US Marines end role in Iraq :):):)

[impik]

RAMADI, Iraq – The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped up nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday, handing over duties to the Army and signaling the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops as the U.S. turns its focus away from the waning Iraqi war to a growing one in Afghanistan...

...The Marines formally handed over control of Sunni-dominated Anbar, Iraq's largest province, to the Army during a ceremony at a base in Ramadi — where some of the fiercest fighting of the war took place.

Iraqi and American color guards stood together at attention as both countries' national anthems were played by a U.S. military band...

...As many as 25,000 Marines were in Iraq at the peak, mostly in Anbar province. The few thousand who remain — except for U.S. Embassy guards and advisers in Baghdad — are expected to ship out in a matter of weeks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. The article doesn't mention the total number of Marine KIA's

Which seems like an odd and lazy oversight.

Anbar was the center of the Sunni insurgency (there were at least three insurgencies in Iraq).

[Capers]

21. The entire article is wartime propaganda intended to trick you...

into believing that control of the province is being handed to the Iraqis. It is not. The "reporter" is pulling a fast one.

[Cha]

22. Link to that?

[Capers]

23. Just read the article again.

VERY carefully.

[livetohike]

2. My friends' son is coming home this weekend

:-)

[Cha]

24. Good! I know they're all Happy!

[CTLawGuy]

3. wow, no one replying to this thread. what a shock

:eyes: Anything good is instantly ignored

[jonnyblitz]

4. well DUH, they'll just be sent to afghanistan to die, get a fucking

CLUE. :eyes:

[CTLawGuy]

5. you get a fucking clue

he's ending the war in Iraq and no one gives a shit.

[Aramchek]

15. I guess ending the Iraq War is no big deal, huh?

Maybe you should have voted for McCain so it could go on endlessly.

[impik]

7. Of course. It's so predictable. If people like me

and few others wouldn't bring here this stuff from time to time - No one else would. And this is a "Democratic" site. Fucking amazing.

[dionysus]

8. good news gets in the way of a good diaper-filling tantrum.

why would you want to spoil their fun?

[liquid diamond]

17. lol.

You're one of my favorite posters. Thanks for the laugh. :rofl:

[Arctic Dave]

30. All the people who the marines murdered are happy they are leaving.

Guess they ran out of people to kill.

Sorry if I don't get all emotional over them.

[CTLawGuy]

32. That's right our soldiers are

murderers :eyes:

You gonna say that to their faces?

[Arctic Dave]

34. Yep. And I will say it to their face. FUCK EM!

Did Iraq attack the US, NO! Did they gleefully take pictures of dead Iraqis, YES. Once again, they can go fuck themselves.

If you want to be their ball washer, knock yourself out.

[CTLawGuy]

35. you gonna spit in their faces too?

Rush Limbaugh will be very pleased.

[Arctic Dave]

36. Don't care RL does, just myself. And don't give two shits about any murders.

No matter who's side they are on.

[boppers]

6. Withdrawing, as promised.

Of course, no good news can go without being punished on DU.

[janx]

9. K&R

[frylock]

10. knr

now lets get them the hell out of afghanistan as well.

[scheming daemons]

11. And the usual suspects don't post in this thread... because it is a positive one

and they're just here to do as much disrupting as they possibly can without getting tombstoned.

[Fire1]

12. +10000. K&R

[FrenchieCat]

13. K&R!

[Aramchek]

14. we should be almost completely out of Iraq in time for the Midterms. nice!

[jenmito]

16. K&R for all the people who do nothing but claim Obama is part of the MIC,

saying he'll NEVER get out of Iraq, posting pics of dead and maimed people.

[Robb]

18. On schedule. Even a little ahead.

Good news, good news.

[Fla Dem]

19. Good Job USMC... Mission Accomplished. Now for fair elections. n/t

[Capers]

20. It appears that most of the people posting to this thread were deceived by the article.

Or did not read it.

The U.S. Marines DID NOT hand control to the Iraqi Army; they handed control to the U.S. Army. If you think that's progress, you must really have a thing for Barack Obama.

But to your credit, the author of this article (of this propaganda) carefully selected his words in an effort to mislead you into thinking there was some kind of withdrawal taking place. You've been had.

Oh well. I guess we can add "ADAM SCHRECK, Associated Press Writer" to the traitors list.

[Hansel]

25. It appears you are deceived by your own cynicism.

The people posting on this thread are pretty smart. I'm quite sure they picked up on the fact that they are not handing control to the Iraqi Army. The article was pretty clear on that since it just said they were handing control to the Army not Iraqi Army. As Americans, we are going to assume our Army.

Is this the part you think is too tricky for them?

If all goes as planned, the last remaining Marines will be followed out by tens of thousands of soldiers in the coming months. President Barack Obama has ordered all but 50,000 troops out of the country by Aug. 31, with most to depart after the parliamentary election in March.

The remaining troops will leave by the end of 2011 under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact.

[Capers]

26. In truth Obama is almost certainly INCREASING the U.S. military presensce in Anbar.

The Army travels heavier than the Marines, thus more U.S. Military personnel will likely be on the ground. That's probably why the Obama administration planted this nonsensical propaganda with the AP.

Now, if you really believe that the people posting to this thread have NOT been tricked into believing that a massive withdrawal is underway, that's fine. If that's the case, we simply disagree. But I suspect you're being less than honest.

As for the stuff you quoted above, it's taken from one of Obama's lists of promises. That's why it begins with "If all goes as planned..." I guess even that’s enough to fool some people some of the time.

[MadMaddie]

27. So two of President Obama's election promises are fulfilled

and we have people on DU that bemoan that it is not good enough.

They automatically jump to he is sending the troops to Afghanistan, during the election he said he would do just that. Why are you surprised? He did exactly what he said he was going to do.

So for those of you that continually say he doesn't keep his promises, well he did.

1. Withdrawal from Iraq - check
2. Increase troop deployment in Afghanistan - check

Whether you like it or not it is what it is.

[dionysus]

29. you should have figured out by now that doesn't matter. doesn't matter what he does,

they'll find a reason one way or another to despise the man. trust me.

[golfguru]

28. and transfering them to Afghan & Yemen n/t

[cherokeeprogressive]

31. Does this mean that there isn't a single Marine left in Iraq?

Or is turning over operational command to be considered "ending the role"?

How many Marines in country tomorrow morning?

"As many as 25,000 Marines were in Iraq at the peak of the fighting, mostly in Anbar province. Fewer than 3,000 remain. All but a handful of those will ship out in a matter of weeks."

Damn, the older I get, the foggier and more blurry the line between black and white becomes. "The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped up nearly seven years in Iraq...", yet there are STILL a few thousand there?

[provis99]

33. big deal. Obama is increasing deployment of the National Guard to fill the Marines shoes.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/national_guard_6.html

http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/marysville/stories/2009/08/07/0809madeploy_ln.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=104

http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/53032582.html

The Texas National Guard is also scheduled to send a couple of IBCTs to Iraq around the time of the midterm 2010 elections.

[DailyGrind51]

37. When do they arrive in Afghanistan?