Ending The War In Iraq
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President Barack Obama will set a course Monday for the nation’s changing mission in Iraq as the military prepares to end its combat operations there.
In a speech at the national convention of the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta, Obama was to address the progress being made to meet his deadline of drawing down all combat troops by the end of the month. A transitional force of 50,000 troops will remain to train Iraqi security forces, conduct counterterrorism operations and provide security for ongoing U.S. civilian efforts.
‘Make no mistake: Our commitment in Iraq is changing, from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats,’ Obama said in excerpts released ahead of the speech.
Obama has said all U.S. troops will be gone from Iraq by the end of next year.
29 Responses to “Ending The War In Iraq”
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no shit, man. this has been the most drawn out, boring cut and run i’ve ever seen. from all the republican election speeches, i was looking forward to Obama picking a date in march of 2009, announcing to The Terrorists that they could basically have the place after that, pulling all of our troops out, and then waiting for the B41 to be blown up with Rid-x and guano mixed with yellowcake mined by Al Franken.
all this waiting around — what the hell, man? where’s the apocalypse i was promised, cheney?
(enter SF: “It’s coming! You’ll see! Any day now! !”)
Because, after all, the only reason we get into wars is to get out of them, and when someone dies, it’s time “bring the boys home.”
What is the current military — not political — objective in Iraq right now Frank?
the only reason we get into wars is
Because the vice president, who whiffed on his chance to serve in the military, was being paid more by the biggest military contractor than he was by the taxpayers.
He went with the money, and Bush did what he was told, which was to lie about why he wanted to kill tens of thousands more innocent people than the Taliban ever dreamed of.
There must be a reason that virtually all the veterans in congress (yeah, I know, McCain, but he is batshit insane) are Democrats. As a vet myself, I think I know what it is. We remember Vietnam, and we see the same crap being repeated by fools who never pulled on a uniform.
@Jaim If it is not to make the current terrorist operators ineffectual, then , yes , bring ‘em home.
But, that doesn’t mean that the military can’t be used to help bring about political objectives.
@Repack Do you really think the Vice President persuaded the United Nations and a Democratic majority Congress to support a war nobody wanted in a fit of personal pique, or in the hopes of making a few bucks?
And, as to why so many vets are Democrats (I notice you did not specify which wars, or their roles in said wars), I would be more inclined to believe that soldiers who did their jobs, came home and got on with their lives, are not the type to be bitter, cynical, and suspicious liberals.
But, that doesn’t mean that the military can’t be used to help bring about political objectives.
How, Frank? How is the US military supposed to help bring about our desired political outcome in Iraq, remembering, of course, that Iraq is still a sovereign, foreign country?
Because the US military totally established a corruption-free, transparent, and viable government in South Vietnam.
And that’s not an attack on the military, it’s a simple statement of fact. Germany and Japan became modern democracies with massive infusions of US cash, not with a decade-long counter-insurgency fight.
Well, Frank, since the fact that you left the military at the same rank at which you entered it proves that you were incapable of doing your job, what makes you think that you’re adequate to the task of commenting on anybody else having done theirs?
“I would be more inclined to believe that soldiers who did their jobs, came home and got on with their lives, are not the type to be bitter, cynical, and suspicious liberals.”
WAIT ONE FUCKING MINUTE, Frank:
Are you making the claim that soldiers — fucking SOLIDERS, men and women who served America in a time of war — who are liberals likely didn’t ‘do their jobs’? You’re questioning their level of *military service* based on the fact that they don’t vote like you?
You wanna take that back now, or are you going to give everyone on the board a few more minutes to point out how stupid, how thankless, how un-American this is?
And, as to why so many vets are Democrats (I notice you did not specify which wars, or their roles in said wars), I would be more inclined to believe that soldiers who did their jobs, came home and got on with their lives, are not the type to be bitter, cynical, and suspicious liberals.
Does anyone have an idiot-to-English dictionary on hand? Because I don’t know what the point of this statement is.
I would be more inclined to believe that soldiers who did their jobs, came home and got on with their lives, are not the type to be bitter, cynical, and suspicious liberals. – Frank
Well, you wingnuts consider Rush Limbaugh and Bill Kristol to be Sun Tzu, so figures you prefer a make believe world to reality.
Nothing is more gross than the right pretending to know what the military thinks. The only troop movement they’ve seen is watching girl scouts selling cookies door-to-door.
Do you really think the Vice President persuaded the United Nations and a Democratic majority Congress to support a war nobody wanted in a fit of personal pique, or in the hopes of making a few bucks?
There was a Democratic majority in Congress in 2003? How big was it? Would you agree that the congress failed in its constitutionally required duty to debate and vote on a declaration of war?
Silly me, I didn’t realize that the UN had authorized a military incursion. Wait. They didn’t. Bush wouldn’t put it to the vote after threatening to do so.
Remember how Colin Powell presented a ten-year old Masters thesis, written by a California grad student, to the Security Council as the “latest intel” about Iraq and said that photographed trucks that turned out to be hydrogen generators for weather balloons were mobile biolabs? While Hans Blix was on the ground in Iraq telling us the truth, which was that there were no WMD?
After all the huffing and puffing about fictional WMD, remember how the biggest collection of conventional explosives in the world was left unguarded, and hundreds of tons were removed by parties unknown, driving the loot away in beat-up pickup trucks? Good times.
Why should anyone at the UN ever believe a US president again? Why did anyone take the Bush administration seriously after that?
It’s no secret that the big contractors in Iraq, Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater et al are stealing billions, and I didn’t see Dick “Halliburton CEO” Cheney do anything to stop his former colleagues and good friends from doing so. If there is an explanation for that other than corruption, please offer it.
And, as to why so many vets are Democrats (I notice you did not specify which wars, or their roles in said wars),
No WW II vets left in Congress, so do the math. Vietnam and up. Could you specify which military “roles” do not qualify a veteran for congress? Isn’t a United States citizen over the age of 25 qualified for congress regardless of military background or the lack of one?
I would be more inclined to believe that soldiers who did their jobs,
…Got promoted, like I did, to E-5. You could make PFC (E-3) by breathing in and out for eight months, but to get past that you had to perform. Anyone who left the service as an E-1 was a fuckup. Remind us of your rank on ETS day.
came home and got on with their lives, are not the type to be bitter, cynical, and suspicious liberals.
Assumes facts not in evidence, i.e. that liberal veterans in congress are bitter, cynical, and suspicious.
Evidence to support a ridiculous claim is not your bag, is it? What you “believe” with no evidence loses all importance in the part of the universe that is outside your own skin.
How do you explain your own bitterness and suspicion?
Do you really think the Vice President persuaded the United Nations and a Democratic majority Congress to support a war nobody wanted in a fit of personal pique, or in the hopes of making a few bucks?
I’d say it’s pretty possible since the majority of Congress worships the almighty dollar above all else.
Now if we can just get President Obama to get out of Afghanistan, maybe, just MAYBE, we can cut the absurd budget of the war/defence department and use that money to fund single-payer, educational programs, and promote the welfare of of the working class for a change.
Then again, much like with DADT/FMA, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Frank DiSalle: @Repack Do you really think the Vice President persuaded the United Nations and a Democratic majority Congress to support a war nobody wanted in a fit of personal pique, or in the hopes of making a few bucks?
One part “persuaded”, three parts “conned” and a couple dashes of “preyed on fears”.
I would be more inclined to believe that soldiers who did their jobs, came home and got on with their lives, are not the type to be bitter, cynical, and suspicious liberals.
And Frank knows his soldiers who did their jobs. They’re what he doesn’t see in the mirror each morning.
hnice: You wanna take that back now, or are you going to give everyone on the board a few more minutes to point out how stupid, how thankless, how un-American this is?
Uh, have you met Frank?
Frank: I would be more inclined to believe that soldiers who did their jobs, came home and got on with their lives, are not the type to be bitter, cynical, and suspicious liberals.
Says the bitter, cynical “conservative”.
hnice: Are you making the claim that soldiers — fucking SOLIDERS, men and women who served America in a time of war — who are liberals likely didn’t ‘do their jobs’? You’re questioning their level of *military service* based on the fact that they don’t vote like you?
Word.
Frank, I was E-5 before I hit the two year mark in the Army. I was promoted every time I met the minimum length of time in my previous grade to advance to the next. I was never subjected to any form of military punishment, not even an Article 15.
You left the military at the same rank you had when you got the haircut. How the fuck would you know anything about soldiers “[doing] their jobs…?”
You can say whatever you want about the grade I was when I left the military. You have no idea what I did in the military. You have no idea what grade I obtained, or how I obtained it – or lost it. I have never mentioned how I lost my grade, where I was, or what I did. You have manufactured all these accusations in your feverish imaginations.
There is no way, on God’s green earth, that I would ever tell you the truth, because that would, however remotely, suggest that you are worthy of that consideration.
So, with that in mind, let’s look at a few points that matter
How, Frank? How is the US military supposed to help bring about our desired political outcome in Iraq, remembering, of course, that Iraq is still a sovereign, foreign country?
Well, gee, Fafaroo, if I could answer that, I could be the President, or more pertinently, if I were the President, I’ll bet I could answer that.
@Jaim, Viet Nam is long ago and far away from Iraq. If the left could stop trying to make every war into Viet Nam, we might have a shot at winning one.
@hnice – You are being illogical. What I am saying is that a soldier who simply comes home, returns to his former path in life, and gets on with his life, is more likely to eschew government and politics.
My favorite military historian says “No WW II vets left in Congress, so do the math.”
So now, Korea doesn’t exist?
So now, there are no veterans from 1946 to 1961?
I believe there were, and I believe that some of them went to Congress.
Todd B: Now if we can just get President Obama to get out of Afghanistan, maybe, just MAYBE, we can cut the absurd budget of the war/defence department … Then again, much like with DADT/FMA, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Ain’t gonna happen. In the first place, when a war ends , you think the soldiers, tools, supplies, weapons and equpipment just evaporate?
As they say in Brooklyn, “Fuhgeddaboudit!”
The best for last ::
Assumes facts not in evidence
MWAhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha !!
“You have no idea what I did in the military.”
Actually, Frank, we do know that you were such a fuckup that you couldn’t manage to hold a rank higher than someone straight off the bus.
You have no idea what grade I obtained, or how I obtained it – or lost it.
So, you lied when you wrote this, Frank DiSalle?:
So, you broke a lot of rules and got your stripes removed for your paints.
You should look up Korsakoff’s Syndrome, Frank, then get back to us.
So, you broke a lot of rules and got your stripes removed for your paints [sic}].
As I said , “You have no idea what grade I obtained, or how I obtained it – or lost it.”
Actually, I believe Daniel Inouye of Hawaii is the last WWII vet in congress.
Frank’s actions here are a pretty good clue as to why he was busted repeatedly from E-2 back to E-1.
I remember seeing a guy on my post about fifty years old with a PFC stripe on his fatigues, but you could see from the fading that he had once had six stripes, Master Sergeant or maybe even First Sergeant. I always wondered WTF he had done.
That couldn’t have been Frank though, because a PFC was still E-3.
In the ’60s the Army had a largely Black cadre, because it was a meritocracy in ways that the rest of the country wasn’t. A good soldier knew he would be promoted no matter who he was, so a lot of good Black soldiers made it a career rather than take their chances in more arbitrary outside employment.
I had no trouble navigating a meritocracy, so Frank, why did you have such a hard time understanding such a neatly structured environment, where performance got you promoted, and leaving at E-1 indicated absolute and utter incompetence?
If you know.
Frank DiSalle: You have no idea what I did in the military.
Not true.
We have it from an unimpeachable source that you “left the Army the same rank [you] went in : a private E-1.” and that while “serving” (let’s be generous and call it that) “[your] response to Army discipline was to break a lot of rules” and get busted down in rank.
Or are you going to call our source a liar?
There is no way, on God’s green earth, that I would ever tell you the truth, because that would,
strip away your ability to insinuate you were some kind of victim and that your getting busted down to lowest private was actually the result of some noble action on your part?
@Jaim, Viet Nam is long ago and far away from Iraq. If the left could stop trying to make every war into Viet Nam, we might have a shot at winning one.
Beware the power of the left! ooga booga!
Ohh, you got me on a misspelling, Frank! How perceptive.
Too bad you weren’t perceptive enough to remember what you wrote on the thread I took your comment from.
“If the left could stop trying to make every war into Viet Nam, we might have a shot at winning one.”
Sean, don’t make light of this. At our last meeting — you know, of The Left? — George Soros taught us all an incantation that makes it sound like Tea Partiers are saying ‘negro’ when in fact they’re saying ‘person of color’. You think those ceremonies to cause Iraqis not to greet us as liberators weren’t effective? Are you saying that I sacrificed Phyllis Schlafley while wearing a goat-head for nothing?
My powers are growing every day, man! Next stop: an ointment that’s going to retroactively put the word ‘refudiate’ into the original folio copy of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ — except it’s going to be Caliban who uses it, so Palin looks like an idiot! Literary zing!!!!
hnice, I thought this was the “sarcastically deny everything” week and that next week was the “put words in their mouths” campaign.
I swear, I miss ONE meeting and I’m out of step.
Sean, every week is ‘put words in their mouths’ week. And everything the left says is sarcastic. We’re so out of touch with honesty, reality, and the simple relationship between Word and Object that most of us don’t have any idea whether we’re serious anymore.
It was either develop this attitude or get rid of my television, and dammit, I just like Yu Gi Oh! so EFFING much!
What was I saying? Oh yeah, left voodoo. Have to get back to my ‘Quagmire in Afghanistan’ dance. Giggity. See what i did there?