Marines exit Iraq in first wave of US forces out

[janx]

Source: Washington Post

AL-ASAD, Iraq -- The base loudspeaker no longer wakes them up with calls for blood donors; armored trucks sit idle in neat rows. The U.S. Marines who stood at some of the bloodiest turning points of the Iraq war are packing up and leaving.

Among the first troops to invade in March 2003, and the first to help turn enemy insurgents into allies, the Marines will be the first major wave of American forces to go as the U.S. military begins a withdrawal to be completed by the end of next year. For them, as for the rest of the U.S. military, this has been the longest war since Vietnam.

At their peak in October 2008, an estimated 25,000 Marines were in Iraq, mostly in the country's western Anbar province. Now only about 4,000 remain. They, too, will be gone shortly after the Marines officially hand over responsibility to the Army on Saturday.

"The security and stability that exists here is well within the means of the Iraqi security forces to maintain," Maj. Gen. Rick Tryon, the Marine commander in Iraq, said in a recent interview. "You don't need United States Marines to do this at this point. So it's time, and it's timely."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011800120_pf.html

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They're finally coming home! :party:

[cliffordu]

1. B-B-B-BUT this runs counter to the Obama's a war mongering

label here at DU...... What to do, what to do.....

[Bigmack]

13. I've never thought of Obama as a warmonger...

Foolish, perhaps... or badly advised... or just plain wrong about Afghanistan.

What can his reasoning possibly be? Nothing he says makes any sense in that clusterfuck.

In Afghanistan there are roughly 20,000 Taliban, and 100 AlQaeda. We have 100,000 troops, 100,000 "contractors", control of the air, unlimited supplies, and the only real modern weapons in the area. And the Taliban are resurgent.

Obama should look at LBJ and what happened to him because of Vietnam.

Warmonger... probably not. But what do we call him?

[Winterblues]

15. You mean the Obama that said "Beginning on Day One"..."One Brigade a Month"

We are exactly one year into his term and he is finally beginning to withdraw some troops...And people wonder why Obama's popularity has decreased..:shrug:

[cliffordu]

16. Well.......

Do you think he was privy to the same intelligence reports as a candidate he was as president????

Maybe he was fed only partial, rosy reports when he was a candidate by the same fucking administration that lied about the war to begin with.

Maybe they were blowing rose colored smoke up his ass as they were us.

Maybe after he was elected and given the ultimate security clearance the reality became known.

Or maybe he's a lying sack of crap, undeserving of your support and needs to fail to make you feel better.

:shrug:

[Winterblues]

17. Right

No matter what he says that turns out to be not exactly the truth I am supposed to love and worship him..He also PLEDGED there would be no more Supplemental War Funding...PLEDGED that, and just last week he said he is going to need more supplemental war money..I am glad he is there instead of McCain but he has disappointed me greatly with his new "reality" as you might put it...He is trying to please everybody on every issue and it just doesn't work that way. He sure as hell hasn't pleased me, but he doesn't care because he has been told I have no where else to go...I have to vote Democratic....Well another new "reality" is about to be experienced by him and the Democrats I do believe. If all we get is Republican policies I don't need to vote..

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Winterblues]

20. I have never been in your Party

I am now and have been my entire life an Independent..Your attitude explains exactly why..

[cliffordu]

21. Well...

:rofl:


That means what, that you're the equivalent of a K-mart Shopper??? Do what I want to all the time or I'll let the other guy win???

Do you stand for anything? do you work for anything or are you just a consumer of candidates???

[Skittles]

24. what an idiotic reply

[MadMaddie]

22. Perhaps you missed this tidbit

<snip>
At their peak in October 2008, an estimated 25,000 Marines were in Iraq, mostly in the country's western Anbar province. Now only about 4,000 remain.
<snip>

So let's see in October 08 25,000 Marines were in Iraq and Now January 2010 there are only 4000 left that means..

wait for it....

Between the October 9th to present 21,000 troops have been withdrawn.....

So you are wrong.

This is another case of trying to find an issue when there is none.

Sigh....

[cliffordu]

23. ....And, listen to those crickets in response....

:rofl:

[Mari333]

2. no, they will end up in Afghanistan

this is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
in the meantime, 52,000 dollars a minute is spent on these stupid occupations.
and the US will have permanent bases there with soldiers and mercenaries.
and not one war criminal will go to jail for this illegal occupation.
and the oil companies will be popping champagne corks in glee because we allowed our soldiers to die for their profits.

[icee]

4. Exactly. Then somewhere else. And by that time the bad guys

will be back Iraq. Unfortunately, around then the US will be stone broke and be spending our Social Security monies that they've appropriated because they spent the entire FICA trust fund. And Obama will give a lovely mellifluous speech saying: we Americans have to make sacrifices so the people in _______ (fill in the blank) can have better lives. Meanwhile, the US has one out of two children living on food stamps sometime in their lifetime, has decaying schools, roads, hospitals, etc, and are about to be forced to buy private insurance run healthcare. Everything may change tomorrow because of two separate fronts.

[janx]

6. And not only that...

but WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! :rofl:

[icee]

9. Not all of us. Those with resources will last until those resources

are gone, and they can no longer fight the gangs at the door. Once the middle class disappears the situation will change rapidly. People who know only how to make funny objects on bulletin boards will have trouble finding work and will be forced to scribble mindlessly on restroom walls again.

[Mari333]

10. god, how cruel. you are on ignore.

[proteus_lives]

19. Don't feel bad.

She puts everyone who doesn't agree with her on ignore.

[shadowknows69]

8. Exactly. My second cousin's husband was allowed one week home before switching theaters

One week!!!

[Kolesar]

3. Don't you sit under the apple tree

With anybody else but me

[janx]

5. Have a beer...

:toast:

[Soylent Brice]

7. K&R

[Hulk]

11. What are the numbers???

I got the 25,000 to 4,000 figure. What are the numbers of American military presence in Iraq today? What are the numbers of "mercenary bloodsuckers"?

Have we actually started reducing our presence....or not?

[winyanstaz]

12. Are they coming home or going to Afganistan?

I hope they are coming home :)

[placton]

14. Good news - I like to see Obama keep his promises

let's wait til August tho? I am glad to see this news.

[western mass]

25. get them ALL out, then we'll talk

until then, Obama's version war of Bush's phony war is just more corporate handouts from the corporate handout president.

[harun]

26. +1