US Troops to Be Out of Iraq by End of the Year
“After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over.” With those words, President Obama has ended our military commitment to Iraq.
Troops remaining in the country will be withdrawn by the end of the year. Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki could not come to an agreement to keep a few thousand troops in Iraq beyond December 31.
The Washington Post:
The failure to reach an agreement could pose security problems for the Iraqi government, still largely divided by sect and ethnicity, and for an Obama administration that inherited the war but has pledged an orderly withdrawal.
If sectarian strife or other violence should break out in Iraq once U.S. forces have left, Obama could be blamed, particularly by his conservative critics, for abandoning Iraq after nearly nine years of war before it was ready to protect itself.
But the result also allows for a more definitive conclusion to the divisive U.S. military operation in Iraq, which has cost nearly $1 trillion and more than 4,400 American lives. Obama, who separated himself from the crowded Democratic field in 2008 in part through his clear opposition to the Iraq war, will now be able to tell voters as he confronts a difficult re-election campaign that he has overseen the promised end to the Iraq conflict.
The plan conforms with the agreement negotiated by the George W. Bush administration to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq at the end of 2011. But negotiations have been taking place for months between Obama administration officials and Maliki’s government over how many U.S. troops should stay to continue training the nascent Iraqi national forces and monitor potential flashpoints, such as the boundary line between the Kurdish north and the rest of Iraq.
In the end, Malki couldn’t convince some powerful members of his coalition, including firebrand Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who promised to attack American troops if they stayed past the deadline.
The final straw appeared to be a refusal by the Iraqis to grant immunity to US troops after the first of the year. The administration was not going to allow American soldiers to be held hostage by the capricious whims of a government that is so divided; the chances of using our troops for political gain was too great.
Terrorism is expected to rise in the lead up to our departure, as is sectarian conflict. But there is little more we can do to stabilize the country beyond the efforts we’ve already made.
Right thing to do. Should have happened in 2008. That bunch over there deserves each other. Good luck. No more American blood or treasure for these haters. American blood and high ideals gave them a shot at representative government. As usual our troops wnet above and beyond to help. Enough!
Besides we need to get tooled up for Iran which would have been the correct first target for the “preemption” doctrine. Afterall THEY declared war on us in 79.
Right thing to do. Should have happened in 2008. That bunch over there deserves each other. Good luck. No more American blood or treasure for these haters. American blood and high ideals gave them a shot at representative government. As usual our troops wnet above and beyond to help. Enough!
Besides we need to get tooled up for Iran which would have been the correct first target for the “preemption” doctrine. Afterall THEY declared war on us in 79.
NO BLOOD FOR ISLAM!
“The plan conforms with the agreement negotiated by the George W. Bush administration to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq at the end of 2011.”
Does this mean we can expect Obama to take full credit for getting our troops out of Iraq, but if things go bad he’ll fall back on blaming Bush?
This is one conservative critic who won’t blame Obama for a premature withdrawal. As far as I’m concerned, the mission over there was successful. We got rid of Saddam and his Baathist stormtroopers along with whatever WMDs of which he was or was not in possession. We have demonstrated to the Iraqis – twice – what will happen if they make trouble in the region. They no longer have the ability to threaten their neighbors or their indigenous minorities. Everything else we’ve tried to do in the way of “nation building” has been WAY out of scope.
I’m not giving Obama any credit for the withdrawal, either. He and his star-struck supporters were absolutely venomous in their criticism of Bush and his “war of choice.” Yet they continued fighting it – even escalating it – for three more years. Gitmo is still open for business. We’re assassinating terrorists all over the world – a Republican “cowboy” tactic if ever there was one. What happened to making the GWOT a law enforcement issue? The countries involved are no more supportive of the U.S. than they were under Bush. Here at home we still have Homeland Security, the TSA, and most of the “illegal” Bush surveillance laws. Yet very few now complain that their Constitutional rights are under attack.
And I won’t blame Obama if things go badly in Iraq after the troops pull out. As another commenter noted, Bush mentioned bringing them home by 2011 also. They had to come home sooner or later. I believe that whatever timetable we followed, the Iraqis would find a to screw themselves up pretty quickly. They may descend into civil war or become puppets of the Iranians. Not sure I care which. People who can’t rule themselves deserve whatever fate befalls them.
1) Leaving to me means were done, or dare I say ” mission accomplished”.
2) To the left, leaving means we have been defeated. Watch how one thing is conflated into something else altogether.
3) Personally, Im not at all unhappy that we are leaving but whenever a politician says “The troops will be home be Christmas” my first instinct is to start making sandbags and getting ready for a post-thanksgiving surprise.
I have a sense that we should destroy the bases we built in Iraq before Iran gets them.
Anyone remember the last time we declared victory and went home? Answer: Vietnam (and that worked out SO well!). This withdrawal doesn’t look like victory, it looks like retreat. Here we are, nearly 40 years later, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory…AGAIN! Get ready to watch the last days of Saigon 2.0! The only good that can possibly come from this is if the inevidable scat hits the large spinning fan before Nov. 2012 so it can hammer home the complete incompetance of the moron that currently lives in the White House!