I am emotionally finished with Iraq. Our Glorious Leader will accelerate our troop withdrawal on the basis that we cannot afford to fight an unpopular war under current economic conditions. Our “defeat” in Iraq will then be blamed on Bush. Problem solved!

Outlander on December 30, 2008 at 12:38 PM

And history repeats itself, repeats itself, repeats itself…

Point is, they each had their own (or group) “little Green Zones” in various places around downtown. And their own security forces – essentially the same as the US State Dept. and reconstruction contractors would use, at least in essence (former military, usually very experienced, often British or South African or Australian).

I have no idea what sort of legal status these sorts of security personnel have in Iraq, now or after Jan. 1. But I’m sure it’s an issue of concern. Though obviously the good old days of chaos, daily kidnapping, etc. are long gone, there is obviously still potential for some of that, and for simple hits, in Iraq.

The State Department has warned the Pentagon and the White House that the Iraqis will almost certainly use that new authority quickly and that American citizens will soon find themselves under arrest in Iraq, which would force the departure of security contractors and others.

Yes.

So was this deal directly brokered by Condi Rice or Gates for GWBush? Absolutely no way would Rumsfeld have signed off like that, and Powell certainly didn’t hang around long enough to have brokered a “time table” deal.

Odd, the above wording, “The State Department has warned the Pentagon and the White House,” as if the White House didn’t sign the deal, and as if the Pentagon isn’t fully aware of the horrible situation they now are inside, no thanks to the brokered deal that GWB must have signed in order to be effective. But GWB would NOT have signed it if any better alternative were possible. Leaving everything completely undetermined and open to Obama to ruin would be worse than this agreement.

SO NOW THE VIETNAM PARALLELISM BEGINS. Our military is neutered of sovereignty abroad by our own government’s agreement and left behind non-allied territorial lines(where’s the treaty that claims military alliance?), left to defend a well intended but most likely puppet government incapable of confronting antagonistic radical forces that are ever prepared to destroy the peace which our military provided. Our military is left behind without its own sovereign installation as our Commander In Chief retires, and the new guy brings his own version of horror for our military in Iraq AND AFGHANISTAN.

I don’t mean politically, I mean for the good of the country.

Which I’ve been told that Obama and the Democrats are interested in, however difficult that is for me to believe.

The Democrats have what they wanted with pornographic lust – the White House and big majorities in both Houses of Congress.

At some point, even the idiots in the press are going to stop accepting “Bush’s fault” as an excuse.

Blaming last year’s team is not an option.

NoDonkey on December 30, 2008 at 1:45 PM

Good luck with that.

And that matters why?

The election is over. Obama won.

I’m not interested in blame games.

Obama wanted this position and Democrats did all they could to get him in there, god knows why.

Now he’s going to be asked to do something.

This is not the Bill Clinton Presidency, when nothing was happening (or nothing that Clinton wanted to focus on which meant it became a bigger problem later on, anyway).

Obama should DO something here. That other unaccomplished, unqualified idiot he who is going to be our new Sect. of State should DO something.

The time for sitting in the stands and throwing whiskey bottles at the players on the field is over.

Obama and Hillary are on the field now. What are they going to do?

Blaming last year’s team is not an option.

Bambi will actually have to do more than read speeches off of teleprompters. Think he’s up to it?

NoDonkey on December 30, 2008 at 11:57 AM

I don’t know. I do know the Iraqis will be eager to flaunt their new authority and American civilians will be targeted for the sake of internal Iraqi politics. Obama has been given the opportunity to avoid blame when that happens.

Let the UN protect the diplomats and MSM. I only hope they bring back Kofi Annan. He did such a swell job overseeing troops in the field.

1) Last week it was all the news that the primary television and print press were bugging out of Iraqi over the horizon. Much fanfare. Reason — nothing happens here anymore.

2) This week we have news that the the SOFA takes effect Jan 1 and the green zone will be managed by Iraqis. The Green Zone of course was where most of the press holed up for the last 5 years.

Coincidence? I think not. The chicken s@#$.

Where exactly did I say he was responsible for that?

My point is that on January 20th, this unaccomplished, inexperienced, likely corrupt lightweight is in charge.

Blaming Bush won’t bring home the bacon.

Bambi will actually have to do more than read speeches off of teleprompters. Think he’s up to it?

Obama thinks the Green Zone is a patch of well manicured grass with a hole and a flagstick.

fogw on December 30, 2008 at 11:16 AM

yeah on Oahu

NoDonkey on December 30, 2008 at 11:11 AM

Obama wasn’t responsible for deciding our military contractors should be vulnerable to the tender mercy of Iraqi law. IIRC, sharia is part of their constitution. Bush is responsible.

Yes, the White House Press Corps is pretty loopy.

Let’s face it, he has no idea at all what he’s doing at this point.

NoDonkey on December 30, 2008 at 11:11 AM

As long as boys can marry boys, babies can be aborted up to the moment of birth and the American people can’t afford to buy gas for their vehicles, Obama’s core constituency won’t care if he ever knows what he’s doing.

/s

(Full disclosure: a friend of mine worked for a security company in Iraq.)

Full disclosure My husband works for Dyna Cor. The military is stretched, and they can’t complete the missions, they have been tasked. With out civilian contractors. Does anyone remember when George W Bush tasked Bob Gates with adding 80,000 new troops? How is that going? My husband is retired military so who at the Administration-Executive level is shooting the Pentagon in the foot? Someone signed off on this.

OR, are they ready to kick jihadi ass and take names al by themselves because if they saw anything over the past 4 years it’s that that is the only thing that works?

/perpetual optimist