President Obama has ordered US troops out of Iraq by 31 December. Talks broke down when Iraq insisted on trying US troops in their courts for infractions of Iraqi law.
Prediction: Iraq will quickly go to hell in a handbasket. US troops could stay in Iraq for 100 years: Iraq would still fall apart when they left.
Why did President Barack Obama announce Friday that he has decided to end the American troop presence in Iraq by the end of the year?
The United States had been negotiating with Iraqi leaders for months on a possible continuing military presence in Iraq. But the negotiations stalled over a key hitch: Iraqi leaders refused to comply with Washington's insistence that any American forces serving in Iraq be granted legal immunity in that country.
I am glad the troops are coming home although in fairness, Obama only said he was "ending the American troop presence in Iraq" by the end of the year. He didn't specify if any of those troops would be shifting to Afghanistan, Libya or any other hot-spots that Obama seems determined to deploy troops in. I would guess Obama's decision is for a variety of reasons that probably include (but are not limited to) Iraqis insistence on trying troops in Iraqi courts, political pressure, some Democratic pols backing away from Obama and low polling numbers leading into an election year.
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Iraq will descend into internecine warfare within 6 months of the departure of U.S. troops. I do not believe the withdrawal is an election-year trick...I personally believe the president would be tarred and feathered if he allowed U.S. service personnel to be prosecuted by the savages just for doing their duty. It was a good decision and I am trying to remember if Obama said the troops would be 'coming home' or if they would be 'out of Iraq'. Redeployment is an option, but in an election year that might be construed as a 'dirty trick'. It's too far from the election for the president to benefit from this move, I think.....
Once we leave Iraq it will become a breading and training ground for terrorists. At least until a civil war or two ends and another nasty dictator ends up in charge. We need to hope for a another non-religious dictator like Saddam. We should avoid building an army for them this go-round.
I think this mess about legal immunity just shows how much of a wuss Obama is. I think it would be a non-issue if we had a president with a backbone.
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"Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance." G.K. Chesterton
Which is exactly where the blame should be leveled.
Iraq's Shia-dominated government is heavily influenced by bad actors the likes of Moqtada al-Sadr (Remember him? He's been hiding out in Iran, in Ayatollah "training," after his Mahdi Militia were soundly whipped by US Forces a few years back). Remember when Iraqi security forces stormed the compound of the Mujahideen E Kalkh (at Camp Ashraf) a couple years ago? The MEK are violent opponents of the Iranian regime (and also socialists). You don't suppose that Iranian influence might have driven the Iraqi regime to pull that one off against coalition advice?
Without a Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA) there would be nothing preventing such an Iranian-influenced government to lop the heads off American Soldiers in kangaroo courts for whatever provision of Moqtada's version of Sharia law they'd violated. I don't know about you, but I don't think there are many American parents who'd support their kids in uniform being subjected to that?
My prediction - In less than a year, Iraq's government will function in much the same way that Lebanon's does now (with a Hezbollah-like black-turbaned cloud hanging over it, run by Moqtada al-Sadr). Following that, there will be a quiet purge of Sunni influence. The Kurds will find themselves in a growing crossfire, if not an all-out war, with Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Iran will dominate the region, possibly even uniting Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon into some modern-day Shia Islamic Warsaw Pact run out of Teheran. The Saudis won't be happy with Ayatollahs on their northern border. We leave Afghanistan next?
This is where the whole region really begins to go to ... Shiite
Without a Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA) there would be nothing preventing such an Iranian-influenced government to lop the heads off American Soldiers in kangaroo courts for whatever provision of Moqtada's version of Sharia law they'd violated. I don't know about you, but I don't think there are many American parents who'd support their kids in uniform being subjected to that?
+1
US troops must not be made subject to some nutcases version of shariah law. Moqtada al-Sadr has promised to try US troops for war crimes.
First of all, O'Bama knows that any Republican candidate who promises to bring the troops home will swamp him in the election.
Second, there is no way our military should be subject to their primitive, i.e., Shaira, law. Even O'Bama is smart enough to know this.
Finally, attempting to nation-build in a culture that is a thousand years behind the rest of civilization is a total waste of our LIMITED resources.
The boyfriend of a friend of ours is leaving for duty in Somalia on Tuesday. As far as I'm concerned, we have absolutely no interests there. Sending American military personnel to any one of those cultural pigsties is a criminal act.
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I heard Jesus He drank wine and I bet we'd get along just fine.
I'm really surprised bho didn't go along with trying our soldiers in thier court system--after all, this is the guy that wanted Miranda rights red to enemy combatants in the field, the rights of U.S. citizens instilled to captured terrorists, to try them in U.S. courts....
I don't know enough details to make a call on this, except it seems to be out of pollitical expediency, not based on any kind of military reccomendation.
Are the troops coming home, or are they just going to be deployed to some other hotbed?
Chad
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US Troops Out Of Iraq By 31 December, 11
