Total Troop Withdrawl says Obama....

[RadioRaheem84]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204618704576645150219910400.html?m od=googlenews_wsj



WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. will pull out all of its troops from Iraq by the end of December, drawing the war to a conclusion.
"As promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year," Mr. Obama said in a briefing at the White House. "After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over."
The announcement signals the imminent end of a war that has cost the U.S. more than $800 billion dollars and claimed the lives of 3,525 American service members.
"After all, there will be some difficult days ahead for Iraq," Mr. Obama said. "The United States will continue to have an interest in an Iraq that is stable and secure and self-reliant." He said the U.S. Is leaving Iraq in a position of strength.


Of course I am sure the bases will still be there. Is neo-colonization complete for the US?

[Rusty Shackleford]

Obama 2012~!!!!!!!!!!

[Winkers Fons]

Oh sure we'll leave Iraq. Just make sure the news doesn't mention that we will still be right next door in Kuwait!

[Dunk]

Pay no attention to the 10,000 advisers in camouflage we'll keep hanging around. WAR'S OVER, ROLL OUT ANOTHER PEACE PRIZE! After his briefing on the recent progress of his advisers in Africa, please.

[Lobotomy]

I heard 150 troops will stay to "assist arms sales".

He's probably doing this to get reelected.

Still, in no way is it a bad thing.

[Rand-de-lis]

Just in time around election season.

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

Why is it important to give a shit about what Obama says?

[Magón]

I think some of it has to do, with Iraq telling the US that if US soldiers fuck up, they'll be tried by Iraqi courts, not US courts like they have been since day one of the invasion. That would cause problems most definitely.

[Robocommie]

God-damnit Revleft, before I became a f'ing Communist I used to get happy about shit like this. :tongue_smilie:

[Mnemosyne]

Should have happened about 8 years ago if you ask me...

Obama has proven himself to be even more of a war monger than Bush-Light was. I'll believe it when I see it- the Marines are out but the Army will be there indefinitely and I'd bet my hide on it.

[RadioRaheem84]

Them leaving means the neo-colonization process is almost complete. Iraq will soon be an effective third world liberal democracy where US and Western corporations will dominate the natural resources and the people will not partake of any of the proceeds.

See Libya for further details.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

To a large extent US militarism has been privatized.I am not sure how much of a presence Blackwater/XL and other mercenary outfits will have in Iraq. As I understand Iraq has asked the merc outfits to leave.

I think to an extent though this actually represents a defeat for US imperialism. Iraq, with Iranian backing and possibly with China in the background asked the US (formally at least) to leave. The US wanted 12 permanent bases there.Looks like this project is hitting the dustbin of history.

With election season heating up and needing to tact left to coopt the OWS movement, Obama had to put the best face on a defeat.

[Agathor]

Them leaving means the neo-colonization process is almost complete.
Far from it. The Iraqi government has an ambivalent relationship with the US. The ruling party has outflanked most Arab leaders by demanding a complete severance of diplomatic ties with Israel, and they have been asking the US to remove their occupying forces for years. Iran is a much more important ally. America's primary invasion goal was privileged access to Iraqi oil field for American corporations. They failed. American corporations have a similar stake in Iraqi oil as Russian companies, and less than European and East Asian companies. Their secondary goal was a permanent military base, which they asked for in 2008 and didn't get.

America lost the Iraq War. Iran won.

I wonder if this withdrawal includes the troops to be stationed in their mega-embassy.

[Mnemosyne]

Please explain what you mean by 'to a large extent US militarism has been privatized.'?

I'm assuming you meant Blackwater/Xe... and their efforts in Iraq are security for US diplomats.

As far as the Iraq government wanting to try in their courts- this has been going on for years and begin with allegations over Blackwater killing civilians... among other things. Remember the Blackwater guys who were paraded around the streets after being charred to crisps by the Islamic Army? So yeah, they have been on the 'Iraqi shit list' for some time now.

A defeat for US imperialism? I wish. Tell that to the Iraqi's.

[Seth]

Look at it this way...if US troops cause trouble, with the climate of the greater Arab Spring, who takes the fall?

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Please explain what you mean by 'to a large extent US militarism has been privatized.'?

I'm assuming you meant Blackwater/Xe... and their efforts in Iraq are security for US diplomats.

As far as the Iraq government wanting to try in their courts- this has been going on for years and begin with allegations over Blackwater killing civilians... among other things. Remember the Blackwater guys who were paraded around the streets after being charred to crisps by the Islamic Army? So yeah, they have been on the 'Iraqi shit list' for some time now.

A defeat for US imperialism? I wish. Tell that to the Iraqi's.

Well I meant the fact that air transport, logistics, other services are contracted to these outfits who are not subjected to Congressional oversight and can be more hidden from public accountability. I do not know to what extent this has taken place but it is known that many things which were done by the US military directly have been "privatized", let out to private contractors.

My understanding is that the Bush Administration and the neo-cons wanted between 12 and 15 permanent US bases in Iraq. The fact that the US is not getting this is a result of the stiff resistance various groups put up and the huge expense this incurred for the US occupation. So I would see this as a defeat for US imperialism.At vast human cost of course.


Iran may be more of the beneficiary in this recent exercise of US mass murder, not the US.
.

[MustCrushCapitalism]

To a large extent US militarism has been privatized.I am not sure how much of a presence Blackwater/XL and other mercenary outfits will have in Iraq. As I understand Iraq has asked the merc outfits to leave.

Leave it to the US to privatize murder.


Obama 2012~!!!!!!!!!!

Nah, he'll just keep it going. As Obama is an FDResque, slightly less to the right capitalist President, he's more sane than the Republican opposition. Elect Ron Paul and the US will be on the verge of collapse before his first term is up. Although I'm not big on the "fuck things up to force a revolution" strategy, I think it may be possible at the time being.

[Os Cangaceiros]

The economy has completely dwarfed all other issues anyway. Obama could get all the children of the world to join hands and sing a song for world peace and univeral harmony, and his ass will still be voted out if the economy/unemployment rate remains stagnant.

[Libertador]

The economy has completely dwarfed all other issues anyway. Obama could get all the children of the world to join hands and sing a song for world peace and univeral harmony, and his **** will still be voted out if the economy/unemployment rate remains stagnant.Fuck Obama. He's no better than Dubyah.

The economy is reason enough to have his ass booted out.

[RadioRaheem84]

Please explain what you mean by 'to a large extent US militarism has been privatized.'?

I'm assuming you meant Blackwater/Xe... and their efforts in Iraq are security for US diplomats.

As far as the Iraq government wanting to try in their courts- this has been going on for years and begin with allegations over Blackwater killing civilians... among other things. Remember the Blackwater guys who were paraded around the streets after being charred to crisps by the Islamic Army? So yeah, they have been on the 'Iraqi shit list' for some time now.

A defeat for US imperialism? I wish. Tell that to the Iraqi's.

Do you have a source? This reads like a bourgeois policy rag.

[Psy]

Well I meant the fact that air transport, logistics, other services are contracted to these outfits who are not subjected to Congressional oversight and can be more hidden from public accountability. I do not know to what extent this has taken place but it is known that many things which were done by the US military directly have been "privatized", let out to private contractors.

Don't forget vehicle maintenance as the US militarily shifts to using weapons it does not have full rights to due as military reformers got rid of the old Pentagon policy that if any capitalists that deals with the Pentagon has to sign over all their rights over to the Pentagon, for example the Willys-Overland Motors Jeep was contracted out to other manufactures as they demanded the blue prints and simply handed them to other manufactures to make competing models.



My understanding is that the Bush Administration and the neo-cons wanted between 12 and 15 permanent US bases in Iraq. The fact that the US is not getting this is a result of the stiff resistance various groups put up and the huge expense this incurred for the US occupation. So I would see this as a defeat for US imperialism.At vast human cost of course.
.
Yet there really isn't stiff resistance, rather the US occupation forces have shown to be highly ineffective against even weak resistance. The US army couldn't crush the Iraqi resistance the same way USSR crushed stronger uprisings because the whole logistical system was straining over the incompetence of the sub contractors. Where the USSR was able to pour armor into cities covered with thick fog oil, most US tanks lacked the fuel and spare parts for any prolonged presence and the US command structure knew nothing mobility focused warfare thus instead of establishing mobile field command centers they built garrisons ignore the road to victory is being able to mobilize your forces not anchoring them to fixed structures. Thus the Iraq war showed the US military has become like the French military circa in 1939, massive but ineffective.

[~Spectre]

Obama is merely sticking to an agreement that Bush was forced to sign. He was lobbying Iraq for a larger presence.

[eyeheartlenin]

To answer one of the questions in this thread, I think it is important to pay attention to what Obama says, not just because he is the chief of the superpower, but also because most of the US "left" will find a way to support his re-election next year (just as they found reasons to vote for him and celebrate his election in 2008), and that establishes the significant fact that most of the US "left" has not broken with the Democrats. In other words, lots and lots of "leftist" organizations in the US are sock puppets for the Democratic Party, as proven by their benevolent view of Obama, when it counts, when there is an election. Chomsky's tireless public support for the Democrats every four years reflects that fact.

On a different topic, given the state of the US economy, any incumbent would ordinarily be in political trouble, but Obama is just about guaranteed to be re-elected, because none of the GOP possible nominees appeals to anyone who is not an ultra-right wing dogmatist. From what I have seen, working people look at those utter reactionaries from the GOP and cringe, which is not to suggest that the Democrats, who are now actively in favor of shredding the social safety net, represent any kind of solution at all. Clearly, they don't. As usual, democracy in the US presents working people with a choice between cancer and the plague.