AP: U.S. Drops Keeping Troops in Iraq Excerpts: BAGHDAD (AP) The U.S. is abandoning plans to keep U.S. troops in Iraq past a year-end withdrawal deadline, The Associated Press has learned. The decision to pull out fully by January will effectively end more than eight years of U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, despite ongoing concerns about its security forces and the potential for instability. The decision ends months of hand-wringing by U.S. officials over whether to stick to a Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline that was set in 2008 or negotiate a new security agreement to ensure that gains made and more than 4,400 American military lives lost since March 2003 do not go to waste. But a senior Obama administration official in Washington confirmed Saturday that all American troops will leave Iraq except for about 160 active-duty soldiers attached to the U.S. Embassy. A senior U.S. military official confirmed the departure and said the withdrawal could allow future but limited U.S. military training missions in Iraq if requested. Throughout the discussions, Iraqi leaders have adamantly refused to give U.S. troops immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, and the Americans have refused to stay without it. Iraq's leadership has been split on whether it wanted American forces to stay. Some argued the further training and U.S. help was vital, particularly to protect Iraq's airspace and gather security intelligence. But others have deeply opposed any American troop presence, including Shiite militiamen who have threatened attacks on any American forces who remain. Pentagon press secretary George Little said the U.S. remains "committed to keeping our agreement with the Iraqi government to remove all of our troops by the end of this year." Regardless of whether U.S. troops are here or not, there will be a massive American diplomatic presence. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is the largest in the world, and the State Department will have offices in Basra, Irbil and Kirkuk as well as other locations around the country where contractors will train Iraqi forces on U.S. military equipment they're purchasing. About 5,000 security contractors and personnel will be tasked with helping protect American diplomats and facilities around the country, the State Department has said. The U.S. Embassy will still have a handful of U.S. Marines for protection and 157 U.S. military personnel in charge of facilitating weapons sales to Iraq. Those are standard functions at most American embassies around the world and would be considered part of the regular embassy staff. When the 2008 agreement requiring all U.S. forces leave Iraq was passed, many U.S. officials assumed it would inevitably be renegotiated so that American forces could stay longer. The U.S. said repeatedly this year it would entertain an offer from the Iraqis to have a small force stay behind, and the Iraqis said they would like American military help. But as the year wore on and the number of American troops that Washington was suggesting could stay behind dropped, it became increasingly clear that a U.S. troop presence was not a sure thing. The issue of legal protection for the Americans was the deal-breaker. Iraqis are still angry over incidents such as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal or Haditha, when U.S. troops killed Iraqi civilians in Anbar province, and want American troops subject to Iraqi law. American commanders don't want to risk having their forces end up in an Iraqi courtroom if they're forced to defend themselves in a still-hostile environment. It is highly unlikely that Iraqi lawmakers would have the time to approve a U.S. troop deal even if they wanted to. The parliament is in recess on its Hajj break until Nov. 20, leaving just a few weeks for legislative action before the end of year deadline. Going down to zero by the end of this year would allow both al-Maliki and President Barack Obama to claim victory. Obama will have fulfilled a key campaign promise to end the war and al-Maliki will have ended the American presence in Iraq and restored Iraqi sovereignty. With the U.S. military presence in Iraq currently at about 41,000 and heading down to zero, almost all of those forces will be flowing out of Iraq into Kuwait and then home or other locations. Read full article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/story/2011-10-15/Iraq-withdrawal-war-troops/50786604/1 . If all troops are out by years end, it will have taken 3 years for President Obama to fulfill his campaign promise to bring the troops home. I would suggest that the Iraqi thing has been milked to the max. The United States clearly wants to stay past year end and would if our troops can get legal immunity for their actions while on duty in Iraq. This makes sense as the actions of American troops/commanders has been horrific, and while the Bush Administration got an immunity pact from Iraq, they now regret it as torture, murders, rapes all are being attributed to our troops, Halliburton and its contractors and Blackwater Inc. It is finally evident that the troops will leave Iraq, and hopefully they will return home to recuperate. If there is just a movement of troops to Afghanistan, President Obama should call up an immediate draft and bring every soldier home that has been involved in battle these past eight years. They have served their country and should be released from further actions concerning war in any form. Iraq is neither a win nor a loss for America it is a draw with a huge loss of lives both American and Iraqi, world prestige, It is also a loss as it drained U.S. coffers with bribes, corruption, arms smuggling, secret torture camps, and American loss of life that should be considered wasteful Afghanistan is still another Bush project that needs to end, as American troops have been fighting there for 10 (ten) years with absolutely nothing to show for it but death, destruction, and loss of world prestige and American taxpayers money. We should bring every soldier home from every installation around the planet, thank them, both dead and alive, for their service, dismantle the Pentagon, and then get to the work of restoring our countrys finances, honor, and wellbeing with renewed faith in the almost forgotten peacetime way of life.
The White House is denying that it has decided to pull all US troops out of Iraq except a contingent to protect the US embassy. However, this is standard practice if the President plans on making a speech about it.
This will be a bonus in the public eye to Obama for a lot of people. Now get us the heck of of the rest of those areas too.
I highly doubt we can pull out of Afghanistan. I don't see it happening before the next election. As for Libya... we're barely in that war. We're funding NATO and drone bombing. Though if THAT would stop the public would again probably have a bit more confidence in Obama. Specifically if they get Gaddafi too and stop the civil are. Idunno... I really don't care. I've lost hope. I'm hopeless.
Hillary shakin' her finger at Ahmadinejad... US warns Iran on interference in Iraq after pullout Mon, Oct 24, 2011 - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday implicitly warned Iran not to interfere in Iraq after the decision to pull all US troops out of the war-wracked state by the end of the year.
Here we go again... IRAQ SEEKS HELP FROM US AMID GROWING VIOLENCE Aug 16,`13 WASHINGTON (AP) -- A resurgence of violence and a renewed threat from al-Qaida have recently revived flagging U.S. interest in Iraq, officials said Friday as Baghdad asked for new help to fight extremists less than two years after it forced American troops to withdraw.
It's all coming undone in Iraq... Insurgents in Iraq Overrun Mosul Provincial Government Headquarters June 09, 2014 Insurgents overran the headquarters of the provincial government in Iraq's northern city of Mosul late on Monday, making further gains in a fourth day of fighting in the country's second-largest city.
The US/NATO already killed Caddophy, so everything is now hunky-dory in Libya if the State Department says so.
Granny says, "Heh? What's dat again?"... FLASHBACKObama: Were Leaving Behind a Sovereign, Stable and Self-Reliant Iraq June 12, 2014 -- When President Barack Obama removed the last U.S. forces from Iraq in December 2011, he announced thatas he had plannedthe U.S. was leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government. It was a "moment of success," he said. See also: UN: 800,000 Iraq refugees from fighting this year June 13, 2014 The U.N. refugee agency says Iraq's refugee population has increased by almost 800,000 this year as the government struggles against rebels and Islamic militants.
