was the sheer incompetence by ne'er-do-well nitwits that birthed this travesty.
I would say that the war was a great money-laundering success, as well as an excellent extension of the false flag 9-11 attacks that justified all our deployments and aggressions since.
The war's purposes now have been largely fulfilled, Iraq has been thoroughly decimated (this was largely another war of attrition, after all), the Arab and Muslim governments of the world have been sufficiently warned of what their resistance will produce, and billions upon billions of ordinances have been spent providing the need to create more and more weapons contracts.
And to top it off, America's labor force and middle class have been cowed and herded into corporate compliance and into accepting the need for austerity.
Based on those criteria, I believe Operation Iraqi Liberation was a grand success!
I care about the soldiers because many are young, naive, and ignorant about what "patriotism" is truly about.
I often wonder how our citizens would feel if another country began putting military bases in numerous parts of our country, then "dictated" their philosophy to us. Yet, we expect the people in other countries to allow just that.
We're on the same page, speakout2. Well said!
Some of our troops are surely bad apples, but the real evil that should be called out is the leadership — the top-down orders, the generals at the Pentagon, the weapons contractors and war profiteers masquerading as civilian leadership....
Most of the rest deserve at least some sympathy and support, as well as our efforts to de-program and reintegrate them back into normal, peaceful civilian existence. It does not show our moral superiority to blanket condemn them all for the criminality of some... That's supposed to be the approach eschewed by the Left, who should understand that most troops are just more exploited laborers, exploited in the worst ways imaginable.
I'm sure many troops deserve no heroic applause (and should get prison sentences for their acts), and the MIC itself is an abomination... But spitting randomly at strangers and those who may have tried to do good under deplorable circumstances only makes us look like the unfeeling and hard-hearted ones.
Of course they'll get spit on, many deserve it.
Again the real problem with trying to intregrate them back is the "fact" we do not have jobs for them, or for the 100s of thousands who have no job, and the 10s of thousands looking at lay-off notices today and in the coming weeks! The last thing we need is 100,000 pushed to the head of the line due to some precived "Veterans Benifits" we can as the workers can't take it!!
>^^<
I feel a sense of relief that US finally quit barking up a wrong tree in Iraq--relief that US finally decided to stop trying to do something that is impossible and not wanted. There was no REALISTIC vision of success and the wisest thing to do was to quit. Much sooner would have been wiser; later could only be worse. I am not about to attack the President for calling the troops home now. Citizens need to DEMAND an end to war and elect representatives that have the courage to end war. Perhaps the huge Occupy movement will build solidarity across the globe and call the leaders of the world back to humanity. Fairy tale? Perhaps not. One reason not is that all of us who recognize the futility of much of international relations have not had a strong gathered voice before. It is a new and amazing phenomenon. No telling where it can go.
Thank you, President Obama, for standing up to the Pentagon, something hardly any president has done since Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex" speech.
Now, how about we get out of Afghanistan?
For the record, President Eisenhower only suggested that OTHER people deal with the Military Industrial Complex AFTER he left office. Like most presidents, he did nothing to reign in the chief source of his own power -- rampant and escalating militarism -- but he did make a few pleasant-sounding, ass-covering statements as he walked out the door. .
I'm sure he mentioned it, it's just that he got the same answer every time.... "Go see a play Mr. President!" we have it covered! >^^<
Or why not take the convertable for a nice ride in Dallas, the weathers so nice this time of year.. lol >^^<
'Expect this talking point to emanate from the right wing noise machine very soon, 'Obama lost Iraq.'
Bush, Cheney, Obama, whoever, but the U.S. has been defeated in Iraq and it has only cost the Iraqi people a million lives, a couple million refugees and a destroyed infrastructure. The US has lost 3,000 + soldiers plus many thousands maimed and traumatized, and a couple trillion from the people's treasury. But, to use Madelaine Albright's words, "We think that it was worth it."
Muqtada al-Sadr has already seen through this charade, and he isn't exactly being quiet about it. :-)
I guess that to work for the Associated Press you need to prove that you can be in two places at once.
"Even with a full troop withdrawal, a very small number of military personnel will remain in Baghdad." Is the word "full" beyond the comprehension of these people?
What is "a very small number" and how many so-called "private" contractors will support them? 100,000 is a small number when compared to 6 billion.
Apparently, the motto of the AP is - We only repeat what we are told to repeat.
Also,
I expect some sort of violence might be initiated to prove that Iraq isn't ready for any troop reduction.
Can you say electioneering?
What do you expect the reporter to do... Throw a shoe?? they need jobs too, In case you haven't looked theres not many high-prestege six-figure reporter jobs you can just fall into! >^^<
Um...then explain this Article not three spaces removed CD: "Sadr: Presence of 'US Trainers' Extension of US Occupation" ...sheesh...how dumb do you think we are...
...Obama loses battle on terror....I guess we will have to do the invasion again.
Thomas Gilbert-
Yeah, just somewhere else... but where? We're running out of countries to bomb.
Dear CD: This story reports on actual progress in the removal troops from Iraq, an action that most CD readers, including me, have urged the White House to take for years. Now, inexpliably, CD editors have let slip through a story suggesting that the U.S. government can occasionally make a sensible policy decision. Shame on you! You should have learned by now that readers here do not tolerate anything that sounds suspiciously like "positive" news, nor will they tolerate stories that even suggest that President Obama (aka "Obummer", "O-bomber", "Oilcan Barry") might actually make a decision from time to time that is truly in the interest all of America. We all know that there is "not one iota of difference" between Dems and Repubs. Therefore, this article must be removed immediately, or I shall report you to the Party Line Police. Sincerely, Donny-Don
A phony withdrawal is in the interest of nobody but the MIC and its cheerleaders in general and Dim Party goons specifically. Thanks for playing.
Cheesy
Dopely Kos is that way ----------------------------------->
(to the right)
"readers here do not tolerate anything that sounds suspiciously like 'positive' news"-Donny-Don
or...let's just say a lot of us like to maintain a healthy skepticism
my first thought at reading the headline, wonder who needs a surge?
I thought this would get the biggest knee-jerk reaction. This site is nothing if not predictable (and hyper-sensitive).
Most Americans, even most right-wingers, are quite pleased to see these troops, many of them their owns sons and daughters, FINALLY, being brought back home. OK, so that's kind of a romanticized attitude, I suppose, to not want YOUR son or daughter to be the last to die for a bogus cause in a country that had nothing to do with 9-11. But in a weird way, I can kind of see that point of view. ;-)
Haven't you noticed that this administration has been nothing if not predictable?
He's been predictably against environmental protection, against real fiscal and/or corporate reform, against all of his campaign pledges to get the money and lobbyists out of Washington, against investigating the real criminals who ran this country for 8 years (and thus -becoming- just a part of the problem, instead of any type of solution). He's been predictably weak and capitulating to the Republican thugs, health insurance vultures, the energy industry frauds... (Obama just LOVES Klean Koal, Tar Sands , Fracking and BP drilling right off our shores) and on and on and on it goes....
Predicable in every way, none of them good for the 99%. Of if so, only incidentally so, and only superficially so. Smoke, mirrors and multi-level chess games that do nothing for the health and prosperity of this nation.
Haven't you noticed that my point is to celebrate the fact that we are finally bringing home the remainder of our troops from Iraq???
But we aren't. And please go back to your comment and insert a at the end of it.
Sorry, corvo, I just can't stand it.
Please remember to close "bold" tags to prevent runaway bolding.
(And other text and format-altering HTML tags that affect all subsequent text on the thread.)
-- Yr. Obd't Courtesy Closer
OS, you can get help for POTTSS (Post Opening Tag Traumatic Stress Syndrome)
(Joke! Please don't flame m -aaah!)
Donny-Don, Do you remember OBOMBer's first WH Press Corps din din? When he told the Jonas Brothers that a drone bomb would get them, if they went for Sasha or Malia? Get a clue, kiddo. This killer in the WH cares not for children and families in the ME and now Africa, maybe soon Iran. He is a murderer and a war criminal. Not to mention a liar and coward. His plan leaves plenty of indiscriminite killer thugs there to protect our "interests" and yes, there will be more death and destruction in our name.
Please , no celebration until this imperial president closes ALL US bases, and stops the killing in countries that are growing in number daily!
Agree. Quite childlike, almost endearing.
When did I "express personal faith in the Democratic Party"??!! Good god, trying to interact with posters on this site is like trying to deal with third-graders. Read my lips: I am happy to see that we're finally brining the rest of our troops home. That is not the same as being a booster of Barack Obama or the Democratic Party, neither of which inspires me ... but, alas, that point seems to be way too subtle to be grasped by the ideologues who run the tables on these posts.
If one can't celebrate the rare good news that actually comes along when it does come along, one must live a very grim and pointless existence ...
But we're not "bringing the rest of our troops home." We're leaving plenty of them there.
it all comes down to semantics.
those remaining will be "trainers" not "troops".
see the cat?
see the cradle?
Apart from the fact that we're leaving some military personnel and plenty of mercenaries there, and putting aside the fact that our government routinely lies about what it is really doing, here's a question for you: where do you think Obama will send the troops next?
Uganda? Somalia? Yemen? Iran?
Or do you think they're coming home for good?
I doubt they're coming home in large numbers. After all, we'd then have to take care of them -- or abandon them to the streets, as we usually do. On the other hand, "abandoning them to the streets" does sound like Oblahblah's social welfare policy.
re: "nor will they tolerate stories that even suggest that President Obama might actually make a decision from time to time that is truly in the interest all of America."
BTW, a lot of stories suggest it, but I have yet to see any reality reflect it. Obama is nothing more than a Trojan Horse. Infiltrate, dominate and undermine.... that's all he's ever done for We The People.
Name ONE damn thing this poser has done that is truly in the interest of We The People, and not the 1%...