Leaving Iraq
- Started
- Last post
- 32 Responses
- ItTango
As I type...
From the Associated Press:
http://www.google.com/hostednews…KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait — As their convoy reached the barbed wire at the border crossing out of Iraq on Wednesday, the soldiers whooped and cheered. Then they scrambled out of their stifling hot armored vehicles, unfurled an American flag and posed for group photos.
For these troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, it was a moment of relief fraught with symbolism. Seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion, the last American combat brigade was leaving Iraq, well ahead of President Barack Obama's Aug. 31 deadline for ending U.S. combat operations there.
- e-pill0
...this is how it was for my family, being Jewish living in Iraq for 26 centuries to be smuggled out of the country in the 1950s to escape religious persecution.. this is very exact story in detail of the lifestyle and history of my family.
the professor speaking is not related to me.
- do you feel safer now that US and friends steam rolled the place?Dodecahedron
- i am a new yorker born and raised, i can care less what happens to that region now.e-pill
- acescence0
of course there are what, 50,000 "non-combat" troops still there. just call them something else, mission accomplished!
- Well we still have 35,688 troops in Japan and that war ended, what? 60 years ago?TheBlueOne
- And upwards of 100,000 contractors http://www.guardian.…nuggler
- BonSeff0
MUSLINS!
- ukit0
And just seven and a half years after this bold prediction:
- MarleyMarl0
never should have been there in the first place
- ukit0
So can anyone honestly say they even know why we went there?
Do you think Obama knows? People in Congress? Did Bush even know?
Was the whole thing a strategic move to control oil resources, box in Iran or just a huge misjudgement?
- crackish addiction to oil combined with a sick dose of HUBRIS.ItTango
- we've established a permanent base there, we are never leaving.acescence
- and, of course, GREED.ItTango
- oil oil oil. thats it.iCanHasQBN
- ItTango0
@ukit -
Yep. 7.5 years at war without even the slightest declaration of war...
- raf0
It must be kept on, war is very good business for US companies with access to govt contracts.
The deal is simple: transfer as much taxpayers' money as possible to private accounts of companies producing weapons, ammo, parts and all sorts of supplies and services.
- Dodecahedron0
yay war profiteering! the banks and military industrial complex thank you.
- ukit0
Of course, you gotta remember the war had majority support when the whole build up was happening...so you can't just point the finger at the government. Oh yeah, and then they reelected Bush...
- sigh...those were dark timesmonospaced
- there was support because the people were LIED TO. we put trust into a government who was, after all, incredibly corrupt.iCanHasQBN
- Dodecahedron0
convenient that obama sent 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan
- I love how easily people fell for Obama's "good cop" role in this whole drama.raf
- um, what does that mean?ItTango
- To be fair though, he talked the whole election about reengaging in Afghanistanukit
- and he's a dick for itDodecahedron
- And Al Queda WERE in Afghanistan...but the policy is now too little, too lateTheBlueOne
- ItTango0
Uh, yeah. Actually, you can point the finger at the government, since they're the ones who so skillfully sold that fucking pile of shit. There were millions of dissenting civilian voices, though there were many more who drank the kool-aid in big gulps.
There were also those in government who openly opposed it, but not enough, obviously. Others who new better simply folded... couldn't find the courage to oppose Bush and Cheney.
Truth is, the desire to invade Iraq had been festering within the last 2 republican administrations constantly. They wanted to go there in a bad way, but simply couldn't drum up sellable justification, and then...
- Millions rallied against the war and were called anti-American...TheBlueOne
- ..and ignored by the media...TheBlueOne
- ..meanwhile 300 asshats show up with "Obama is a muslin" sign and the media doesn't shut up about a "popular tea party movement"TheBlueOne
- party movement".TheBlueOne
- ukit0
Right but you know what, it shouldn't matter, should it? There's always the chance that a Dick Cheney or George Bush gets in power (and there was nothing to suggest Bush was such a radical during the 2000 election). It's up to the public and maybe even more importantly the media to use their fucking brain and figure out what is going on.
- utopian0
"Mission Accomplished" - George W. Bush
- ItTango0
^Well, I no faith in the media, but as a member of the general populous... I am prepared to accept some responsibility for the future. I am embarrassed that we are so easily lulled to sleep.
- ItTango0
Last American combat troop just passed into Kuwait.
- TheBlueOne0
The whole enterprise was a horrific waste of resources and life for nothing that I can see that was in our strategic national interest. Add there were plenty in the military and the intelligence services who saw it that way too that were simply purged Soviet style from duty.
Some people got very rich from this, and that's all that I think happened. And I think that's all that was supposed to happen, so yeah, mission fucking accomplished.
- utopian0
Last American combat troop just raped an Iraqi woman and tossed a grenade at her children, just to say goodbye.
God Bless America!
- TheBlueOne0
C'mon man, have some respect for the absolute raw deal these poor kids had to deal with serving over there. This is going to make the Vietnam Vets look like they got a cushy deal. The tours of duty, the stress...I have nothing but respect for the guys that served there, although I think they got the raw end of the fucking stick...
- THIS!ItTango
- The US army of Vietnam was drafted. The US army of Iraq is volunteer.Continuity
- ukit0
Not to mention that many were Army Reservists who probably never expected to see combat