Posted on 10/16/2011 9:07:31 AM PDT by Cindy
That is simply stupid.
We're not going to war with Iran. Iraq wants us out, and they don't want to be a launching pad for a war with Iran anyway, as their population and property would bear the brunt of any retaliation. It would quite literally re-ignite the sectarian war within Iraq.
True, but the Constitution makes the President their Commander in Chief
You wouldn't find 1 in 10 among them willing to keep him in power if he lost the 2012 election.
If chaos reigned and election results were tampered with on a large scale and both sides claimed victory (as in Bush vs Gore), do you doubt for a minute that Obama's regime would resort to force to claim and retain victory?
Do you really believe that the military would not obey a direct order from their Commander in Chief? Do you really believe the military would not enforce Marshall Law if declared by the president?
Do you even believe what you type?
Yes, I do. Are you so naive to think it can't happen? God help our country if there are many of the same mind set as you.
Yes, actually, I do. I'm too aquainted with the military to see them mindlessly following the president and waging war on American citizens. I saw loonies in 2000 posting on the internet that Clinton would declare marshal law and never relinquish power, same nonsense from the left in 04 and 08. It's paranoid fantasy.
How many people in the military do you actually know? How many of them (if you actually know any) would fight to keep Obama in power against Americans?
Yes, I do. Are you so naive to think it can't happen? God help our country if there are many of the same mind set as you.
I think that it won't happen, and am willing to accept any bet to that effect. Care you put your money where your paranoia is?
This country would have an 'insurgency' the likes of which our military has never seen, and most of them would join it. I own a copy of TM 31-210, do you?
I am proud to say that I have either in my family or in my family of friends members of the military with many junior officers and some field and general officers of several services.
You blabber about the military but obviously have absolutely no understanding of the US military command structure.
I own a copy of TM 31-210, do you?"
What does ownership of an Improvised Munitions Manual (TM-31-210), which can be purchased at Amazon for $5.95, have to do with anything other than proving you're a nut job.
I do own a book on home remedies but I don't go around claiming to be a doctor
How many of them would turn on Americans and keep Obama in power after a contested election? You should ask them.
What does ownership of an Improvised Munitions Manual (TM-31-210), which can be purchased at Amazon for $5.95, have to do with anything other than proving you're a nut job.
What's "nuts" about knowing how to make IEDs from common household materials? If you're afraid of the president using the military against the citizenry to maintain his grip on power inspite of losing an election, shouldn't the citizenry be prepared to defend itself?
If Obama declared martial law after losing the next election, what would you do about it? Get a cardboard sign and camp at the park?
The logistics folks started moving things out of there over a year ago. They were being pretty diligent with that.
I understand where you're coming from, but Iraq wouldn't cooperate on the SOFA.
We can't cave in to them on this which is what they were expecting us to do.
“However, you simply do NOT cede your basing privileges next door to Iran the very same week you are ramping up the war rhetoric against Iran.”
Ceding basing privileges? The Iraqi’s democratically elected government has told us to leave. Its their call, not ours.
Oh, sure. That Sharia-based democracy.. Sort of like the one that elects Hamas in Gaza. Are you out of your mind?
Did the Iraqis democratically vote to let us in so we could rescue them at such high cost.
We won: We should act like it. Amazed at the America-lasters in here. If we don’t get involved in the first place, fine. But we did, and we should have carved out permanent basing and oil. We are fools. And they all know it. But you think it somehow noble that we follow artificial rules set up by the Islamist-run Dept of State?
We’re not going to war with Iran. Iraq wants us out, and they don’t want to be a launching pad for a war with Iran anyway, as their population and property would bear the brunt of any retaliation. It would quite literally re-ignite the sectarian war within Iraq.
////
Thank you for your apparent bleeding heart concern for the Iraqis.
I am looking out for our interests — do you find that odd. I don’t care what the Iraqis think at this point. They are laughing at us anyway for leaving with NOTHING LASTING to show for it.
Oh, and please tell me you are not so naive as to think that sectarian violence in Iraq has somehow vanished?
On the contrary: It will ramp up once our departure is complete.
We are, in effect, handing Iraq to the Iranians. Do you deny that? (If you can prove me wrong here, I would be delighted.)
I understand where you’re coming from, but Iraq wouldn’t cooperate on the SOFA.
We can’t cave in to them on this which is what they were expecting us to do.
//////////////////
I agree with you there. But... then, again, SOFA, “Schmofa.” Did we get their consent before we invaded? I don’t get the sudden reversion to Queensbury’s Rules.
We returned Iraq's sovereignty to them on June 28, 2004.
Unless they commit an act of war against us, it would be rather churlish of us to violate that.
Look, I don't like the idea of leaving Iraq open to Iran's evil intentions any more than you do. But we can't allow Iraq to call the shots on us when we're the ones helping them out.
I don't see it in our interest to hemorrhage money we don't have (and have to borrow in perpetuity) in order to defend the Islamic republics we've created in the Middle East. I find it odd you think inserting America in the region's civil/ethnic/religious conflicts is in America's interest. We've lost around 10,000 Americans and had tens of thousands more wounded, not to mention hundreds and hundreds of billions squandered every since we decided to throw Washington's hard won advice in the trashcan and start propping up arab kings and establishing Islamic Republics.
I don’t care what the Iraqis think at this point. They are laughing at us anyway for leaving with NOTHING LASTING to show for it.
That's why I argued against this fool's errand decades ago. Shame it's taken so many of you so long to see that we'd have 'NOTHING LASTING to show for it'.
NOTE The following text is a quote:
www.defense.gov//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=65672
News
American Forces Press Service
U.S. Forces in Iraq Prepare for Transition
By Ian Graham
Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2011 – The military is using an old camping adage as U.S. Forces Iraq continues to move service members out of Iraq and transfer control to the Iraqi government: “Leave the site in better shape than you found it.”
“Eight years of continuous conflict has resulted in a substantial amount of equipment, supplies, property and personnel still in Iraq, and we’ll withdraw with the constant threat of enemy attack and the potential for bad weather, and we’re doing so in a deliberate, measured manner, ensuring we protect service members, civilians, contractors, equipment and property, and we intended turnover bases, and we have been, better than we found them,” Army Maj. Gen. Thomas W. Spoehr said during an Oct. 13 “DODLive” bloggers roundtable.
Spoehr – deputy commanding general of U.S. Forces Iraq — said the transition is of unparalleled magnitude. In 2008, U.S. forces numbered 165,000, residing on 505 bases, he said. Today, U.S. forces are 41,000 strong, living on 22 bases. On average, his mission still requires him to withdraw 520 people each day, he added.
The general said plans under the 2008 bilateral security agreement — which states that all U.S. forces will withdraw from Iraq by Dec. 31 — are on track. U.S. Forces Iraq is making the withdrawal with budgets in mind, Spoehr said, selling a large amount of equipment, infrastructure and recyclable waste to the Iraqi military and government agencies.
“We sold 6.8 million pounds of scrap just [this month], and since Sept. 1, 2010, we have sold more than 142 million pounds of unserviceable material through scrap sales,” he said. He added that the sale of equipment has saved American taxpayers $600 million in shipping and transport costs alone.
The ultimate choice to sell or relocate equipment is being made as deliberately as possible, the general said.
“We have about 788,000 pieces of equipment,” he said. “Each one of these kind of gets a scrutiny in terms of cost benefit and what’s the best disposition of that equipment. Obviously, our first priority would be to satisfy any kind of in-theater requirements. So if there was a piece of equipment that was needed in Afghanistan to prosecute a war there, or for another military need, we would utilize that first.”
Spoehr said the transition hasn’t been simply a military-to-military transfer. Iraqi government agencies have their eyes on soon-to-be former American facilities.
“One of these bases, I think it was Warhorse, was signed for by the ministry of youth and sports, and so they intend to make that base a kind of a sports camp for Iraqi youth, where they can maybe spend a week or so and learn to play soccer or things like that,” he said. “The government of Iraq in some cases has kind of gone different directions and plans to give some of these bases to some of their other ministries.”
Spoehr explained that in the end, cleaning up bases and equipment is more than a matter of dollars and logistics. For him, it’s a matter of respect.
“As we turn over each base, it’s kind of our point of pride that we’re turning it over better than we found it,” he said.
Related Sites:
U.S. Forces Iraq
“DOD Live” Bloggers Roundtable
NOTE The following text is a quote:
www.defense.gov//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=65681
News
American Forces Press Service
Talks Continue On Post-2011 Troop Presence in Iraq
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2011 – Discussions with the Iraqi government about a U.S. troop presence there after Dec. 31 continue, with no decisions yet made, senior defense officials said.
“Suggestions that a final decision has been reached about our training relationship with the Iraqi government are wrong,” Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement released Oct. 15. “Those discussions are ongoing.”
The 2008 security agreement between the United States and Iraq specifies that the U.S. military mission there will end Dec. 31, with all U.S. troops to leave by that date.
“We remain committed to keeping our agreement with the Iraqi government to remove all of our troops by the end of this year,” Little said.
“At the same time,” he continued, “we’re building a comprehensive partnership with Iraq under the strategic framework agreement, including a robust security relationship, and discussions with the Iraqis about the nature of that relationship are ongoing.”
Little emphasized today the U.S. commitment to a long, strategic relationship with Iraq. Talks under way, he said, will help to determine the scope and scale of that relationship.
“The strategic relationship with Iraq beyond 2011 is what is on the table,” he said.
The discussions center on whether the Iraqis want U.S. forces to remain in Iraq as trainers after Dec. 31, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby told reporters today. Kirby refuted claims that details about such an arrangement have caused the talks to become contentious.
“This isn’t about trying to convince or persuade either side,” he said. “This is about being there at Iraqi request.”
As talks continue, U.S. Forces Iraq is moving full speed ahead to reposition troops and equipment in accordance with the existing security agreement.
U.S. forces are “completely on track” to make a total military withdrawal by the year’s end, Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, U.S. Forces Iraq’s spokesman and director of strategic effects, told Pentagon reporters last week.
Roughly 39,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, down about 100,000 from January 2009, officials have said. In addition, U.S. Forces Iraq has redeployed 1.6 million pieces of equipment, with 800,000 left to go.
(Lisa Daniel of American Forces Press Service contributed to this article.)
Related Sites:
U.S. Forces Iraq
Related Articles:
U.S. Forces in Iraq Prepare for Transition
Iraq Drawdown Continues as Partnership Takes Shape
U.S. Forces Have Met All Obligations in Iraq, General Says
I got there in the early days when the bases were just starting to be built and came home just four months ago, so I got to see the whole circle.
Our troops are being extremely diligent in getting equipment relocated or sold and performing complete cleanups on the bases prior to turning them over the the GoI.
God bless you Allegra and may God continue to bless our troops.
My post here are posted for archival purposes for those who want to look back in time and read a little history.
P.S. I’m glad you’re home.
Correction...
posts here...
ROTFLMAO! If you’re upset about democracy in Iraq and Gaza take it up with Georgie boy! Weren’t you listening to his second inaugural speech?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4460172
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