'A new chapter': US officially ends Iraq war

msnbc.com ^ | 12/15/11 | NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

[NakedRampage]

BAGHDAD -- Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta marked the end of the U.S. war in Iraq at a highly symbolic ceremony Thursday.

U.S. soldiers rolled up the flag for American forces in Iraq and slipped it into a camouflage-colored sleeve, formally "casing" it, according to Army tradition.

Panetta said veterans of the nearly nine-year conflict can be "secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to cast tyranny aside."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani were invited to the ceremony but did not attend.

[NakedRampage]

So has Obama surrendered or what?

[Maverick68]

So there are no troops left in harms way?
Iraq is a beacon of Democracy now?

[rhombus]

Prepare for the Iraqi boat people.

[hal ogen]

So...I didn’t here nobama or that goofy biden say “win”.

[org.whodat]

Gave up, quiet, ran for the tall grass, got a case of yellow, but we did not win, all that money, men and equipment, Iran will be running the place by may.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Give it about three to six months and Iran will own Iraq. Just part of the Obama plan to place the USA in harm’s way. The Middle East has been lost thanks to Obama, a noted brother in the Muslim Brotherhood!!!

[rhombus]

Should Iraq be put in the category with wars in Germany, Japan and South Korea or with wars in Vietnam, Somalia and Haiti? The answer will be obvious soon. Barney the Dinnosaur foreign policy - We’re all winners here. Pfffttt...

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

How long until Mookie starts really stirring the pot

[Steamburg]

Of course the private mercenary force and the huge payments to Iraqi officials will continue even after the transfer of leadership to Iran (not a typo).

[Thermalseeker]

Could be why Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has requested that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) develop a strategy for how to provide “health care, sheltering” and other services to immigrants in the event of a significant increase in immigration to the United States.

[reagan_fanatic]

And Iran is sitting there waiting, drooling like a fox looking at a henhouse.

[Bobby Bear]

Good riddance—long overdue!!

[FroedrickVonFreepenstein]

but I read in the paper that the war ended September of 2010.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/01/obama-formally-ends-iraq-war

[Doe Eyes]

And Iran is sitting there waiting, drooling like a fox looking at a henhouse.

We took out Iran's biggest threat in the Middle East. Stupid war.

[GAB-1955]

Iran is going to implode before it can take over Iraq. Let’s not forget that there still is the Persian-Arab divide that can trump Shi’ite unity.

[bert]

I would argue that the decision has been made that containment of Iran does not require Iraq.

Unmentioned in all these stories is what has moved to Kuwait?

[LibLieSlayer]

Yep... **** the iraqis... first they hang good men from bridges in falluja... after they burned their bodies... then they burn our flag just yesterday. It was the WRONG WAR in the WRONG place at the WRONG time. We could have bought hussein and saved the blood of Patriots and the losses suffered by America. Iraq was more about payback than Freedom. Only strongman dictators can control the savages of the ME.

LLS

[onedoug]

Prayers for all those who gave of their time, their lives and limbs for this Obama back-stab.

[Cheerio]

Just a gentle reminder of how this guy can "gin up a good story".

"Now let me be clear -- I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him." (Senator Barack Obama October 2, 2002)

I've never said that troops should be withdrawn. What I've said is, is that we've got to make sure that we secure and execute the rebuilding and reconstruction process effectively and properly, and I don't think we should have an artificial deadline when to do that." (Senator Barack Obama, April 5, 2004)

Obama wants troops home by spring ’08 (Jan 30, 2007)

Obama Says That His First Action as President Would be to Bring U.S. Troops Home from Iraq (Jan 5, 2008)

Change!… Obama Will Keep Troops in Iraq After Promising to Withdraw Them By 2009 (July 6, 2011)

There some 16,000 Americans left in Iraq, at least half of who are military and para-military personnel who have been re-designated "Diplomats" and Diplomatic Security Personnel" under cover of the State Department. They are housed in the largest and most heavily fortified Embassy in the world. This is how Obama and the Iraqi PM made a deal on the SOFA problem. Obama gets to look like Big Man on Campus here while al-Maliki can tell his people with a straight face that he stood up to the U.S. It remains to be seen how people like Muqtada al-Sadr react to this and so far the rumblings from that quarter have been ominous. (Dec 15, 2011)

[gdani]

I don't like Obama but this isn't on him.

Bush signed an agreement in 2008 with Iraq to remove troops by the end of 2011.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a fulfillment of that agreement & the end of my tax money being sucked up by Iraq.