Mission Accomplished !

Azrael · Dec 20, 2011

Thought this was interesting.

www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2011/12/20111219151636570185.html

We leave behind only 10 operational bases, 500 military "trainers" and 15000 civilian contractors. And the oil companies.

So, except for being not at all over, it's all over. Over there.

YankeeFan · Dec 20, 2011

Get ready for the coming bloodbath:

The political crisis in Iraq deepened on Tuesday, as the Sunni vice president angrily rebutted charges that he had ordered his security guards to assassinate government officials, saying that Shiite-backed security forces had induced the guards into false confessions.

In a nationally televised news conference, the vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, blamed the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for using the country’s security forces to persecute political opponents, specifically Sunnis.

“The accusations have not been proven, so the accused is innocent until proven guilty,” Mr. Hashimi said at the news conference in Erbil, in the Kurdish north of Iraq. “I swear by God I didn’t do this disobedience against Iraqi blood, and I would never do this.”

He added: “The goal is clear, it is not more than political slander.”

Standing in front of an Iraqi flag, Mr. Hashimi questioned why Mr. Maliki had waited until the day after the American military withdrew its troops from Iraq to publicly lay out the charges.

Almost as significant as what Mr. Hashimi said was where he said it: in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous northern region of Kurdistan. Because of the region’s autonomy, Mr. Maliki’s security forces cannot easily act on a warrant issued Monday to arrest Mr. Hashimi.

Mr. Hashimi said he would not return to Baghdad, effectively making him an internal exile. The case against him should be transferred to Kurdistan where he could face a fair trial, he said.

The response from Mr. Hashimi came a day after the Shiite-led government ordered him arrested and played videotaped confessions on national television from three men who said they had worked as his bodyguards and had been ordered by him to commit murders. The men claimed to have used roadside bombs and silencer-equipped pistols to kill Iraqi government officials and security officers. Mr. Hashimi, they said, rewarded them with money.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/world/middleeast/sunni-leader-in-iraq-denies-ordering-assassinations.html?_r=1&hp
Click to expand...

suburbia · Dec 20, 2011

Ending the war in Iraq is a very good accomplishment for Obama....only if the new government survives.

If it fails, Obama looks like an idiot for pulling us out when he did, even if he really had no choice in the matter.

micropolitan guy · Dec 20, 2011

At somepoint, they have to figure it out for themselves. We never should have been there in the first place. I'm glad we're out, and I'll be happier still when we leave the shithole that is Afghanistan.

Boom_70 · Dec 20, 2011

micropolitan guy said:

At somepoint, they have to figure it out for themselves. We never should have been there in the first place. I'm glad we're out, and I'll be happier still when we leave the shithole that is Afghanistan.
Click to expand...

Shithole and money pit.

Just saw a quote from Joe Biden saying that "essentially the Taliban is not our enemy"
How long before Mullah Omar is enjoying a Sam Adams with Obama and Karzai.

Azrael · Dec 22, 2011

www.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/world/middleeast/explosions-rock-baghdad-amid-iraqi-political-crisis.html?_r=1&hp

britwrit · Dec 22, 2011

YankeeFan said:

Get ready for the coming bloodbath:

The political crisis in Iraq deepened on Tuesday, as the Sunni vice president angrily rebutted charges that he had ordered his security guards to assassinate government officials, saying that Shiite-backed security forces had induced the guards into false confessions.

In a nationally televised news conference, the vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, blamed the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for using the countrys security forces to persecute political opponents, specifically Sunnis.

The accusations have not been proven, so the accused is innocent until proven guilty, Mr. Hashimi said at the news conference in Erbil, in the Kurdish north of Iraq. I swear by God I didnt do this disobedience against Iraqi blood, and I would never do this.

He added: The goal is clear, it is not more than political slander.

Standing in front of an Iraqi flag, Mr. Hashimi questioned why Mr. Maliki had waited until the day after the American military withdrew its troops from Iraq to publicly lay out the charges.

Almost as significant as what Mr. Hashimi said was where he said it: in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous northern region of Kurdistan. Because of the regions autonomy, Mr. Malikis security forces cannot easily act on a warrant issued Monday to arrest Mr. Hashimi.

Mr. Hashimi said he would not return to Baghdad, effectively making him an internal exile. The case against him should be transferred to Kurdistan where he could face a fair trial, he said.

The response from Mr. Hashimi came a day after the Shiite-led government ordered him arrested and played videotaped confessions on national television from three men who said they had worked as his bodyguards and had been ordered by him to commit murders. The men claimed to have used roadside bombs and silencer-equipped pistols to kill Iraqi government officials and security officers. Mr. Hashimi, they said, rewarded them with money.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/world/middleeast/sunni-leader-in-iraq-denies-ordering-assassinations.html?_r=1&hp
Click to expand...

Click to expand...

As well as the probable expansion of our proxy war with Iran (aka Sunni versus Shiite...)

dooley_womack1 · Dec 22, 2011

Azrael said:

Thought this was interesting.

www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2011/12/20111219151636570185.html

We leave behind only 10 operational bases, 500 military "trainers" and 15000 civilian contractors. And the oil companies.

So, except for being not at all over, it's all over. Over there.
Click to expand...

Yeah, 500 trainers. What a fighting force of extra-ordinary magnitude. Maybe they can get those 15,000 civilians to become Rangers or SEALs.

Azrael · Dec 22, 2011

dooley_womack1 said:

Azrael said:

Thought this was interesting.

www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2011/12/20111219151636570185.html

We leave behind only 10 operational bases, 500 military "trainers" and 15000 civilian contractors. And the oil companies.

So, except for being not at all over, it's all over. Over there.
Click to expand...

Yeah, 500 trainers. What a fighting force of extra-ordinary magnitude. Maybe they can get those 15,000 civilians to become Rangers or SEALs.
Click to expand...

Weren't most of the Blackwater; Academi and Xe Services contractors exactly that? Former Rangers and SEALS and Special Forces?

dooley_womack1 · Dec 22, 2011

I dunno, but if you're trying to say that the U.S. has a significant enough presence to not be considered out of Iraq, I think you're not correct.

Azrael · Dec 22, 2011

Just noting our status. And I thought it was frankly interesting that the figures cited by Al-Jazeera appeared in/on very few western news outlets.

YankeeFan · Dec 22, 2011

The DoD has pulled out.

And now, our State Department operates its own private army.

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Mission Accomplished !

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