Pres. Obama announced today that there would be a complete and total drawdown of US troops currently stationed in Iraq by the end of this year. There are 50,000 troops there now and I guess they'll be coming home by year's end. I think this is a good decision and Obama deserves credit for it.
I'm not sure whether the pullout is political or idealogical on Obama's part, but what difference does it make to the families? I think we should have gotten out of Iraq years ago, but getting out now works for me too. And with the Lybian situatiion pretty much resolved, we shouldn't have any troops deployed in pointless wars anywhere except Afghanistan. I imagine that quagmire will last beyond the next President's administration anyway....these things always do.
12 comments:
I'm not even going to bother........
I agree its a good thing. I only fear that with Obama it might be a case of "look over here" while he's doing something else he doesn't want us to focus on. Time will tell.
Pat, that might very well be the case. This announcement sort of came out of left field. I wasn't expecting it.
With Obama, everything's political so he might be shoring up his left anti-war base heading into the election. Still, I doubt the troops or their families give a bloody shit why they're coming home for Christmas.
Iraq was always going to descend into chaos whether we leave now or 10 years from now so why not get out now?
Don't sell your stock in war materiel companies yet. America still has lots of killing and maiming to do.
It is hard to say who we will screw over next - Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan - who knows? And then there is the big prize - WWIII.
So get yourself a large buttered popcorn and a big drink. The next feature is set to begin.
Isaac, you forgot Uganda in the list of possible military adventures for the US. I can see that getting ugly real fast. There are people being slaughtered all over the world, and not by the US....why Uganda, why now I wonder? If we let Idi Amin murder by the thousands in Uganda, why do we care now about a warlord doing the same thing? It's a way of life on the dark continent and no amount of blood or treasure expended by the US will ever change that.
Yes, Uganda is a distinct possibility although it was not on the Pentagon's hit list from 2001. According to General Wesley Clark, a list was compiled back then listing seven countries that America intended to invade: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.
In the intervening years, no doubt, that list has been modified but if we don't get our ass handed to us first, I have no doubt that we will eventually screw over, or at least try to screw over, all seven countries.
Getting our ass handed to us, however, is more likely than not. Paul Craig Roberts says (correctly, I think) that sooner or later Washington’s aggressiveness toward China and Russia will explode in our faces. (That is the WW III to which I refer from time to time.)
The Kleptos get orgasmic thinking about it so I suspect it is all but a fait accompli. Time will tell.
I agree it will be Africa.
Isaac, do you really think we'll "get into it" with eith Russia or China? I don't think world wars are very likely any more. Regional quagmire's however are more likely than ever.....in my opinion.
What I think doesn't matter, Ed. The pertinent question is what do Russia and China think? This excerpt from an EU Times article of October 6 answers that question.
Russian Leader Tells Top Generals, “Prepare For Armageddon”
A grim Federal Security Services (FSB) report on Prime Minister Putin’s plan to meet China’s leader Hu Jintao in Beijing next week warns that both Russian and Chinese military forces are being placed on their ‘highest alert’….
[…]
Most frightening of everything in this FSB report, however, is the reply Putin gave to Russia’s top generals yesterday when asked what preparations should be made and he answered…. “Prepare for Armageddon.”
Isaac, what scenerio do you see that could drag the US into a world war with either Russia or China? Israel vs Iran?
Nothing has to "drag" us into it, Ed. WW III is the penultimate event in a drama centuries in the making. Kleptos ("Ours is ours and yours is too.") are positively salivating at the prospect.
So what is the main event if WWIII is second? Colonization by Martians? A new world order in which national borders mean nothing? Or the second coming of Christ? I mean, what's more impressive than World War the Tres.
Post a Comment