Era Might Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 (edited) I just saw that President Obama is withdrawing all American troops from Iraq by the end of the year...pretty big news, I was surprised when I saw it, I didn't even know it was on the horizon. Thoughts? Edited October 21, 2011 by Era Might Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ardillacid Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Well, he's got to. It's election year, and he promised to withdraw them immediately when he got elected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeschoolmom Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 [quote name='ardillacid' timestamp='1319224870' post='2324796'] Well, he's got to. It's election year, and he promised to withdraw them immediately when he got elected. [/quote] haha... yeah, that's exactly what I thought. Get 'em home for the holidays, cuz next year's the election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Era Might Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 (edited) [quote name='ardillacid' timestamp='1319224870' post='2324796'] Well, he's got to. It's election year, and he promised to withdraw them immediately when he got elected. [/quote] That's exactly what my boss said when I mentioned it in the office lol. I hope this will be the start of less American meddling around the world. Edited October 21, 2011 by Era Might Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIKolbe Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 agreed.. one down.. 74 to go [url="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060304965.html"]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060304965.html[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcePrincessKRS Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 [quote name='ardillacid' timestamp='1319224870' post='2324796'] Well, he's got to. It's election year, and he promised to withdraw them immediately when he got elected. [/quote] Yup. Although, as a military family member, I'm pretty skeptical of the claim that "all American troops would be withdrawn from the country by year's end." [url="http://news.yahoo.com/obama-announces-total-iraq-troop-withdrawal-165635034.html"]http://news.yahoo.co...-165635034.html[/url] Most of them? A lot of them? That I can believe. ALL of them? Skeptical. Also, I saw another headline this morning that I can't locate right now that I found amusing. It was about the amount of money racked up by sending troops to Libya, even though we had a "backseat" role over there. The headline was to the effect of "Even though we weren't primary forces over there the Pentagon racked up a lot of debt." I found it interesting that this debt is the [i]Pentagon's[/i] fault, but the Iraq war fault belongs to Bush. If we're going to play that game shouldn't the Libya debt be Obama's fault? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooterhein Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 [quote name='IcePrincessKRS' timestamp='1319228338' post='2324812'] Yup. Although, as a military family member, I'm pretty skeptical of the claim that "all American troops would be withdrawn from the country by year's end." [url="http://news.yahoo.com/obama-announces-total-iraq-troop-withdrawal-165635034.html"]http://news.yahoo.co...-165635034.html[/url] Most of them? A lot of them? That I can believe. ALL of them? Skeptical.[/quote]I don't think it's physically possible. We didn't really take all our troops out even after the Persian Gulf War- I remember seeing Lisa Ling interview some Army guys at their barracks outside Baghdad. That was in....what year was it...'97 or '98, I guess. They obviously weren't there in huge numbers or with the purpose of waging war, but we did have some troops permanently stationed there even though we were officially "out" and it would be several years before we would "go in." [quote]Also, I saw another headline this morning that I can't locate right now that I found amusing. It was about the amount of money racked up by sending troops to Libya, even though we had a "backseat" role over there. The headline was to the effect of "Even though we weren't primary forces over there the Pentagon racked up a lot of debt." I found it interesting that this debt is the [i]Pentagon's[/i] fault, but the Iraq war fault belongs to Bush. If we're going to play that game shouldn't the Libya debt be Obama's fault?[/quote]That issue's been addressed a little bit....largely with an emphasis on the number of US casualties (zero, as far as I know) and the relatively low amount of money spent (I think that would be a bit less than a billion, compared to trillions in Iraq). There is a lot of long-term potential upside to having good relations with Libya, too, although the size and shape of its new government remains to be seen. It'll probably be a big step up from Ghadaffi, though. (Sp? Idk. His name can be spelled a dozen different ways). Point is, it can be framed in a way that's very favorable to Obama. Come campaign time, he will own the Libya thing and claim it as his own- but I'm almost certain that he won't present it as something where we "racked up a lot of debt," or something where he'd prefer to leave responsibility with the Pentagon but he's forced to take it on for himself. This is actually something that will work in his favor, and he will definitely campaign on it. Some Republican will run against him and argue that Libya generates bad marks against his presidency, but I don't think that argument will go well for him. Or her- I suppose Bachmann is still running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG45 Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 NATO also announced with Qadaffi dead, we'll most likely be out of Libya by October 31st. I have to admit, I'm rather cynical about his sudden proclamation for a few reasons: 1) All is a lot of troops when you have around 40,000. 2) This doesn't apply to over 14,000 private paramilitary contractors. 3) I notice this "all" figure comes after listening for a week to them seeking freedom from prosecution for any US troops that stayed into the new year and failing to get it. 4) His official announcement started by reminding people he promised this as a candidate. 5) There was once a plan called Vietmanization that reminds me of this... I also hope it's the beginning of less meddling. Military interventions in other nations are costly in lives and economic costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FutureSister2009 Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 If that is actually true, it is a miracle. But that could be Obama being all talk as usual Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MithLuin Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 Well, we've been drawing down troops and preparing to pull out of Iraq for some time. So, it was in the works. Sorta. As for actually pulling out and bringing them home...well, I'll believe that when I see it, I guess. Obama has said all along that his focus was on Afghanistan, not Iraq. So, getting out of Iraq does fit with what he said while campaigning....though, well, we'll see. The annoying thing is that rebuilding Iraq was actually a possibility. It's a country with a lot to offer. Baghdad is a city the size of Baltimore, for instance, and the local people are very interested in having a say in their future...and stepping up and doing something about that, as a local police force, etc. I'm not saying the US military didn't make any mistakes, but there were some goals in place that were attainable there. Afghanistan? Not so much. It's business as usual there and the people are merely biding their time until we go away and leave them alone. So bringing any lasting change there is...more like a pipe dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 [quote name='Era Might' timestamp='1319221570' post='2324775'] I just saw that President Obama is withdrawing all American troops from Iraq by the end of the year...pretty big news, I was surprised when I saw it, I didn't even know it was on the horizon. Thoughts? [/quote] I wouldn't be surprised if this was a lie. He said all of the troops would be out of Iraq within six weeks when he entered office. He has a poor sense of time, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Well, I don't know if it's true but I sure hope so... my daughter is scheduled to go to Iraq in November... it would sure be good if that didn't happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcePrincessKRS Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I talked to my husband about it this evening. He, having just come back from Iraq, has better insight than my own skeptical nature. He says it's possible, and really it's happening now because the Iraqi's want us out. Obama is just capitalizing on it. It still just seems weird to me since people are/have been sent over very recently. Why send someone new for just a couple of months when the people over there could clear out what we have over there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mortify Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Gonna need all those troops once the economy comes to a full collapse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlySunshine Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Is anyone else worried that it could cause the Taliban to retaliate if we pull out too quickly? This has been a worry of mine for a while and something I don't want to see happen. I'm not of the belief that we should have sent the troops over there so quickly, anyway, but drawing them out too fast could cause something terrible to happen if we aren't too careful. It makes me wonder if that is why Obama waited so long? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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