US Demands Free Rein In Iraq Long After Bush Leaves

New York Times:

With its international mandate in Iraq set to expire in 11 months, the Bush administration will insist that the government in Baghdad give the United States broad authority to conduct combat operations and guarantee civilian contractors immunity from Iraqi law, according to administration and military officials.

This emerging American negotiating position faces a potential buzz saw of opposition from Iraq, with its fragmented Parliament, weak central government and deep sensitivities about being seen as a dependent state, according to these officials.

At the same time, the administration faces opposition from Democrats at home, who warn that the agreements the White House seeks would bind the next president by locking in Mr. Bush's policies and a long-term military presence.

The American negotiating position for a formal military-to-military relationship, one that would replace the current United Nations mandate, is laid out in a draft proposal that was described by a range of White House, Pentagon, State Department and military officials on ground rules of anonymity. It also includes less-controversial demands that American troops be immune from Iraqi prosecution, and that they maintain the power to detain Iraqi prisoners.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[speakingtruth2power]

Anyone who thinks BushCo's many fuck ups in Iraq were just due to the ignorance and arrogance of the neocons, doesn't know the devious history of the Bush crime family.

Political Chaos Theory is at work here. GHWB long ago figured out that 'chaos' was spelled 'opportunity'. In order to advance to evils of fascism and maximize the chances for profiteering, chaos must replace normalcy.

Look closely and you can see their fascist plans at work in Iraq, Afghanistan and the rest of the Muslim world. Their Crusade for Muslim Resources and their ChristoFascist shadow government are at work here, destroying our democracy.

Wake up America or it will be too late!!!

[watchingthings]

It seems that the now defunct USSR was not going to give up in Afganistan. They got out of there when that war banckrupted the country.

[siri2k]

"US Demands Free Rein In Iraq Long After Bush Leaves"

The MAJORITY of Americans DO NOT WANT THIS, are opposed to MOST if not all of Bu$h's foreign policies (and not fond of his Domestic ones either!)

I KNOW!!!!! How about this???

How about if we all get together with our neighbors and vote, and elect one person to voice our wishes and thoughts and send him or her to Washington DC to speak for us?????

THAT WAY, we could actually have a SAY in how our country is run, how we as a people TREAT other peoples and other nations.

OH, I forgot. We The People DID that. We delivered that message in the 2006 elections. TOO DAMNED BAD NO ONE IS FOLLOWING THROUGH FOR US!
flippin, friggin asshole craven, caving GUTLESS! democraps! AND the horse they rode in on and their "leaderchit" Pelosi and Reid!~

[e-mail]
www.legitgov.org

[acudoctor]

cdrepublican8 (See profile | I'm a fan of cdrepublican8)
Mexico doesn't have an army.

Mexican Army
There are three main components of the Army: a national headquarters, territorial commands, and independent units. The Minister of Defense commands the Army by means of a very centralized system and a large number of general officers. The Army uses a modified continental staff system in its headquarters. The Army is the largest branch of Mexico's armed services.
present there are 12 "Military Regions," which are further broken down into 44 subordinate "Military Zones." In both cases, a numbering system is used for designation. There is no set number of zones within a region, and these can therefore be tailored to meet operational needs, with a corresponding increase or decrease in troop strength. Today the army consists of 230,000 combat-ready deployable ground troops.
[edit]The Air Force
Main article: Mexican Air Force

Mexican Air Force
As mentioned earlier, the Air Force national headquarters is embedded in the Army headquarters in Mexico City. It also follows the continental staff system, with the usual A1, A2, A3, and A4 sections. The tactical forces form what is loosely called an Air Division, but it is dispersed in four regions—Northeast, Northwest, Central, and Southern. The Air Force maintains a total of 18 air bases, and has the additional capability of opening temporary forward operating bases in austere conditions for some of the rotary wing and light fixed-wing assets.
[edit]The Navy
Main article: Mexican Navy

Mexican Navy
The Ministry of the Navy, the Navy’s national headquarters, is located in Veracruz City, and is smaller than the Army’s headquarters. The “Junta (or Council) of Admirals” plays a unique consultative and advisory role within the headquarters, an indication of the institutional importance placed on seniority and “year groups” that go back to the admirals’ days as cadets in the naval college. They are a very tightly knit group, and great importance is placed on consultation among the factions within these year groups.
The Navy’s operational forces are organized as two independent groups: the Gulf (East) Force...

[lastams]

With all these years at war, how can people still be this ignorant when it come to Iraq?
I can understand, to a point, the spin that Saddam had WMDs, or that we went in to save the Iraqi people from a repressive dictator (Gee! a repressive regime in the Middle East, go figure), but to try and sell this nonsense that it was in any way a good strategic decision is just plain garbage.
Repressive or no, Saddam provided a bulwark against the advancement of radical Shiites AND Radical Sunni sects. In fact sources in the Israeli government stated publicly that they wished we’d invaded Syria or Iran instead. To say that Israel wanted Saddam removed, again is just plain garbage.
The people who wanted Saddam removed were the Council on Foreign Affairs who tired of the instability he was creating in the oil market and the Neocons who had developed some grand vision of a brave new world while they were hiding out during the Clinton years.
To remove Saddam was strategically stupid, period.
To turn the country over to Bremmer and his frat boys was even stupider.
But to arm and supply dozens of factions of extremists within an already divisive society is just plain insane, and it won’t be long before the “Surge” blows up in our faces.

[kevenseven]

Off topic, but I don't care, regarding Telecom immunity and warrantless wiretapping:

BREAKING NEWS!

There IS hope! From Greenwald at Salon:

UPDATE V: There was some significant, and apparently unexpected, obstructionism on the part of Republicans this afternoon, whereby they blocked votes on any of the pending amendments and then filed a Motion for Cloture (i.e., to force a vote on the Senate Intelligence Committee bill as is), the vote on which will occur on Monday at 4:30 p.m. Supposedly, the obstructionism angered Reid and other Democrats and now Reid will not only support Dodd's filibuster but urge his caucus to do so as well.

I'm still trying to understand exactly what occurred procedurally and what the implications are, but for now, both Marcy Wheeler and McJoan have good explanations. The essence is that 36 Democrats already voted against the SIC bill (and in favor of the Judiciary Committee bill). To sustain a filibuster, they need 41 Senators who refuse to vote for cloture -- meaning they would need to convert 3 Democrats who voted for the SIC bill, plus Obama and Clinton (who are scheduled to be in DC on Monday for the State of the Union address). This is where Obama and Clinton's leadership could really make a genuine difference. More on this later.

UPDATE VI: Tim Tagaris, recently of the Dodd campaign, has much more analysis and information about what occurred today.

There were three embedded links in the text:

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/01/24/what-ever-happened-to-upperdown-votes/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/24/18101/4412/844/442586

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3410

Act NOW or don't come on this board pissing about the Dems caving again! We only need to turn three votes

[foodtube]

American colonialism in full stride....

'There's only one thing to do... there's only one thing's gonna do, any good at all... And that's everybody just look at it, look at the war, and turn your backs and say... Fuck it..."

[clumberfeet]

The 1st official US OIL colony.

[acudoctor]

Winning Hearts and Minds.

IRAQ: 'US the Biggest Producer of Terror'

“The Americans occupied our country and put our men in prisons,” Dhafir al-Rubaiee, an officer from Iraq’s previous army told IPS. “The majority of these prisoners have been arrested for nothing other than for being Sunni. Every one of these prisoners has a family, and these families now have reason to hate Americans.”

Others blame the lack of security and the destroyed infrastructure for the increasing anti-U.S. sentiment.

“The lack of security is a direct result of the occupation,” resident Abu Ali told IPS. “The Americans crossed thousands of miles to destroy our home and kill our men. They are the reason for all our disasters.”

Another resident, speaking on condition of anonymity added, “We lived in need during the period of the Saddam government, but we were safe. We were compelled to work sometimes 20 hours a day to earn our living, but we were happy to see our children and relatives together.” U.S. forces, he said, have ended all that.

Abu Tariq believes the U.S. military intentionally destroyed Iraq’s infrastructure. “The Americans destroyed the electricity, water pumping stations, factories, bridges, highways, hospitals, schools, buildings, and opened the borders for strangers and terrorists to get easily into the country,” he said.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40924

[frug]

Hillary tried to raise a flag about this at the last debate. You could almost see the collective averted heads and hear the bored cough, cough, into impatient hands.

[ribe8g]

go to hell bush and the troooops

[TLV]

This woman would make mint if she sold these:

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/George_Bush_in_electric_chair_draws_0124.html

[GhostintheMachine]

The Huffsters keep saying everything is going bad in Iraq. And I thought we were attacking Iraqis and occupying their country. It looks like we are working with them to rid the country of terrorists and allow them to build a democracy.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces have begun a "decisive" final offensive against al Qaeda in Iraq to push the Sunni Islamist militants out of their last major stronghold in the north, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Friday.

He said Iraqi soldiers and police were being sent to Mosul, where a massive blast blamed on al Qaeda killed 40 people and wounded 220 on Wednesday, and an operations room had been set up in the city, 390 km north of Baghdad.

[totaldisbelief]

It's just about time to throw the bums out and take our country back...and I mean All the bums

[abbiehoffmansghost]

I hate this fucking government.