Obama - Reality is different from rhetoric..
So Obama will withdraw troops and still leave 50,000 for another year.. So much for promises prior to elections..................................:)
President Obama announced the withdrawal yesterday of more than 90,000 US combat troops from Iraq by August next year but his decision to keep a force of up to 50,000 was attacked by leaders of his party as a betrayal of his promise to end the war.
It was the latest of several moves by the President that have disappointed the Left, who had convinced themselves that he would end the US presence in Iraq at a stroke.
In a speech to Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, which addressed American diplomacy in the Middle East and the future of Iraq, Mr Obama declared: “Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.”
Pentagon officials said Mr Obama had decided to pull out at least 92,000 of the 142,000 troops now there. Yet he announced, as he had promised on the campaign trail, a “transitional force” to train Iraqi troops, protect civilians and hunt down al-Qaeda.
It was the size of that force — between 35,000 and 50,000 — that dismayed many Democrats.
Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, was clearly upset, saying she could not see how 50,000 troops could be justified. Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate Leader, and Charles Schumer, another leading Senate Democrat, also expressed displeasure.
Source : The Times
I think it is but right....America(US) brought the mess, they should clean it before they totally abandon the rich yet so poor country....maybe they can still find the Weapon of Mass Destruction Bush is talking about.
"simple yet complicated"
"makamal a anak"
You devil you!
The Americans joined the war, not to save the UK, but to counter a bigger threat from both Geramany and Japan... But that's another story :)
Oh, I see. You had mentioned both Iraq and Afghanistan in your post. You were referring to the 50k to stay on Iraq not the bump up to 50k in Afghanistan.
So what is the population count in Iraq?
I suppose we could do what we could've done for the UK in WWII and leave the region to its own devices but we all know it's a mad world.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
-Thomas Tusser
You are missing the point.. We were discussing politics. What politicians promise and actually deliver.. Its the same all over the world..
I'll send El-Presidente to your confession booth.. Preferably, whilst Gypsy is there ..
Is not even a hundred days, since President Obama took office. Some QL members are upset about Obama policies and decision process.
Is pathetic, some of the cry babies, can't even vote in America and they are crying like toddlers.
Here kids, have the biberon of Obama and the pacifier of Hilary.
Yet , their own ancestral land and social-politics are more dangerous than ours. Worry about your own turf and those nukes you are holding.
The problem is I think you’re an overeducated, 27-year-old virgin who holds the hands of superstitious old women and promises them eternity.
lol UKEng - perhaps that's the real reason! Though I found the bacon from the base to be pretty disgusting. Way too salty.
The US will always have a prescence in Iraq, the question is what kind of prescence.
Thanks tallg, and it is an easy to get pork into this country.. Not that I am big fan of the haram meat, but recently had a big BBQ at a desert outing with few Good Men...lol
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HE WHO DARES WINS
UKEngQatar said "Can some justify the presence of US troops in this Country (Qatar) and many others in this region.."
The justification is that the US want a base outside of the war zone which they can use as a command centre, while Qatar wants to keep the US on it's side AND deter potential attacks. It's a win-win situation.
Gypsy/Brit.. Comeon look at the recent history, an invader or liberator what ever you want to call them, never leave, takes decades and some time they never leave.
I am of the opinion that US will always have presence in Iraq somewhere or another for atleast another 50 years unless there is revolution like the one in Iran.
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HE WHO DARES WINS
Forget about Iraq for a moment..Can some justify the presence of US troops in this Country (Qatar) and many others in this region..
Brit.. US will always have presence in Iraq no matter what, they cant send the troops back to Germany now can they..
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HE WHO DARES WINS
I don't think Obama's treating people like morons. He will get all the troops out, just not overnight.
I agree with you 100%.. I just get irritated at "politicians" (American, British) treating us, the ordinary public as morons..
Brit, you didn't honestly believe Obama was going to be able to pull out all the US troops in Iraq in a couple of months did you? It's taken them 5 years to dig this hole, it will take them awhile to get back out.
Well that makes it all very clear then...
"Honest officer, they opened fire first and we had to retaliate"..
Roll on 2011..
Depends on what their orders are. If the Combat mission is over, what that generally means is that they will only be allowed to fire when fired upon.
He says that the "Combat mission" will end.. However, the remaining troops will be used to "protect civilians and hunt down Al-Qaeda".. Does that mean that they cannot "enter into combat" for these tasks ?
Reminds me of Bill and his "Secual relations" definition..
i say pull them all out, the UK soldiers too. Let the Iraqis get on with it an kill themselves. They cry when they want our help and they cry when they don't want it. How many or our lads have to die to help those who don't want the help..fukc the lot of them i say! ungrateful gets.
I think he's probably afraid that things will go from bad to worse if she withdraws all the troops immediately. 50,000 for another year isn't really as many as it sounds, and many are probably there protecting American investments and foreign Aid workers.
The article is about Eye-Raq..:)
How many Afghans are there?
A fool and his money are soon parted.
-Thomas Tusser
Nobody should be there in the first place. It is an illegal 'war'. America and England should have kept away.
We have done no good.
it does take a lot more than 50,000 troops to keep the military machinery 'up and running'
I feel Mr.Obama had recieved some enlightement on deciding the fact that he should bring back all the troops and put more sincere effort to bring back the great American Economy from Economic Turmoil, rather than being a world police and inviting wrath of thousands of innocents who gets killed or maimed in the process of War on Terror.
Some dreamed that its a turning point in History Happening when he won the Election, but i fear that he got some thick skin (from the context of changing the policy and promises given). God Bless. its right time to decide ASAP nor face the worst, believe it or not..
I have miles to go before i Sleep and Miles to go..
I am sorry, but I am totrally against American and US troops being in both Iraq and Afghanistan..
It doesn't take 50,000 troops to train the locals..
Whaddaya new to politics? ;) It would be interesting to do a side by side comparison between successive leaders to see who broke more campaign promises.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
-Thomas Tusser
well the worst case scenario would be a govt. that is tridently anti-american. NOw would that be a problem?
one must ask who are these homegrown groups? then ask the question which country does not have internal problems? is it america's responsibility to sort problems out in foreign lands? if so, why not go into africa and sort things out? same old argument...
millions died as a result of killings among the hindus, muslims and sikhs in 1947 in the subcontinent when the british pulled out. what exactly started to happen in 1948/9 there? life started to get back to normal. troops remained in afghanistan and look at the situation now there. i would argue that something similar would happen if foreign troops were pulled out from iraq.
1. He has given a date of 2010. And he has already started to withdraw 92,000. That is quite a lot.
2. He has stopped the No-Bid Contracts. Haliburton, Bectel & KBR (Kelly Brown Root) will now have ants in their pants. They never had to put any Tender to win any Construction Contracts!!! The American tax money went almost entirely to their pockets instead of American Welfare.
If there is one guy who means business thats Obama!
The Final and total withdrawal is 2011. Based on his speech last night.
The problem is I think you’re an overeducated, 27-year-old virgin who holds the hands of superstitious old women and promises them eternity.
well less american soldiers will die and people in iraq will have to learn to sort out the mess themselves. this may seem hard initially, but it will work out. for example, the british left the subcontinent in 1947 and the countries like India and Pak are not doing too badly now.
from my personal experience, people go to india and pak to visit and invest there but despite huge demands from iraq, many companies are reluctant to even consider staring business there.
If you don't like his plan, you could always sniff some glue to ease your political pain.
Could you answer the question that Ms. Alexa wrote: What would happen if ALL the troops were removed immediately?
Do you have other ideas?
Please, Penlight us with more British opinionated pessimism.
The problem is I think you’re an overeducated, 27-year-old virgin who holds the hands of superstitious old women and promises them eternity.
Seems Obama is on his way to being labeled "Obummer"..
i expected this to happen. people running for office make all sort of promises. then when elected, they forgot what they promised OR got "educated" while in office and realize the situation is not as simple as when one view it from afar. that's why somehow i pity obama coz people expect him to be a savior. then again, he himself partly perpetuate that image..
he was the real politician when he made those promises without giving real justifications for them at the time.
is now facing reality and trying to appease the military.. He has become a real politician..
Let me say as plainly as I can: justification is the wrong expression/word in this context. whats their excuse for keeping 50,000 troops there?