US Mulls ‘Keeping 10,000 Troops In Iraq’

[Purveyor]

Source: Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON — US and Iraqi officials are looking into keeping 10,000 US troops in the country beyond a year's end deadline for a complete withdrawal, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The talks are politically sensitive for both countries, with Americans keen to end their involvement in Iraq and Iraqis concerned that prolonging the troop presence could fuel sectarian tensions and protests, it said.

The paper, citing unnamed officials, said US military commanders believe that leaving at least 10,000 troops beyond 2011 could promote greater security and prevent Iran from expanding its regional influence.

However, such a plan would require presidential approval, and US President Barack Obama -- a critic of the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein -- has not yet said whether he would sign off on it.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/22/us-mulls-keeping-10000-troops-in-iraq/

[Botany]

1. I never want to hear word one about why we have to ...

.... cut social programs again because of the deficit.

[xchrom]

3. +1

[Zorra]

4. +1 more.

[FlyByNight]

6. Another +1

[Nossida]

17. Get Out Already

Enough is Enough.
This is the same old British occupation strategy we've used for 8 years running.
As soon as the deadline for a full pullout nears, the reports of violence in
Iraq are reported once again in the Press. We stay in Iraq because Iran's western
flank is just across the street from Baghdad. The very reason we occupied it to
begin with. And to keep the Saudi's happy. Expect an upswing in 'reported' incidents
in Iraq to increase as the deadline nears. the violence never stopped, our compliant
Press simply stopped discussing it, until needed.

Farce thy name is Iraq.

[wordpix]

22. +1 but I think the real reason is to provide BigOil with protection

Dick Chain-ee's energy corps had it all figured out with their secret energy deal and they're not letting go of the spoils until they're secured, even if it takes 100 yrs.

[theHandpuppet]

30. Amen to that!!!

:thumbsup:

[Angry Dragon]

2. Just declare it a territory then no problem

[MineralMan]

5. Par for the course. We still have 50,000 troops in Germany.

Once we come, we never leave, it seems.

Speaking of which, there's a good way to fix the budget. Bring The Boys (and Girls) Home!

Germany? Italy? Japan? We have US troops all over the planet, and in large numbers. Shut down those bases and bring 'em all home. Give 'em a discharge, some severance pay, and start saving.

[Botany]

8. We do have a big footprint worldwide

[No Elephants]

9. Or put them to work on U.S. infrastructure.

Laying off all troop from Germany, Italy, Japan and Iraq en masse during a reession may not be the wisest course.

[orangeapple]

15. yeah, let's keep borrowing money

to pay to keep them deployed around the world turning our wealth into explosions.
I think the Broken Window fallacy has a new kid brother...

[area51]

19. As you said,

put them to work fixing our crumbling infrastructure, and also offer them training in the medical professions. We have a shortage of primary care physicians and a lot of people in this country w/o access to health care. Better start training now.

[Kolesar]

13. That's a five star country club for Army men

Four stars, at least

[No Elephants]

7. Lots of fudge and weasel words in the operative clause..

US military commanders believe that leaving at least 10,000 troops beyond 2011 could promote greater security and prevent Iran from expanding its regional influence.."

Believe

At least

Beyond

Could

Promote

IOW, bringing all home tomorrow also could achieve the same result as leaving 100,000 troops there for eternity.

[TatonkaJames]

10. All part of that old imperialist mindset

They have this end game in sight and there's no stopping the military. Who's going to stop them ?
Us ? Can't vote them out, we see that with Obama. They take orders from no one.

[No Elephants]

12. The end is increasing the size of the military, or at least not decreasing it.

What good is being a bigwig general in the Pentagon unless you have lots of underlings and a huge budget, not to mention an obvious, though never mentioned, ability to pull off a coup de etat?

[Zorra]

11. We'll be there until multi-national oil companies say it's ok to leave.

"Smithers, you may go now"

[wordpix]

23. bingo - and "Smithers, I'll be visiting the hospital from time time since your legs are blown off"

why don't the f'ing oil corpos go out there and protect their own damn oil pipelines? They've got more money than Midas

[aquart]

14. NO!

[Historic NY]

16. Why? they'd still be targets.

[Baclava]

18. Mulls is an interesting word - - it implies an alternative answer

Like ...Get The Fuck Out Now!

[wordpix]

24. +1 "We're broke and we're leaving" - keep it simple

[sofa king]

20. We can't leave behind our toys.

The United States caused a worldwide shortage of concrete and cement for the whole of the Bush years, because we built fourteen giant fortresses throughout Iraq. If we leave them behind, the Iranians will be in them within eighteen months, and we'll never get them out.

That was a very deliberate and unbelievably expensive move on the part of the Bush Administration, to ensure that our blood would be spilled there forever.

[quakerboy]

27. I dunno

They were built by the same faulty contractors that get our soldiers electrocuted and produce bad water. Bet a halfass bombardment with multimillion dollar missiles would turn them to powder in under 24 hours.

[yurbud]

21. why would the Iraqis approve of this since every poll ever taken of them shows they want us out?

[wordpix]

25. article states they still want us out & US is "keen to end their involvement"

So what's to mull ----except Big Oil doesn't like the idea?

snip:
The talks are politically sensitive for both countries, with Americans keen to end their involvement in Iraq and Iraqis concerned that prolonging the troop presence could fuel sectarian tensions and protests, it said. snip

[theHandpuppet]

31. Did we ever really care about what the Iraqis wanted?

It's not like we were invited in.

[yurbud]

32. Chalabi invited us in, but that's scrounging pretty low for a prom date.

[Nossida]

26. Told you so

Insurgents step up assassinations in Iraq
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/24/insurgents-step-up-assassinations-in-iraq/

Right according to the script.
the US simply cannot leave any Country it has ever occupied.
It would be, well, UnAmerican.

what a pathetic joke.

[Nossida]

28. and yet another

and yet another
2 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Southern Iraq
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/23/2-us-soldiers-killed-in-s_n_852850.html

these reports will continue in frequency as the Troop
withdraw deadline nears. like I told you yesterday M8's.
The violence never stopped, Our Compliant Free Press all
to happy to do as they are told.

This policy is cynical beyond redemption.

Keep watching.

[marasinghe]

29. and then there's this ....

Iraqis rally against extending U.S. troops presence (Reuters)

Reuters
MOSUL, Iraq; Sun Apr 24, 2011; 4:38pm EDT
By Jamal al-Badrani

MOSUL, Iraq -Thousands of Iraqis rallied in the northern city of Mosul Sunday in one of the biggest protests yet against any extension of the U.S. military presence in Iraq ....