Iraq pullout?

[Jamisjockey]

Shocking it's not under discussion already!  So Barry keeps one campaign promise, 2 years late?

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

I'm surprised it took him as long as it did to lift DADT. Maybe he's doing it now so it will remain fresh in voters' memories?

I don't object to leaving Iraq. I figure we've done all we can for that place.

Related story:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/21/iraq-rejects-us-plea-bases

What exactly happens to all the million-dollar bases over there? Do we pack up our razor wire and sandbags, or leave it to Iraqis, AC and all? I have no idea what procedure is with these things.

[MicroBalrog]

Weren't there some kind of international agreements, signed years ago, as to the scale and dates of the U.S. withdrawal?

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/22/iraq.barackobama?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

The Iraqi government boosted Barack Obama's election chances yesterday by publicly backing his timetable for withdrawal of all US combat troops by 2010

From 2008.

[longeyes]

It will certainly boost his chances of being the next President of Iran.

***

The whole thing was a miscarriage, sadly; we should have been out years ago.  Good men and women died--for what?

[RaspberrySurprise]

What exactly happens to all the million-dollar bases over there? Do we pack up our razor wire and sandbags, or leave it to Iraqis, AC and all? I have no idea what procedure is with these things.

Sensitive things are packed out or destroyed in place. As to the buildings and such probably gonna end up belonging to the Iraqis

[AJ Dual]

What exactly happens to all the million-dollar bases over there? Do we pack up our razor wire and sandbags, or leave it to Iraqis, AC and all? I have no idea what procedure is with these things.

The REALLY fancy bases? Oh, we keep occupying those. 

The "withdrawl" in my mind is more of a change over from the occupation to...

What's the term for the military stationed in once occupied nations who are now allied nations? Like Germany and Japan, or our presence in Saudi Arabia, Quatar etc?

...that. The occupation is changing over to whatever it is we call that.

[kgbsquirrel]

The REALLY fancy bases? Oh, we keep occupying those. 

The "withdrawl" in my mind is more of a change over from the occupation to...

What's the term for the military stationed in once occupied nations who are now allied nations? Like Germany and Japan, or our presence in Saudi Arabia, Quatar etc?

...that. The occupation is changing over to whatever it is we call that.

Except the Iraqis said no to leaving troops stationed there.

[De Selby]

Obama tried hard to keep us there but the iraqis won't cooperate.

The Iranians must be loving bush and obama for the great strategic win they've been handed.  They now have an ally next door to help them against their enemies in the gulf.

[Monkeyleg]

The Iranians must be loving bush and obama for the great strategic win they've been handed.  They now have an ally next door to help them against their enemies in the gulf.

Iraq and Iran are allies? I must have missed the NYT that day. What edition was it?

[De Selby]

Iraq and Iran are allies? I must have missed the NYT that day. What edition was it?

It's older news than that:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/16/AR2005071601165.html

"This is a new chapter in relations with Iraq. In the future, we will witness a sharp change and promotion in relations," said Iran's first vice president, Mohammad Reza Aref, who met with Jafari after his arrival Saturday, the Associated Press reported. Jafari, in turn, said a bond with Iran was an "inseparable part of Iraq's foreign relations."

And of course, maybe not the NYT, but the WSJ is noticing it recently:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203752604576645512455449144.html

Mr. Maliki and other top Iraqi officials lived in Tehran during much of Hussein's tenure and developed close relations with Iranian officials. Iran, which shares the *expletive deleted*it faith with the majority of Iraqis, has also used religious, commercial and aid institutions to project Iran's influence inside Iraq.

Of course it makes sense when you think about the fact that Iranian-trained, Revolutionary Guards backed militias and political parties control Iraq.  You can read about the history of Iraq's leadership living in Syria and Iran here in the profile of Iraq's leaderhttp://www.islamicdawaparty.com/?module=home&fname=leaderdesc.php&id=78.

Wikileaks made some news about this too.  Apparently the US military also notices how thoroughly infiltrated by Iranians the Iraqi government is, and wrote memos about it:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703994904575646911886138950.html

The Iranian commander also "enjoys longstanding close ties" with several top Iraqi officials such as President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, according to a dispatch from Baghdad.

So yeah, Iraq and Iran now have close relationships at the highest levels of government.

I'm consistently stunned that asserting this is controversial, given that one of the ruling coalition parties in Iraq was until recently called the "Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq".  You'd think naming yourself after the Iranian system and then winning elections would be a tip as to what Iraqis think of Iran...

[Jamisjockey]

The REALLY fancy bases? Oh, we keep occupying those. 

The "withdrawl" in my mind is more of a change over from the occupation to...

What's the term for the military stationed in once occupied nations who are now allied nations? Like Germany and Japan, or our presence in Saudi Arabia, Quatar etc?

...that. The occupation is changing over to whatever it is we call that.

Surprisingly, the withdrawal was explained that only embassy troops, about 150, would be in Iraq.
So, no, it is a full withdrawal.

Iraq has wanted us out for some time
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/28/iraq-wants-the-us-out-pri_n_801918.html

I say its about time. 

[Tallpine]

Long past time ... 

[MicroBalrog]

Wouldn't this also save billions of dollars per year on deployment-related expenditures?

[Jamisjockey]

Wouldn't this also save billions of dollars per year on deployment-related expenditures?

Affirmative. Certainly to be redirected into loans to unsustainable energy companies.

[longeyes]

If the goal was to neutralize an existential threat to the U.S., the mission was a failure, given Iran's current influence over Iraq.  There is no reason to perpetuate the folly, but that doesn't mean we should be cheering the misguided strategy that governed that theater of war for so long.  Perhaps we should openly acknowledge we cannot constructively influence the course of Middle Eastern events with our current brain trusts in control.

[Ron]

The upside to Iraq in its current state of affairs is that the Iraqi people can now be held responsible for the actions of their state. No more blaming Saddam for what Iraq the state does.

Same goes for all "Arab spring" movements that have popular elections that put radicals in charge.

Democracy = The people ultimately are held responsible for their leaders actions.

Elections have shown the world what the Palestinians are really all about, they may not acknowledge it, but the truth is now obvious.

More elections and more democratically elected leaders make foreign policy easier to formulate.

[longeyes]

Who says people who live under dictatorships are not responsible for their polity?  Dictatorships do not happen by accident; they happen because of prevailing customs and values, a matrix of moral and social decisions over time that favor autocratic behavior.

[Ron]

The whole Iraq enterprise was a limited war with the express purpose of not engaging the populace (with violence).

We went to war with the regime of Iraq, not the people of Iraq. Hence the outcry over civilian causalities.

The left, the media and most of the world prefer to look at those under tyranny as victims of their govmt not co-conspirators with their govmt.

[wmenorr67]

What equipment that is worth sending home is being sent home.  What isn't is being left to the Iraqis at either a reduced cost or even free in some instances.

Don't sign up to become a contractor over there anytime soon.  I can see a civil war by mid-Feb.

[longeyes]

The whole Iraq enterprise was a limited war with the express purpose of not engaging the populace (with violence).

We went to war with the regime of Iraq, not the people of Iraq. Hence the outcry over civilian causalities.

The left, the media and most of the world prefer to look at those under tyranny as victims of their govmt not co-conspirators with their govmt.

Well, these are useful fictions.  Where do the tyrants and thugs of a culture come from?  From the good citizens of that nation.

[Ron]

Well, these are useful fictions.  Where do the tyrants and thugs of a culture come from?  From the good citizens of that nation.

Well, I don't disagree with you, yet with a popular elected government in place the "useful fiction" cannot be employed to shield the populace from responsibility for the actions of their state.

[Monkeyleg]

De Selby, I was referring to a formal alliance between the two. For the purposes of discussion, though, you're right.

[Gowen]

First I think that this is mostly a reelection stunt and secondly, that with the planed cuts in the military we will not be able to keep troops in Iraq.

[Waitone]

I don't believe for a Noo Yak minute we are leaving.  Especially since the real reason for our war was to place the US squarely in the middle of the most unstable region on the planet.  The whole purpose was to allow projection of US military power inland.  Camo military may leave but "contractors" will remain.