FLASH!! Iraq War continues

7 thoughts on “FLASH!! Iraq War continues”

1. Folks, people don’t think it’s a war because we’ve never treated it like one.

   The Deserter President didn’t tell us to write letters to the troops, volunteer to help their families or ask anyone to make sacrifices for the war effort. He told us to go shopping.

   After a brief infatuation with watching Warnography on the Cable networks, American tuned out the combat and the casualties and started watching Natalie Holloway’s investigation.  

   When the troops started coming back mained and in mental distress, we chose to watch Extreme Home Makeover when they built a nice house for one Veteran. We forgot the thousands of other OIF/OEF vets that had no job, no housing and were living on the streets they thought they were defending.

   And when we finally realized that all these soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines were back home among us and needed our help; we decided that we  needed to fear and shun them, paranoid that any one of them was going to go postal and start shooting up the neighborhood.

   We may leave Iraq next year, but the War will not be over. It’s right here on the streets of Colorado, and unless we pull our head out of our collectives asses, it’s going to be very very bad for all of us.

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   1. From your keypad to God’s computer screen.
      
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   2. Wars have long legacies.  As you so correctly point out the impact last far longer than the combat.

      Guard and Reserve troops in particular need protection in this down economy as they are vulnerable to unscrupulous employers who do not protect the vets job.

      Don’t even get me started on what’s going on with mental health care for vets.  

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2. .
   
   If you go the Administration’s website and ask what the US policy is in Iraq, you get this speech:
   
   http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_…

   Excerpts:

   GOAL: an Iraq that is sovereign, stable, and self-reliant.

   We cannot police Iraq’s streets until they are completely safe
   
   …

   The first part of this strategy – removal of our combat brigades from Iraq.

   remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months.
   
   by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.
   
   …
   
   After [that], our mission will change from combat to supporting the Iraqi government and its Security Forces

   [After August 31, 2010] we will retain a transitional force to carry out three distinct functions:
   
   training, equipping, and advising Iraqi Security Forces;
   
   targeted counter-terrorism missions; and
   
   protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq.
   
   35-50,000 U.S. troops.

   remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.

   second part of our strategy: sustained diplomacy on behalf of a more peaceful and prosperous Iraq.

   We will work with the United Nations to support national elections.
   
   serve as an honest broker on issues that have divided Iraq’s leaders.

   And just as we will support Iraq’s Security Forces, we will help Iraqi institutions strengthen their capacity to protect the rule of law, confront corruption, and deliver basic services.
   
   
   
   third part of our strategy -comprehensive American engagement across the region.

   we are refocusing on al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan;
   
   developing a strategy to use all elements of American power to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon; and
   
   actively seeking a lasting peace between Israel and the Arab world.  

   (paeans to military and vets)

   some Americans who want to stay in Iraq longer, and some who want to leave faster.

   we will leave the Iraqi people with a hard-earned opportunity to live a better life –

   We have learned that in the 21st century, we must use all elements of American power to achieve our objectives, which is why I am committed to building our civilian national security capacity so that the burden is not continually pushed on to our military.

   we are leaving Iraq to its people, and we have begun the work of ending this war.

   That’s distilled down from 6 pages, so some important stuff is left out.  

   For me, the takeaway is that we will stay in Iraq at pretty much full strength, 140,000+ soldiers, for as long as we can without causing protests in American cities.
   
   Then, between February and August 2010, we will remove 65% of that force.  
   
   Even after we draw down, we will still have a huge presence there, 50,000, more than we have in Korea or Japan or Germany, holding on for as long as the SOFA allows.
   
   And by the way – this apparently doesn’t call for reducing the estimated 65,000 combat forces or 140,000 support forces who are contractor employees.  So the actual reduction isn’t 65%, that’s only counting those in uniform.  The total reduction, from 345,000 to 255,000, is only 26%.  

   This approach has one unifying theme: keep as many troops in Iraq for as long as possible without violating the SOFA or causing defections among voters opposed to the war.  Who else can they vote for, anyway ?  
   
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   1. The Afghan/Pakistan theater demands more attention, and the Iranian nuclear threat with constant funding , and arming, of Hamas and Hizbullah further destabilize the region.

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3. Watch, mark my words. Iraq was on the road to pacification and look what’s happening now!

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   1. They’re following the SOFA that Bush signed. Isn’t he still your boy? Oh, that’s right, you guys don’t like him anymore.

      Sorry, it’s kind of hard to follow the hypocrisy.

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