[careinke]

By the end of the year. Awesome!

[Loki]

How many advisors and contractors will remain?

[careinke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Loki', 'H')ow many advisors and contractors will remain?

[Plantagenet]

Good to hear Obama failed in his year-long effort to convince the Iraqis to allow US troops to stay in Iraq.

Iraq is an oil-exporting country----they can afford to pay for their own defense.

[careinke]

I think we should give Obama ALL of the credit for this. Maybe it will inspire him to do the same in Afghanistan. Hell, I'd vote for him if our troops in Afghanistan were home by the November elections.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', 'I') think we should give Obama ALL of the credit for this.

[careinke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Keith_McClary', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', 'I') think we should give Obama ALL of the credit for this.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', 'I') think we should give Obama ALL of the credit for this. Maybe it will inspire him to do the same in Afghanistan.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Loki', 'H')ow many advisors and contractors will remain?

[Loki]

Hmmmm....
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')ut the end of the war does not mean the end of the U.S. presence in Iraq. Indeed, speaking after the president’s brief announcement, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough acknowledged that the United States would continue to train Iraq’s military in the new weaponry that Obama has agreed to sell the government that emerged after U.S. troops toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Just this year, the Pentagon approved a sale of F-16s to Iraq’s air force.

Also remaining in Iraq will be military contractors who currently protect American diplomatic missions in Iraq, such as the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Irbil.

“As part of a new agreement there will be Americans in Iraq training and assisting the Iraqi armed forces,” Qubad Talabani, the Kurdistan regional government representative in Washington and the son of Iraq’s president, told The Daily Beast. “These Americans will not be combat troops but they will be U.S. soldiers.”

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-declares-ir ... 00285.html

[ritter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '
')I don't mind giving Obama the credit---maybe he secretly wanted his own negotiations to stay in Iraq to fail and undercut his people somehow. And IMHO Obama also deserves some credit for toppling Khadaffi in Libya and Mubarek in Egypt.

[Expatriot]

This is awful news.

It means that something major is going to happen before then.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Expatriot', 'T')his is awful news.

It means that something major is going to happen before then.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Loki', 'H')mmmm....
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '.')..
“As part of a new agreement there will be Americans in Iraq training and assisting the Iraqi armed forces,” Qubad Talabani, the Kurdistan regional government representative in Washington and the son of Iraq’s president, told The Daily Beast. “These Americans will not be combat troops but they will be U.S. soldiers.”

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-declares-ir ... 00285.html

[DomusAlbion]

To borrow a quote from my favorite cyborg:

"We'll be back"

This decision was more or less taken by the Iraqis themselves and Obama is just attempting to make domestic political gain from it. In reality in the not too distant future the armed forces of the USA will be back in the region and in force. The Empire needs their resources in able to survive.

[evilgenius]

Yep, we'll be back as soon as the Shiites and the Sunnis find themselves unable to share the country.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('evilgenius', 'Y')ep, we'll be back as soon as the Shiites and the Sunnis find themselves unable to share the country.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', 'A')mericans are angry and fed up they won't allow any more military antics involving ground troops in the middle east.

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', 'I') don't think so, Americans are angry and fed up they won't allow any more military antics involving ground troops in the middle east.