U.S. ending combat operations in Iraq

msnbc.com ^ | August 18, 2010 | msnbc

[Choose Ye This Day]

NEAR THE IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER — The last U.S. combat troops were crossing the border into Kuwait on Thursday morning, bringing to a close the active combat phase of a 7½-year war that overthrew the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, forever defined the presidency of George W. Bush and left more than 4,400 American service members and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead.

The final convoy of the Army’s 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Lewis, Wash., were about to enter Kuwait shortly after 1:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. Wednesday ET), carrying the last of the 14,000 U.S. combat forces in Iraq, said NBC’s Richard Engel, who has been traveling with the brigade as it moved out this week.

“We won! We won! It’s over! We brought democracy to Iraq!” a soldier shouted as fellow soldiers celebrated their arrival in Kuwait this week.

[Choose Ye This Day]

I don't know if anyone else is reporting this, but it appears we are bugging out.

[jessduntno]

“I don’t know if anyone else is reporting this, but it appears we are bugging out.”

Cue the Iranian troops...

[maquiladora]

50,000 “advisors” still staying in Iraq though.

[DGHoodini]

MSNBC has Olberass talking to an embed reporter on a US military truck, that is on it’s way with the rest of the US combat troops driving back to Kuwait.

[Choose Ye This Day]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hL4ANDp6MLdQm9vzaQyV7v28vUXwD9HM62FO0

Again, this is just “combat” troops.

[ken5050]

Remeber all the pics of the purple thumbs when the Iraqis first voted?..I suspect that there is a strong desire for freedom and democracy among the Iraqi people..and when the US forces pull back to lagers, and turn all of the front line operations over to the Iraqis, and the glare of the world’s media is removed, I suspect that the Iraqi foces are gonna play a little more hardball with the terrorists...we’ve given them the opportunity to have a free country, now they have to earn it..

[lacrew]

Ah, the 50,000 ‘advisors’ remain.

...but Bami pulled out all the combat troops, right? MSNBC just said he did...

I don’t know nuttin about nuttin...but I must have missed the news stories about convoys with hundreds of tanks, personnel carriers, artillery pieces, Bradleys, etc. making a convoy out, and loading up at a dock in Kuwait....seems like alot of ‘combat’ equipment is still there.

And probably a carrier group will stay in the Persain Gulf....

...and really not much will have changed...just politics.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Obama is a moron.

This is stupidity. We are abandoning an ally. We are leaving millions of innocents to the terrorists.

God help us. I believe Iraq has the potential to turn into Afghanistan times ten...the resources of that nation are greater, and the enemies surrounding her are legion.

Please, Lord, forgive this nation for walking away from your children. God, help the light still shine in that dark land.

To any IRAQI PEOPLE who may be reading this: please don’t think the USA’s exit means the people of America don’t care. In a fit of pique, our nation elected a group of bedwetters who refuse to stand up for ANY nation—including ours. We are working to elect BETTER leadership...please, stay strong in the meantime.

[citizenredstater9271]

N0bama is going to cut and run and let Iran take over the place.

[WLR]

Depending upon who is defining it (Just the press or the DOD) It may be nothing more than Semantics.. Or if the DOD is in on it the bean counters may be trying to reduce the Combat Pay of the fellows still in country. It's a slick trick. they used it in Bosnia to cheat troops out of Combat Pay in some instances.. Has some weird consequences.. For example a young SPC 4s unit found itself in an unmarked mine field. His leg was blown off and he rendered self aid applying a tourniquet. A medivac chopper arrived and a young lady/Angel medic unhesitating walked into the minefield to recover the Specialist. He survived and quite properly received a Purple Heart (If memory serves a Bronze Star as well ..not sure if it was with a Combat V or not). The young lady/Angel was awarded the Presidents Medal.. The highest “Peace Time” award the US Military has.. Don't know for sure but my guess is the best his unit was receiving was hardship and some permutation of hazardous duty pay vice Combat Pay. The young lady/Angel at best was likely receiving hardship duty pay. The point of course being an example of how the bean counters and political scum like to redefine whats occurring in the field based upon what they want the public to perceive and to save a little for their next boondoggle.

W

[dfwgator]

Cue the Iranian troops...

Fast forward a couple of years

[alice_in_bubbaland]

FNC’s Shemp will be reporting on this in a few minutes.

[ohioWfan]

This is the result of the Bush/Petraeus surge.

God BLESS our troops!

[jessduntno]

“Fast forward a couple of years...”

Makes my stomach hurt...

[ohioWfan]

The Iraqi army is well trained by our American troops.

This is part of the plan, put in place by President Bush. Obama will lie and take credit for the 'end' of the war, but he has done nothing.

He is worse than a moron.

He is a hard core Marxist, anti-American traitor.

[ichabod1]

Pretty chicken.

[ichabod1]

My stomach has been hurting all day. I don’t know why exactly, but this seems like a really black day.

[kitchen]

I think the roof of our embassy in Baghdad can handle more than one chopper at a time.

[Recovering_Democrat]

I hope you’re right.

[ohioWfan]

As someone said on another thread, all our troops in Iraq are combat troops. They're all battle hardened and at the ready.

This is NOT Viet Nam. Even with the Traitor in Chief. He's got his endless battle in the "good war" in Afghanistan.......the one that he bashed Bush for not fighting, as Bush was winning the war in Iraq.

He's a doofus and a coward, but even Obama doesn't want to be seen as the guy who lost the war that we had won.

He's not that brave.