In Iraq, Americans pull back and Iraqis celebrate
Yesterday, four U.S. troops were killed in an attack in Baghdad; their names have not yet been released.
Today, however, their comrades have all but withdrawn from Iraqi cities, leaving them to be patrolled by Iraqi forces under an agreement signed months ago by American and Iraqi officials. This has been proclaimed “National Sovereignty Day,” a holiday to celebrate the great Iraqi victory. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, acknowledged in a speech that the day could not have happened without the help of the United States.
“While we celebrate this day, we express our thanks and gratitude to our friends in the coalition forces who faced risks and responsibilities and sustained casualties and damage while helping Iraq to get rid from the ugliest dictatorship and during the joint effort to impose security and stability,” Talabani said.
But Iraqi President Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in a speech at a military parade deep inside the secure Green Zone, claimed that “the national united government succeeded in putting down the sectarian war that was threatening the unity and the sovereignty of Iraq.” According to the New York Times, Maliki “made no mention of the American military’s involvement in fighting here for the last six years.”
The U.S. troops still in Iraq — at last count roughly 130,000 — will continue to engage in combat. The four dead Monday will not be the last to give their lives. The deadline for withdrawal of American combat forces is Aug. 31, 2010, with total withdrawal set for Dec. 31, 2011.
“As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down,” President Bush used to say. That seems a long time ago. But it’s time, past time, for the promise in those words to finally be realized.
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149 comments Add your comment
Peadawg
June 30th, 2009
8:05 am
FIRST!!!
I Report :-) You Whine :-(
June 30th, 2009
8:07 am
Gosh, I wonder if a thoroughly defeated al Qaeda will take advantage of this milestone to try and discredit it.
And how much help will they get with their efforts from the state run US media?
in a speech at a military parade deep inside the secure Green Zone
Sneering at an ally, bookman?
DB, Gwinnettian
June 30th, 2009
8:11 am
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki
umm…
Paul
June 30th, 2009
8:14 am
Good news. For those who want to delay (even though we have an agreement) – it’s similar to the F22 thread. A few billion will give only, what, another half dozen? Another six months or a year extension will give us what in the way of added security (not to mention more American deaths).
For those who take the position this is what Pres Obama wanted all along – nonsense. He always spoke of a ‘residual’ force, in the neighborhood of 30,000 troops. At least. His Secretary of State spoke of missions to be accomplished (similar to those performed by Pres Obama’s residual force) and those numbers were estimated in excess of 70,000.
So will Pres Obama or his advisors discuss what’s changed that we don’t need tens of thousands of troops remaining past 2011? Will he discuss how the missions of the residual force are no longer a concern? Nope. Will Obama supporters act as if this was the plan all along? Of course!
Paul
June 30th, 2009
8:16 am
Peadawg
Fourth! And four’s a higher number than one, so there!
FinnMcCool
June 30th, 2009
8:16 am
Yeah, we won the war! Conservatives won’t want to hear we won on Obama’s watch. Those Conservative girly men will not be happy.
FinnMcCool
June 30th, 2009
8:17 am
From the Wall Street Journal:
Wall Street Logs Best Quarter Since Credit Crisis Erupted
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124631742807170803.html#mod=todays_us_nonsub_money_and_investing
“ouch!” say the gloom and doom Republican losers.
TnGelding
June 30th, 2009
8:17 am
Let’s all sincerely wish them well and hope they don’t squander what has been accomplished with great sacrifice of American blood and treasure. May the troops that remain conduct themselves with honor and dignity and come home safely soon.
Copyleft
June 30th, 2009
8:17 am
Gee, the idea of letting the Iraqis run their own country seems to be going over really well.
Too bad we couldn’t have thought of it six years sooner….
TnGelding
June 30th, 2009
8:20 am
Paul
June 30th, 2009
8:16 am
Would you believe I missed Peadawg because of the non-entry?
Paul
June 30th, 2009
8:20 am
DB, Gwinnettian
Talabani’s the Pres, al-Maliki’s the Prime Minister.
Most Americans won’t know, those here likely translate it as “one of the top dudes of the Iraqi government.” Main point I took from it is the Kurd gives credit to the Americans. The Shiite plays for hometown political advantage.
TnGelding
June 30th, 2009
8:21 am
DB, Gwinnettian
June 30th, 2009
8:11 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_Council_of_Iraq
FinnMcCool
June 30th, 2009
8:22 am
TnGelding,
That’s asking a little much isn’t it? It will take another iron-handed leader to keep them from killing each other and so that will lead to another dictator.
Splitting up the country (don’t forget, it was Western powers that drew the original national boundaries of much of the Middle East early last century) is the only way to peace without US policeing the country indefinately.
Peadawg
June 30th, 2009
8:22 am
Let’s just hope they don’t screw it up over there!
Paul
June 30th, 2009
8:24 am
TNGelding
I’d believe most anything. I’m a trusting kind of guy –
FinnMcCool
How do you define ‘won’?
Copyleft
The thought was there but I don’t think the conditions were there six years ago. Heck, it was only two years ago, according to the party now in power, that the war was lost. Now it’s won? And even though Pres Obama is sitting in the White House, he’s done nothing different in Iraq than continue the policies of his predecessor.
AmVet
June 30th, 2009
8:24 am
Yes, a sad day for the chickenhawks.
Invade Iran!
Gandalf, the White! (!)
June 30th, 2009
8:26 am
Copyleft: I wish you would choose to quit make silly comments! Just saying what an idiot you are.
FinnMcCool
June 30th, 2009
8:27 am
Paul, I’m trying to needle the folks who thought there was actually anything to “win” by invading Iraq in the first place.
More on the lines in the sand drawn up by Britain and France that now cosntitutes the boundaries of Iraq and much of the Middle EAst:
During World War I the British and French divided Western Asia in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The Treaty of Sèvres, which was ratified in the Treaty of Lausanne, led to the advent of modern Western Asia and Republic of Turkey. The League of Nations granted France mandates over Syria and Lebanon and granted the United Kingdom mandates over Iraq and Palestine (which then consisted of two autonomous regions: Palestine and Transjordan). Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became parts of what are today Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq
TnGelding
June 30th, 2009
8:28 am
FinnMcCool
June 30th, 2009
8:22 am
I think you, I and Biden are the only ones that support that solution.
Paul
June 30th, 2009
8:24 am
Bush had basically already accepted and implemented Obama’s position.
DB, Gwinnettian
June 30th, 2009
8:30 am
Talabani’s the Pres, al-Maliki’s the Prime Minister.
well yeah, I pretty much I knew, although I tend to forget who’s who sometimes. I had to look it up to be sure.
Mostly I was being a nudge to Jay. I kid because I love.
Curious Observer
June 30th, 2009
8:35 am
Yes, we have succeeded by replacing one dictatorship posing as a democracy with another dictatorship posing as a democracy. And what does al Malaki do? He spits in our eyes, vaguely alluding to how our presence has “humiliated” Iraqis. This sock-puppet of a political coalition of Shiites would be long dead by now without the presence of American troops to prop him up. And what will we get in return for the tremendous sacrifice of blood and treasure we provided him in order to give this ingrate the opportunity to insult us? An eventual Iraqi-Iranian alliance that will prove to be yet another enemy of the West.
Do not be fooled by the masquerade of voting booths and ink-stained thumbs. Try to remember that Saddam governed with “elected” representatives too. Iraq has no respect for what we consider as democracy. We have gained nothing–not even a few barrels of oil–in exchange for more than 4,000 lives, tens of thousands of maimed servicemen, and tons of hundred dollar bills shipped in on pallets. The latest insult by al Malaki ought to drive that truth home.
Paul
June 30th, 2009
8:36 am
Finn McCool
And I’m trying to needle the folks who needle the folks!
TNGelding
[[Bush had basically already accepted and implemented Obama’s position.]]
Spinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Which position was that? Pre-surge? Which he opposed? So Sen Reid’s pronouncement would likely have come to pass?
Or the position of an accelerated withdrawal, which Pres Bush did resist, but that was more over a timetable and criteria than over concept.
IF the surge had not happened and the country had collapsed into anarchy and butchery, and if American forces were still there in January and Pres Obama had completed a pullout, it would have been described as ‘Bush’s fault – just getting out.” But since conditions are okay (not to put too fine a point on it) it’s now “Obama’s plan.”
Dang, I love American domestic politics.
Seek and ye shall Find
June 30th, 2009
8:39 am
The Republicans have given us so many reasons for invading Iraq over the years that it can be best summed up as “We did it to ensure the survival of the universe” or something as equally absurd. I personally believe that the best reason for invading Iraq was to undo what we created in the first place.
Normal
June 30th, 2009
8:39 am
This is a start, but I will not be satisfied until our boys and girls are home where they belong. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, our presence there only delays the inevitable. We must get completely out and let the Iraqi’s deal with it.
————–
GANDALF:
wish you would choose to quit make silly comments!
———
Back at cha…Just sayin’…
Copyleft
June 30th, 2009
8:46 am
Paul: I’m not declaring victory. The only thing I care about is getting our troops OUT of Iraq ASAP.
It’s not possible to “win” an unjust war, no matter who’s in the Oval Office. America lost this the day we invaded. The fact that we waited to withdraw peacefully is just as shameful as withdrawing sooner and witnessing the collapse would’ve been.
Iraq remains a mistake and a blot on America’s history. No change there.
Paul
June 30th, 2009
8:46 am
Seek
[[I personally believe that the best reason for invading Iraq was to undo what we created in the first place.]]
What did ‘we’ create in ‘the first place’?
Normal
[[This is a start, but I will not be satisfied until our boys and girls are home where they belong. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, our presence there only delays the inevitable. We must get completely out and let the Iraqi’s deal with it.]]
Lessee, one down…. about 129 countries to go….
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
June 30th, 2009
8:49 am
Jay, try to belittle it as you might, there is not one Iraqi who says, “Things were better off under Saddam, I wish we could go back.
Never before in the history of mankind, has one nation, the United States, undertaken and completed such a noble endeavor; to sacrifice its youth and treasure to free another nation from the bonds of tyranny. Well done US military, well done.
While the stooge, President Obumbler, opposed the winning card, the surge, he now awkwardly contorts to try to take credit for progress earned by the courage of our soldiers and, yes, President Bush.
G-d bless President Bush for his vision and courage in leading our nation to this great victory which has, at once crushed the loathsome Al Qaedi and founded a flourishing democracry in the Arab middle east. Let’s hope Obumbler does not screww the pooch and let Al Qaedi back in the game or our Iraqi allies fail.
Thank you President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the nation misses your intellect, wisdom, and sage leadership.
Paul
June 30th, 2009
8:52 am
Copyleft
[[It’s not possible to “win” an unjust war, no matter who’s in the Oval Office. ]]
Sure it is! Really! Of course, it depends upon how one defines ‘unjust’ as one person’s unjust is another person’s justice.
I guess it depends upon how we define ‘war’, too. Cause now we’ve come up with “peacekeeping operation’ and ‘humanitarian mission’ and all sorts of phrases. But they all use the American military carrying guns with air cover and such.
So I’m sure you can come up with just one or two examples of American military forces being used to correct something or respond to something we didn’t like. But that the other side thought was okay. Examples in which we…. won!
It seems Iraq engenders a bit of hyperbole. Understandable. I will offer that there are plenty of Americans to the opposite end of the left of the spectrum who say, if we knew then what we know now, we never would’ve gone in. But very, very few of those opposed at the outset (our Pres is one) took that position. I’ll say most of the opposition ginned up after the situation there went south and casualties rose. Then it became an American political game.
pat
June 30th, 2009
8:53 am
Good now we can concentrate on Afghanistan. Oh wait, didn’t obama say he wanted to negotiate with the taliban? Let me check the news on how that’s going….Oooooo, not good.
I disagreed with the Iraq war as much as any democrat, but you do realize that there was never an intention to stay there indefinitely? Right? Please tell me you knew that?
@@
June 30th, 2009
8:54 am
HAPPY BIRTHDAY THOMAS AND RW (THE ORIGINAL)!!!!!!!!!!
Normal
June 30th, 2009
8:54 am
PAUL: Lessee, one down…. about 129 countries to go….
—————-
Exactly! Ron Paul said, if he were President, he would bring them all home from Germany, Korea, Japan…everywhere…I’m all for that.
Normal
June 30th, 2009
8:55 am
Thank you President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the nation misses your intellect, wisdom, and sage leadership.
—————
WYLD: Sarcasm, right?
Normal
June 30th, 2009
8:59 am
PAT: but you do realize that there was never an intention to stay there indefinitely? Right? Please tell me you knew that?
—-
At least that was what they told us, then they started building forts with swimming pools that were costing us billions of dollars…Just sayin’ you don’t put a pool in your back yard, if you’re planning to move…know what I mean?
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
June 30th, 2009
8:59 am
Normal June 30th, 2009
Sarcasm, no. Intellect, wisdom, historical perspective, and pride. Compared to much of history, the Iraq campaign has been a noble enterprise and a fabulous sucess. It is, above all, a great shame that the BDS addled, self-loathing among us cannot celebrate our nation’s great victory.
Seek and ye shall Find
June 30th, 2009
9:00 am
Paul,
“We” know the story of Saddam and Gomorrah and how the US helped Saddam by providing him with weapons and how we turned the other way when he turned his weapons on his own people, blah, blah blah. We know why Bush and his administration were so certain that Saddam had most of his weapons of mass destruction. It was all shipped from the states. I’m sure Cheney and Rumsfeld, for starters, could give you an earful. Then again, I’m sure that I’m not telling you anything that you have not already learned on your own, am I.
@@
June 30th, 2009
9:00 am
…and Iraq’s future will have a lot to do with U.S./Iranian negotiations, jay. How are those lookin’ right now?
Open-ended SOFA.
I Report :-) You Whine :-(
June 30th, 2009
9:04 am
The libs seem to have forgotten all about that little surge thingie.
And General Betrayus.
And this war is lost.
And now they want to claim that they won the war, hahahahahaha.
what stooges!
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
June 30th, 2009
9:05 am
Why do Obumbler and the liberals yearn for the US troops to slink off in shame, when in fact our military has won a great victory and should march off with pride in a ticker-tape parade chocked full of pomp and circumstance.
Seek and ye shall Find
June 30th, 2009
9:06 am
Thank you President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the nation misses your intellect, wisdom, and sage leadership.
That’s more like an illness. A delusion. Not to worry though. He’s one of the shrinking minority — trying ever harder to stay farther to the right than his brethren. Remember, in the end, there can be only one, the one farthest to the right.
Normal
June 30th, 2009
9:09 am
WYLD: I’d be proud to give them a ticker tape parade, and thank them for their sacrifices, but let’s get them home so we can do it, ok?
pat
June 30th, 2009
9:10 am
Just an FYI, Bush was a social liberal. That is why the people on the right did not like him. If you really wanted to vote for the oppostite of Bush, you would have voted for more conservatism, not a giant shift to the left of Lenin.
AmVet
June 30th, 2009
9:12 am
Fixed the typos in that previous post:
Never before in the history of American presidents, has one man, George Walker Bush, undertaken and completed such a deceitful, deadly and inept endeavor; to sacrifice its youth and treasure needlessly to invade and occupy another nation from its own people for no good reason. You’ve done a heckuva job Bushie.
The GOP thanks President Bush for his stunning lack of vision and courage in leading our nation to this “greatest foreign policy blunder in modern history” which has, at once crushed the friendship of American allies and founded yet another floundering puppet-ocracry in the Arab middle east. Let’s hope the Uppity One continues to screww (sic) the pooch and gets more Americans killed on behalf of an ungrateful people in an occupied land.
To hell with you President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the nation celebrates your disgraceful fall from power and the ongoing hemorrhaging of your party and ideology.
I Report :-) You Whine :-(
June 30th, 2009
9:13 am
Passenger jet crashes in Indian Ocean; AIRBUS goes down in ‘rough’ weather…
You may not but I remember when the libs were sneering at Beoing, about how the EU built better airplanes.
I ain’t so sure about that.
@@
June 30th, 2009
9:15 am
Forgot to mention Russia
AND RUSSIA TOO, jay!
July 6th, Obama’s gonna meet with Medvedev and Putin to discuss U.S. concessions that will benefit His war in Afghanistan.
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
June 30th, 2009
9:15 am
Seek and ye shall Find June 30th, 2009
Look at Obumbler’s deficit, projections of sky rocketing national debt, a healtcare debacle that is unfolding, electric bills set to double under cap and trade, siding with Chavez and the leftists in Honduras rather than taking the side of Freedom and liberty, pleasure trips at taxpayer expense to NYC and Paris, a cabinet full of people that won’t pay taxes, other ethical problems, and, yes, anyone with half a brain dearly misses President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
getalife
June 30th, 2009
9:18 am
The war of choice based on lies is finally over.
Another dark and tragic chapter of American history.
Turd Ferguson
June 30th, 2009
9:18 am
The Iraqi’s will squander their newly found freedom. There will be a topplin of this Iraqi govt and we will probably be revisiting Iraq within the next 10 years.
I hope not and personally think we should let them drown this time.
Bosch
June 30th, 2009
9:18 am
Today’s RW’s birthday? Happy Birthday werewolf.
So, does this mean we won? The wingnuts have to have a winner and a loser because everything is black and white with these guys. So who won? Did we? And if so – suck on it, Obama is Prez now! Hahahhahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahha!
Normal
June 30th, 2009
9:19 am
WYLD: anyone with half a brain dearly misses President Bush and Vice President Cheney.-
———–
Only half wits, you mean, right?
Normal
June 30th, 2009
9:21 am
Turd Ferguson
June 30th, 2009
9:18 am
The Iraqi’s will squander their newly found freedom. There will be a topplin of this Iraqi govt and we will probably be revisiting Iraq within the next 10 years.
I hope not and personally think we should let them drown this time.
————–
Well shut my mouth, sir…I actually agree with you on this one. Mark this day…Just sayin’