EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Published on Monday, May 17, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
Necessary Vigilance for Iraq Withdrawal
Over the last week, rumors that the U.S. might delay the withdrawal of
combat forces from Iraq led to much confusion and concern. These rumors
are thankfully not true, and both the U.S. and Iraqi leaderships are
going ahead with the agreed upon plan.
There are two approaching deadlines guiding the US withdrawal from Iraq. The first is August 31st of this year, which is a self imposed deadline not included in the bi-lateral security agreement. The august 31st 2010 deadline requires all combat forces to be out of Iraq, bringing down the number of all troops to less than 50K, and the number of contractors to less than 75K. In addition, all combat operations must end and that will be officially the last day of 'operation iraqi freedom'. The second deadline is December 31 2011, which is the end game of the binding bilateral Security Agreement that was signed between the two countries in late 2008. According to this deadline, all remaining troops and contractors must leave the country bringing their number down to ZERO, and all bases and military installations must be shut down and/or handed over to the Iraqi governmnent.
These two deadlines did not appear out of the blue; it took millions of Iraqis and Americans years of hard work to push for this plan. On the Iraqi side, the parliament -- the only elected entity in the Iraqi government -- managed to take out provisions about permanent military bases from the Bush agreement. Iraqis demonstrated in the streets for months and demanded that their parliament stand up to the Iraqi government and Bush Administration, and they ended up succeeding in changing these provisions. The new agreement that was ratified by the Iraqi parliament prohibits any US military bases or installations beyond 2011. On the American side, millions of Americans demonstrated against the war and occupation, and voted for Obama after he adopted a plan to withdraw all combat forces in 18 months and to withdraw all other forces in accordance to the bilateral Security Agreement.
Here in the U.S., there are two dangerous attitudes in dealing with the plans to end the occupation of Iraq: on the one hand, there are those who think Obama will end the war, and therefore they don't need to do anything about it. And on the other hand, there are those who think the occupation will never end, and therefor it's a lost cause that we can't do anything to change.
I personally stand in the middle. I think the withdrawal plan is good enough because it requires all U.S. armed forces and contractors to leave by the end of next year, but at the same time I don't think we have enough guarantees that it will become reality. Therefore, I believe we need to do a lot of work to make sure Obama implements the plan as promised.
It is very important to understand how we've managed to reach to the the current plan, which is a good plan aimed at ending the occupation completely. But what is more important is to understand that this plan needs a lot of work until it becomes reality. We need to activate both our grassroots oversight and the congressional oversight to make sure the Obama Administration will abide by the plan and fulfill its promises and obligations.
These 2 approaching deadlines are recognized and supported by existing congressional language. Section 1227 of the defense authorization and section 9010 of the defense appropriations, both for fy10, recognize and support the deadlines and their guiding doctrines. This language provides some congressional oversight, but more is needed. A number of national organizations in the US, including Peace Action, are calling for more congressional oversight and White House accountability. You can learn more about Peace Action's campaigns here www.peace-action.org/
This week's rumors are not the first timeGiving into skepticism will take us to no where, and believing that Obama will do our work for us is not the answer either. Let's all work together to make sure that the plan for withdrawal becomes reality, and that this tragic war with Iraq comes to an end.
There are two approaching deadlines guiding the US withdrawal from Iraq. The first is August 31st of this year, which is a self imposed deadline not included in the bi-lateral security agreement. The august 31st 2010 deadline requires all combat forces to be out of Iraq, bringing down the number of all troops to less than 50K, and the number of contractors to less than 75K. In addition, all combat operations must end and that will be officially the last day of 'operation iraqi freedom'. The second deadline is December 31 2011, which is the end game of the binding bilateral Security Agreement that was signed between the two countries in late 2008. According to this deadline, all remaining troops and contractors must leave the country bringing their number down to ZERO, and all bases and military installations must be shut down and/or handed over to the Iraqi governmnent.
These two deadlines did not appear out of the blue; it took millions of Iraqis and Americans years of hard work to push for this plan. On the Iraqi side, the parliament -- the only elected entity in the Iraqi government -- managed to take out provisions about permanent military bases from the Bush agreement. Iraqis demonstrated in the streets for months and demanded that their parliament stand up to the Iraqi government and Bush Administration, and they ended up succeeding in changing these provisions. The new agreement that was ratified by the Iraqi parliament prohibits any US military bases or installations beyond 2011. On the American side, millions of Americans demonstrated against the war and occupation, and voted for Obama after he adopted a plan to withdraw all combat forces in 18 months and to withdraw all other forces in accordance to the bilateral Security Agreement.
Here in the U.S., there are two dangerous attitudes in dealing with the plans to end the occupation of Iraq: on the one hand, there are those who think Obama will end the war, and therefore they don't need to do anything about it. And on the other hand, there are those who think the occupation will never end, and therefor it's a lost cause that we can't do anything to change.
I personally stand in the middle. I think the withdrawal plan is good enough because it requires all U.S. armed forces and contractors to leave by the end of next year, but at the same time I don't think we have enough guarantees that it will become reality. Therefore, I believe we need to do a lot of work to make sure Obama implements the plan as promised.
It is very important to understand how we've managed to reach to the the current plan, which is a good plan aimed at ending the occupation completely. But what is more important is to understand that this plan needs a lot of work until it becomes reality. We need to activate both our grassroots oversight and the congressional oversight to make sure the Obama Administration will abide by the plan and fulfill its promises and obligations.
These 2 approaching deadlines are recognized and supported by existing congressional language. Section 1227 of the defense authorization and section 9010 of the defense appropriations, both for fy10, recognize and support the deadlines and their guiding doctrines. This language provides some congressional oversight, but more is needed. A number of national organizations in the US, including Peace Action, are calling for more congressional oversight and White House accountability. You can learn more about Peace Action's campaigns here www.peace-action.org/
This week's rumors are not the first timeGiving into skepticism will take us to no where, and believing that Obama will do our work for us is not the answer either. Let's all work together to make sure that the plan for withdrawal becomes reality, and that this tragic war with Iraq comes to an end.
- Posted in
Comments are closed
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
11 Comments so far
Show All"...don't really like organizing massive public demonstrations because?" the Bush years made a mockery of massive anti-war demonstrations. ANSWER and UFP&J organized a dozen and a half mass marches in DC and NYC, calling out anywhere from 500 000 to a million people each, did you notice?
Unless you were there (I was) you could be excused for not knowing about it because not one Media team covered any of these events.
ZERO camera trucks.
One particularly large march from the Mall to the Naval Station that had nearly one million marchers was covered on NPR as "several thousand demonstrators".
Considering the cost per person (it cost me an average of $100 each time for transportation, et cetera, not counting lost wages for any days off) Vs. the amount of effect it had, it became obvious that all that work and all that money could be better alocated elsewhere.
"...the withdrawal plan is good enough because it requires all U.S. armed forces and contractors to leave by the end of next year, but at the same time I don't think we have enough guarantees that it will become reality."
Exactly right.
While I trust that Obama will stick to this timeline (it was, after all, first suggested as a campaign point of his during the primaries, so he has a certain amount of ownership and so far, he's followed through), keeping the pressure on is important. I doubt Obama himself would wander off without vigilance but countervailing forces in the DoD and the Pentagon would be encouraged if they thought we'd let it drop.
My niece's fiance is back from Iraq for a short liberty, going back Wednesday, he's wrapping up the last of the FOBs in prep for our exit. His unit is scheduled to be back home by the first week of September (the end of his third deployment). He says that it's much less chaotic there, that the hostility level toward US is greatly reduced from his first tour and that there is a palpable feeling that this is winding down, coming to an end.
As someone that has stood vigil every week for the past seven years over Iraq and Afghanistan, I'm relieved that at least one of those conflicts is ending, but our vigil won't end until we're out of Afghanistan, too.
Keep the pressure on, even if it's a trickle.
Please keep in mind, Pakistan, Iran...... and ???
The Iraq conundrum cannot be understood when one misleadingly posits, as the author of this miserable piece of dribble does, that our country is "at war" in Iraq at this time. "Our military presence is tolerated" is perhaps the best description of what SOFA-Iraq has spawned in late 2008.
Should Mr. Obama break the SOFA-Iraq agreement on January 1, 2012 our military presence is no longer tolerated. We will have become an invader who is at war with Iraq. Don't worry too much that our nation will let Mr. Obama get away with that because Mr. El Sadr will call for a national uprising and Mr. El Maliki will go along if he values his life at all.
Retreating to bases in Iraq's "Kurdistan" appears to be an attractive solution for Mr. Obama except that it will infuriate Turkey possibly to the extent that it will refuse allowing the passage of food and arms for the US troops through its territory. Our soldiers in Iraq's Kurdistan will then be surrounded by at least unfriendly and possibly enemy forces and, like the German soldiers in Stalingrad, will have to be supplied and eventually lifted out by air.
Sioux Rose
I'd like to believe this article, but pieces published by Tom Engelhardt about the PERMANENT bases in that land make it seem very unlikely that no U.S. presence would remain there. They'll probably just call those left in the base communities "advisors," and do away with the soldier title. Changing words without altering policy seems to be the basic M.O. of the Obama administration. The war was fought both to profit the MIC AND to obtain access to oil. With this monster in the Gulf (of Mexico), giving up the Iraqi pipeline in the near future seems like a PIPE dream!
Sioux Rose. You may well be right and we may not have to wait until the end of next year for such a vile trick. Mr. Obama promised only that he would take all combat units out of Iraq by next August. He can do that by changing their mission from "combat" to "training Iraq's army and police" even if they have never been trained to train.
This is not true.
The SoFA states that ALL US forces will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, that all of the "enduring bases" will either be dismantled or handed over to the Iraqi Government. The one loophole in this is the "Embassy" which resembles a military base and would house as many as 5000 Marines as "Embassy Security".
Most importantly, the mercenaries or "Private Contractors" have already drawn down their forces faster than our Uniforms and by the end of 2010, they should be all but gone.
The People of Iraq want US out, our military (for the most part) want US out, and it would be worse than foolish to try to remain past the terms of SoFA with less than 1/5 of the force strength that we had at the peak.
Of course, the idea that we need to train the Iraqis to fight is absurd, they know already. And trying to define a difference between combat troops and trainers in a frontless battlefield is also absurd. Everyone in uniform in country is in combat. But this is diplomatic language to disguise the fact the we are withdrawing from a collosal blunder, trying to pretend that we didn't have our butts handed to US by yet another small weak country full of brown people.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
I'll believe in a withdrawal from Iraq when I see it. In late 2008 there were reports suggesting Obama was going to keep 50,000 combat troops there under renamed military occupation specialties (MOS) so that he could falsely claim for domestic U.S. consumption that all combat troops had withdrawn by Dec. 2011.
It is my belief that there is no way the U.S. is giving
up those bases.
I have talked to contractors and grunts, they are still
sinking tons of money building permanent bases.
Signing the withdrawal agreement was one of Bush's last
acts in office. Since then, Obama has always talked of
leaving 50k troops behind, I doubt he will change his mind.
The slip, or rumors, I remember from about a month ago, I
imagine the retraction was for Iraqi ears since this unofficial article is the only paper I have seen claiming
the first rumor untrue.
Complying with this agreement might bring a little respect
back to the White House, but it is apparent they don't care
much about what we thinks of them except during election
cycles. He more than likely will do the 50k thing he spoke of last year, the U.S. laughs at these signed agreements,
ask Chief Joseph, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and on and on and on.
WTF, or what can I/we do to "pull out now". whom the fuck knows. so tired of this story.
Will it ever end, doubtful.