US agrees to pull out

[gmc]

Looks like Mccain was wrong about the forever war in iraq.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...11-962874.html

Wonder what will happen to all the oil now.

[oscar]

Originally Posted by gmc

Looks like Mccain was wrong about the forever war in iraq.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...11-962874.html

Wonder what will happen to all the oil now.

So, in a nutshell, Iraq has surrendered to Allied forces???

[spot]

Yes oscar, the Iraqis have surrendered in exchange for having all their demands met.

"Contractors, who have more men in Iraq than the US army, will no longer have immunity"? Hallelujah.

Tell me, did the US not build huge concrete barracks all over Iraq to hunker down in for the rest of the 21st Century? Wasn't there an $82 billion supplemental appropriations bill approved by Congress in May 2005 for the construction of "Contingency Operating Bases" - what used to be called "enduring bases" with four large permanent air bases - Tallil in the south, Al Asad in the west, Balad in the center and either Irbil or Qayyarah in the north? What am I getting wrong here? The plan was for a 100,000-strong permanent US presence in camps that qualified to all intents and purposes as US sovereign territory.

What on earth else have the buggers been entrenching themselves for all these years if not a permanent in-theatre roll-out forward arsenal anticipating Armageddon? Who lost the plot?

[RedGlitter]

Good. To hell with Iraq, they can take care of themselves now. Maybe now we can work on our problems here without losing even more Americans. Why wait till 2011 though? Yank out now.

[guppy]

Afghanistan will be on the US target next...even though u.s. forces are pulling out of Iraq , they could just as easily return if the need or want be.

[fuzzy butt]

US agrees to Pull out....................Yeah that's what they always say , but inevitably somone ends up pregnant.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by spot

Who lost the plot?

The Bush administration spock.
The pompous ass got in way over his head.
Not that theres evidence of a well conceived plan to begin with.

[spot]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/7678783.stm

Iraq's ruling coalition says it wants to make changes to a draft long-term security pact with the US. American and Iraqi officials had previously said the draft agreement was final and would not be changed. The deal would allow US forces to stay in Iraq until 2011 and grant Iraq limited authority to prosecute troops.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/7677551.stm

Supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr have staged a mass demonstration in Baghdad in protest against plans to extend the US mandate in Iraq. An estimated 50,000 protesters chanted slogans such as "Get out occupier!".

Iraqi and US negotiators drafted the deal after months of talks but it still needs approval from Iraq's government. Under the agreement US troops would withdraw by 2011, and Iraq would have the right to prosecute Americans who commit crimes while off-duty. The UN mandate for US-led coalition forces expires at the end of this year. About 144,000 of the 152,000 foreign troops deployed there are US military personnel.

[Odie]

Originally Posted by RedGlitter

Good. To hell with Iraq, they can take care of themselves now. Maybe now we can work on our problems here without losing even more Americans. Why wait till 2011 though? Yank out now.

well said, if it happens!

We need our troops home to!

[spot]

Both sides would seem to be refusing to blink. I wonder how long it will be before an American brings out a coded threat? There's ten weeks left of the existing UN mandate to occupy Iraq. US interests at this stage lie solely in not being jeered as they leave, that's why they're still there now instead of withdrawn any time in the last four years. So long as they're in the country and not all flying out of it the 50,000 demonstrators on the streets of Baghdad are small print on an inside page instead of headlines.

There is, at this stage, not a hope in hell of a stable post-occupation Iraq government being anything other than rabidly anti-American. Any Iraqi President who supinely sits in office mechanically saying Thank You America is going to be ousted by every self-respecting General, regardless of the ransacked state of the Iraqi Armed Forces.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned of "dramatic consequences" if Washington and Baghdad do not agree a security deal on US forces in Iraq. He said if there were no Status of Forces Agreement the US would have to "basically stop doing anything". Iraq's cabinet is demanding changes to a draft deal already agreed with Washington that would allow US forces to stay in Iraq until 2011.

Mr Gates said the US had "great reluctance" to renegotiate. "I don't think you slam the door shut, but I would say it's pretty far closed," he said. "The consequences of not having Status of Forces Agreement (Sofa) and of not having a renewed UN authorisation are pretty dramatic."

Failure to finalise the Sofa or renew a UN mandate would mean US operations would have to be suspended. The UN mandate for US-led coalition forces expires at the end of the year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/7683151.stm