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Iraq: Troop Movement, Not Troop Withdrawal
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) made the following statement on June 30, 2009 regarding the announcement that U.S. troops have left the cities and towns of Iraq and turned over formal security to Iraqi security forces:
The withdrawal of some U.S. combat troops from Iraq’s cities is welcome and long overdue news. However, it is important to remember that this is not the same as a withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors from Iraq.
U.S. troop combat missions throughout Iraq are not scheduled to end until more than a year from now in August of 2010. In addition, U.S. troops are not scheduled for a complete withdrawal for another two and a half years on December 31, 2011. Rather, U.S. troops are leaving Iraqi cities for military bases in Iraq. They are still in Iraq, and they can be summoned back at any time.
This is not a great victory for peace. On May 19, the Christian Science Monitor reported that Iraqi and U.S. military officials virtually redrew the city limits of Baghdad in order to consider the Army’s Forward Operating Base Falcon as outside the city, despite every map of Baghdad clearly showing it with in city limits. In fact, according to Section 24.3 of the “SOFA” U.S. troops can remain at any agreed upon facility. The reported reason for this decision is to ensure U.S. troops are able to ‘help maintain security in south Baghdad along what were the fault lines in the sectarian war.’
This troop movement should not be confused with a troop withdrawal from Iraq. In reality, this is a small step toward Iraqi sovereignty as Iraqi security forces begin assuming greater control over security operations, but it is a long way from independence and a withdrawal of the U.S. military presence.
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77 Comments so far
Show AllHenry the Eighth had Thomas More's head chopped off for refusing to support his intention to be Sovereign of the Church of England in the 16th century. The current Henry8 appears to have done the same to poor Thomas, despite being one and the same.
For those Dennis supporters out there. Perhaps keep the Kucinich family in your thoughts tonight:
http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=135163
My Condolences to Frank Kucinich's family. May he rest in Peace.
How terribly sad! They've lost so many siblings in the past 3 years. My condolences to you and your family, Congressman Kucinich. :-(
How the oil contracts are handled will be very interesting.
The reason the democrats are corporate is because your fellow citizens vote for corporate politicians.
Nader said they probably wouldn't let him in- but Dennis has the same policies! Isn't this proof that the party can be reformed?
Why hasn't Chomsky or Dean Baker ever mentioned Michael Hudson?
Yes, folks this is change that you can believe in. How do you feel now? Fooled by another carnival barker; who only thinks of his political career. If the wil was there, we could be out of Iraq in six months and Afghanistan within a year. Keeping voting these self-serving bastards in; again and again. You deserve this
kind of representation.
There is little in Dennis' article for anyone who has supported him for a long time, as I have done. It is refreshing, though, to read through the comments and see the intensity of yearning for a true progressive leader expressed by commenters like Stephen V. Riley. Though I have campaigned for Dennis through two presidential elections, it remains a mystery why he stays attached to a Democratic Party which, to at least a 90% degree, is detached from the principles for which he stands. I would join Riley's imperative voice of DEMANDING of Dennis that he respond to the people in this no-vision (no credible vision in which we can believe) time in which, as always, "where there is no vision, the people perish." We're dyin' out here Dennis, when are you going to throw us the life line?
Like Ron Paul in the republican Party, the only way for he and Dennis Kucinich (democrat) to have a chance in Congress, unfortunately, is for them to remain a part of the Duopoly parties.
We have to change that though. Remember folks, Third Parties are the Future!
Dennis Kucinich cannot change the social consciousness of the U.S. by staying in the rotten system (the U.S. Congress). Change of national consciousness can only come from a massive transformational movement for radical social change, or a total collapse of the system, and that I think is not going to happen. .
It's really hard to say that just putting them all in a third party alone will solve anything. Almost any party can be corrupted. The best solution would be for people to not look at the party they're in but the individual itself. I don't think it's fair to say that Dennis is not throwing a life line. Anyone can throw money here and there but he's not hesitating to put forth long term policies that would prevent the troubles in the first place. Sometimes, people have to be associated with something controversial to steal from those big bullies and give to the little guys. It's sort of like the saying "the only way out is in". I do take interest in third parties too but they need a better organization and discipline, something even the Democrats have been picking up on in the recent years just like the Republicans used to have more of. I was close to voting for Nader but because I thought that the system was too much for Nader to bare, I gave up and voted Obama but promised myself that I would go back to finding local progressive candidates regardless of which parties they're in and I think more people have to do so in the long run.
Thanks Jerry Rose. If we had put our thoughts into a letter to Dennis Kucinich, I doubt it would reach him.......But I am sure out of curiosity, Dennis will personally read these comments to his CD article.
thanks to dennis for being dennis
but at least it is a start
Good job DK and thanks for putting it on the record for posterity so that when this whole thing blows up in the faces of its authors neither the Beige Bush nor any of his anti-semantic personnel (I like that term too!) can whine about "Who could have known...?!!
Poet
America is still stuck to the Bush/Cheney tar baby.
Dennis Kucinich lives a quandary and deserves our unbridled empathy. Dennis Kucinich is a man of integrity and principle and a powerful politician. He'll be forced into compromises. But that is the arena not the man.
Is anyone still falling for whatever nonsense this fraud Dennis Kucinich has to say? Kucinich is a sham designed to keep the left in the Democratic Party. And as with every Democrat, or Republican, he's all talk, no action. DK never wins anything as a presidential candidate and at the end he always supports the pro-war corporatist Democratic empty suit, like he did in 2000 or 2004 or 2008, which should be clear to a 5 yo. that he means nothing of what he preaches.
The only way he'd be taken seriously one day is if he left this corrupt party and ran as an Independent. The Democratic Party is rotten to the core, they have an incurable and inoperable cancer, known as greed for war cash. There's nothing anyone can do. Kucinich, you should be ashamed of yourself to be part of such a criminal enterprise.
Obusha: Kucinich is "all talk, no action."
If this is true (it isn't), it is direct opposition to the tendency within the Democratic Party, which most of us seem to condemn. As Jeff Faux defined the situation back in 04, in fact as compared to Republicans, Dems are "all action and no talk." http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=8892 What Faux was saying was that, for all their efforts at mobilizing actions, Dems were deficient in the area of think tanks and talk shows, not to mention preachers from the pulpit with their conservative "talk." So okay Dennis is a talker, a little unlike Cynthia McKinney to whom I said, shortly before she departed on a trip to Gaza that has now landed her and 20 others in an Israeli jail , that she was engaging in some propaganda of the deed (action) and she said she liked concept---even as she and others may be suffering the consequence of that deed. A fellow named Jesus Christ established a little movement called christianity by being both a talker and a doer, and these seem to be the twin requirements for leadership in a successful movement. So give me an eloquent talker like Kucinich and a courageous doer like McKinney and I'll give you the progressive movement for which we've all been crying...and yes it can occur within as well as outside the Democratic Party.
The fact is citizens elect these corporate dems into congress and many love what Obama's doing. Dennis has a voting record that speaks for itself, he just doesn't have enough help. The conspiracy is not as deep as you think.
If the goal is to bring about change we can believe in, isn't it abundantly clear after six months in office that not only isn't President Barack Hussein Obama going to be of help to us in our quest for a better world, he's deliberately blocking the way. Which mean's it's up to us, and yes we can.
Except for a few who post comments here, no one I know is asking why we still occupying Iraq and Afghanistan. No one seems to care.
Yes, and we can add Tristan Anderson and Cynthia McKinney
Israel.
We can get the oil without occupying them.
Zionism has corroded this country economically, politically, and militarily.
We care.
Vote third party.
Change will come when there's enough third party votes that Kucinich will leave the Democrats.
There is really no mystery about it. The only question that needs asking is, "Have we pumped out all of the oil yet?" We aren't going anywhere until we've gotten the oil. Nobody is talking about this either. In fact our MSN media refuses to talk about oil at all on any program.
"In reality, this is a small step toward Iraqi sovereignty as Iraqi security forces begin assuming greater control over security operations, but it is a long way from independence and a withdrawal of the U.S. military presence."
Rep. Kucinich is right
but what will it take to get the Change Obama promised?
And there is the matter of prosecuting the Bush Administration criminals for the Plame Leak, the WMD Lies and the TORTURE!
Rep. Kunicich is a good man but the champion of Impeachment
Is Strangely Silent on
Prosecution?
Tell DK we need him to lead on this important issue.
And
SIGN THE PETITION
Calling for a
congressional select committee
and an independent prosecutor
to prosecute the Bush-Cheney criminals.
http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG
Over 250,000 have signed
Join them and call yourself a patriot
Why is it that only DK has to be responsible for moving this forward? I think we should be asking this of ALL of our representatives. Having it all funnel through DK makes him the outlier once again. They should all be calling for prosecution. Cheney has even admitted his role on television with millions of witnesses!