Pentagon and military officials report that the withdrawal of most U.S. military forces from Iraq’s major cities has been completed a day ahead of tomorrow’s deadline.
According to the officials, within the past 30 days, 30 U.S. military bases have either been closed down or handed over to Iraqi security forces. A total of 150 bases have been shut down or turned over to Iraqis in the past nine months.
Iraq News
We know for sure that Dick Cheney and his crew were obsessed with proving some sort of link between Iraq and Al Qaeda. That was their golden key to provoking the nation into war. But there now seems to be some evidence that Cheney pushed for torture in order to prove this – and not, as he has said, to get actionable intelligence on imminent terror threats (not that that would excuse breaking the law either).
And look, I know all these roads seem to lead to Dick Cheney, but Dick Cheney was the vice president. The buck on all of this lays at the feet of George W. Bush.
At least 87,215 Iraqis have been killed in violence since 2005, according to a previously undisclosed Iraqi government tally obtained by The Associated Press. Combined with tallies based on hospital sources and media reports since the beginning of the war and a review of available evidence by the AP, the figures show that more than 110,000 Iraqis have died in violence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
The Health Ministry death tally, provided by a government official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the data, counts deaths from the beginning of 2005 until Feb. 28. It excludes thousands of people who are missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official notice.
The figure includes only violent deaths – people killed in attacks such as shootings, bombings, mortar attacks and beheadings. It excludes indirect factors such as damage to infrastructure, health care and stress that caused thousands more to die.
On a trip shrouded in secrecy, President Barack Obama flew into Iraq on Tuesday for a brief look at a war he opposed as a candidate and now vows to end as commander in chief.
Obama flew into the country hours after a car bomb exploded in a Shiite neighborhood of the capital city, a deadly reminder of the violence that has claimed the lives at least 4,266 members of the U.S. military and thousands more Iraqis since March 2003.
The visit came at the conclusion of a long overseas trip that included economic and NATO summits in Europe and two days in Turkey.
The neocons, not satisfied with the blood of thousands and the shame of a planet on their shoulders, have launched a think tank with Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan.
So, if you need yet another reason to convince the American people to never vote Republican for president again, there you go.
Today is the 6th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by George W. Bush.
From President Obama’s prepared remarks:
Today, I can announce that our review is complete, and that the United States will pursue a new strategy to end the war in Iraq through a transition to full Iraqi responsibility.
This strategy is grounded in a clear and achievable goal shared by the Iraqi people and the American people: an Iraq that is sovereign, stable, and self-reliant. To achieve that goal, we will work to promote an Iraqi government that is just, representative, and accountable, and that provides neither support nor safe-haven to terrorists. We will help Iraq build new ties of trade and commerce with the world. And we will forge a partnership with the people and government of Iraq that contributes to the peace and security of the region.
What we will not do is let the pursuit of the perfect stand in the way of achievable goals. We cannot rid Iraq of all who oppose America or sympathize with our adversaries. We cannot police Iraq’s streets until they are completely safe, nor stay until Iraq’s union is perfected. We cannot sustain indefinitely a commitment that has put a strain on our military, and will cost the American people nearly a trillion dollars. America’s men and women in uniform have fought block by block, province by province, year after year, to give the Iraqis this chance to choose a better future. Now, we must ask the Iraqi people to seize it.
I’m assuming so based on this:
The White House today announced that President Barack Obama will deliver an address at Camp Lejeune on Friday, February 27.
One of the top DC insider “liberals” in favor of the Iraq War still gets everything wrong! If Democrats listened to “liberals” like Peter Beinart, we would be discussing John McCain’s inauguration right now.
Now you know why you never see Cheney and Voldemort together
Joe Biden can’t be our vice president soon enough. Dick Cheney, unparalleled as the worst human being to ever hold that office, just revels in the unnecessary deaths of 4,500 Americans. He probably gets giddy over the Iraqis that have died as well. Sick bastard.
These are the sort of things that make me so glad conservatism is the outgoing political ideology. What a sick bunch of people.
This sort of says everything.
BBC: “In the Middle East, the sole of the foot is unclean, so pointing it at someone is insulting: when Iraqis vented their fury on the deposed Saddam Hussein in 2003, they beat his statue with their shoes.”
BBC: “”Going into someone’s house or a mosque, you would always take your shoes off first. Shoes are used to beat servants, thieves, prostitutes; it indicates servility. Were you to beat your children, this would be done with a stick or the hand, but never shoes.” ”
Hey look, it’s the exact point Sen. Obama was making about how Bush and McCain’s push for war in Iraq ended up screwing up the true fight versus Al Qaeda in Pakistan.
The White House has launched an urgent review of Afghanistan policy, fast-tracked for completion in the next several weeks, amid growing concern that the administration lacks a comprehensive strategy for the foundering war there and as intelligence officials warn of a rapidly worsening situation on the ground.
Underlying the deliberations is a nearly completed National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan and the Pakistan-based extremists fighting there. Analysts have concluded that reconstituted elements of al-Qaeda and the resurgent Taliban are collaborating with an expanding network of militant groups, making the counterinsurgency war infinitely more complicated.
The NY Post made stuff up and John McCain regurgitated it? SHOCKING.
The charge — that Obama asked the Iraqis to delay signing off on a ‘Status of Forces Agreement,’ thus delaying US troop withdrawal and interfering in U.S. foreign policy — has been picked up on the internet, talk radio and by Republicans including the McCain campaign, which seized on the story as possible evidence of duplicity.The Obama campaign said that the Post report consisted of ‘outright distortions.’
Lending significant credence to Obama’s response is the fact that — though it’s absent from the Post story and other retellings — in addition to Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, this July meeting was also attended by Bush administration officials such as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and the Baghdad embassy’s Legislative Affairs advisor Rich Haughton, as well as a Republican senator, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.
Attendees of the meeting back Obama’s account, including not just Sen. Jack Reed, D-RI, but Hagel, Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffers from both parties. Officials of the Bush administration who were briefed on the meeting by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad also support Obama’s account and dispute the Post story and McCain attack.
I know when I look for an “independent journalist” to corroborate facts, the first person in my Rolodex is Iran Conra liar Oliver North. I’m sure the same is true of most people.
Congratulations, Republicans, on coming around to the Democratic position. Had we never engaged in this idiocy in the first place or changed direction when it was necessary, a lot more Americans and Iraqis would be alive today.
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