Iraq Withdrawal Lite
President Barack Obama has announced his plan to withdraw most US troops from Iraq by August 2010. The move will reduce troop levels from the current 142,000 to some 35,000 to 50,000 by that time. During his campaign for the White House, then candidate Obama had said he would completely pull out troops within 16 months of taking the top job.
Did the President break his election vow?
Barack Obama had wanted a 16-month timetable for the partial withdrawal; General David Petraeus wanted 23 months. So, with Solomonic wisdom, they have now split the difference and will withdraw a portion of the American troops in 18 months instead!
Meanwhile, for the past two years, Iraq has witnessed a flurry of high-level diplomatic visitors from neighboring countries, such as Iran, Jordan and Syria to bolster the country's newfound credibility as a sovereign state. Just a day ago, Kuwait's foreign minister met Iraqi officials in Baghdad in the highest level Kuwaiti visit to Iraq since Saddam Hussein's forces invaded its neighbor in 1990.
The Iraqi official channel, Al Iraqiya, has been airing reports of improvements in the country on several levels. The desired message: Iraq is safe and life has returned to normal. The Iraqi government has even purchased airtime on Al Arabia Channel to reach to a wider audience, mainly Iraqi refugees living in Jordan, Syria and other Arab countries with a similar message: Iraq is on the mend and is ready to be a sovereign state.
However, many believe that the country is not ready. Satellite television networks, financed by Sunni and opposition groups have been showing a totally different picture: The country lacks security and other basic necessities.
Meanwhile, several Arab commentators have accused Obama of reneging on the agreement signed between the United States and the supposedly sovereign Iraqi government guaranteeing the complete withdrawal of all American troops by the end of 2011. One reporter called President Obama's change of direction: the "war-lite" plan.
Can a withdrawal plan point to an "end" to the war while leaving behind a garrison of up to 50,000 troops in a hostile land?
These are just some of the questions being posed by critics to the newly announced plan for withdrawal from Iraq. The video shows Obama's earlier promise of a complete withdrawal, as well as Iraqi reactions to the president's announcement.
Jamal Dajani produces the Mosaic Intelligence Report on Link TV.
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Very Interesting. I met with Thomas Ricks, author of the best selling The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008, who says that we are only half way through the war, and our unfortunate involvement there could run as long as another 16 years. The surge has failed, our casualties are rising, and US credibility with Iraqis is zero. Bush blew a cozy set up that worked for a decade where Saddam was contained at minimal cost. Talking is more valuable than fighting, and it is cheaper to hire someone than to kill them. General Petraeus figured this out, so we now have 100,000 enemy fighters on the payroll costing $30 million a month. It was easy to walk away from Vietnam and leave a few million locals in re-education camps. Iraq won’t be so easy, because it sits atop, or adjacent to the world’s largest oil supply. Eventually, Iraq will evolve into another Lebanon where you have multiple competing armed groups. The big winner in all of this is Iran, which has seen its prestige grow in the Middle East at our expense. Iraq will continue to be a huge financial drain on the US for decades, no matter what Obama says. All very sobering thoughts, with big implications for the markets.
I don't think anyone can disagree that we are the biggest losers in this whole mess...not to mention the thousands of Iraqis who have lost everything...most even their lives.
Who cares if Iran is gaining admiration in the Middle East...we need to stop policing the world and take care of things at home.
We have our own troubling messes here in the US and we should start focusing on those problems...unemployment, the economy, homelessness, poverty, etc....
Why is it a good idea to withdraw the troops from Iraq? The minute we leave Iran will move in and fill the void.
Simple. We can't afford to keep policing the world! What good does it do us to have the stongest army in the world while Americans at home cannot afford to pay their mortgages?
my sentiments exactly
Obama has never called for withdrawal from Iraq. He has called for removal of combat troops: In other words he will leave air bases and fortified points of entry in case the natives get out of hand and want their own oil, or the US military needs territory from which to strike Iran.
The crux of Iraq is that General Petraeus hates to become a gigantic failure when the various groups in Iraq will begin to kill one another again. Yes, President Obama is the “commander-in-chief” of the armed forces but it takes cojones to oppose their demands. Does he have them? Or is he all hot air?
In fact, Obama’s only argument for taking troops out of Iraq is to increase the troops in Afghanistan, a strategy that Petraeus applauds as long as he does not get too weak in Iraq.
As I recall, during the campaign, Obama talked about removing “combat troops.” So, as is now typical of those skilled in washingtonspeak, all we need to do is change the name to something like monitoring troops or beauty pageant troops or virtual troops…. The number of troops could even be increased, as long as they are not “combat troops.”
Question: Will the "residual" troops who are left behind in Iraq have their combat pay bonus cut off since they will no longer be combat troops?
The more things change.....
*Sigh*
Actually, the course that Obama/BIDEN have charted for Iraq, after all is said and done, is the equivalent of a 180 degree turn from that navigated by the Bush administration. That's change enough for me.
But, I do agree with you that all the talk of combat troops and residual troops and the like is more than a little disingenuous.
This does not sound like a withdrawal to me!
This is NOT about JUST a withdrawal!
It's more of withdrawal than if Bush was still in office. 16 months or 18 months...no big deal.
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