Obama: Iraq combat mission on schedule to end this summer

[ProSense]

Source: CNN

Pensacola, Florida (CNN) -- President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the U.S. military is on track to complete its roughly seven-year combat mission in Iraq -- part of a redeployment of forces in response to changing needs at home and abroad.

He also praised members of the armed services for their role in fighting the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and promised an "unprecedented response" to what has now become a top-tier political crisis.

The president made his remarks during an appearance at the Naval Air Station here, at the conclusion of a two-day visit to the reeling Gulf region.

The armed forces are poised to end their "combat mission in Iraq this summer -- on schedule," Obama declared. "You've earned your place among the greatest of generations."


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/06/15/obama.iraq.gulf/index.html?section=cnn_latest

[Oregone]

1. Then the heavily armed "peace mission" will start

Whoohoo!

[saigon68]

2. More Deaths for Halliburton

"BRING EM ON"

[Enrique]

5. have to protect the embassy

need 24 Black Hawk helicopters to protect our diplomats.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jTTJvzNB_oaWIlNoHd2UeDi2js0wD9GB7ON80

State Dept wants combat gear for security in Iraq

By RICHARD LARDNER (AP) – 21 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The State Department says its diplomatic staff won't be safe after the American military leaves Iraq unless it has its own combat-ready protection force, a warning that underscores concerns about the Iraq army and police the U.S. has spent billions of dollars training and equipping.

Vehicles and aircraft used by the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security to protect personnel in other parts of the world are "inadequate to the extreme security challenges in Iraq," according to documents the State Department sent to the Pentagon in April. The bureau will need to "duplicate the capabilities of the U.S. military" by December 2011, the documents say, when all American forces are scheduled to leave Iraq.

The State Department wants 24 of the Army's Black Hawk helicopters, 50 bomb-resistant vehicles, heavy cargo trucks, fuel trailers and high-tech surveillance systems, according to the documents, which were obtained by The Associated Press.

Patrick Kennedy, the State Department's undersecretary for management, wants the equipment transferred at "no cost" from military stocks.

"After the departure of U.S. forces, we will continue to have a critical need for logistical and life support of a magnitude and scale of complexity that is unprecedented in the history of the Department of State," Kennedy says in a memo to Ashton Carter, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition.

(...)

[Oregone]

6. That thing is huge! Itll take thousands to keep it safe

I mean...the shear size...isn't that an indicator that the US has interests there and isn't ready to make a clean cut? I think so.

Or maybe the private firms building it already made enough money to justify it being built. They just got a load of tax payer money

[conspirator]

22. Colonial Fortress is a better nomenclature for that embassy n/t

[Cha]

3. Somebody's upset that we're getting

our of Iraq. Oh well..it's going to happen whether the news get Rec on DU or not.

Thanks Pro Sense.

[Oregone]

4. I thought this was about the "combat mission" ending

We are also getting out of Iraq?!?!

You sure?

:)

[Taverner]

24. Depends on how you look at it

The superhugemega Embassy is still on track, and the plans are to house quite a few US troops there.

There will be a certain amount of 'advisers' (much like we have in many many other countries)

[Oregone]

25. Hurray. Sounds like peace

Im so glad the war is over then. :)

[Hell Hath No Fury]

7. Hmmm... and those tens of thousands --

of troops we are leaving there? The ones that there are no plans to remove, like ever?

"Despite President Barack Obama’s statement at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina Feb. 27 that he had "chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months," a number of Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), which have been the basic U.S. Army combat unit in Iraq for six years, will remain in Iraq after that date under a new non-combat label.

A spokesman for Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates, Lt. Col. Patrick S. Ryder, told IPS Tuesday that "several advisory and assistance brigades" would be part of a U.S. command in Iraq that will be "re-designated" as a "transition force headquarters" after August 2010.

But the "advisory and assistance brigades" to remain in Iraq after that date will in fact be the same as BCTs, except for the addition of a few dozen officers who would carry out the advice and assistance missions, according to military officials involved in the planning process.


http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46264

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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

[Jokerman]

14. Some of us think this story is bullshit.

Anything short of a complete withdrawal is just a public relations stunt.

[Robb]

15. US out of Italy! Now!!

[Cha]

17. And wherever the hell

else we are.

[Jokerman]

21. Shoot and miss!

Not even close.

[Cha]

16. Of course you do.

[Bigmack]

9. Let the games begin!...

The massive, bloody civil war will start then. Sadr has been saving his ammo for the festivities, as has everybody else.

Gonna happen eventually whether we're there or not.

Too bad we destabilized them.... typical Murikan ham-handed military intervention.

[Dawgs]

10. Looks like your post brought out all of the "experts".

Has cynicism become the new stupidity? Looks that way.

[n2doc]

11. What was it that W said?

"Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/05/01/bush.transcript/

Seems like we have all heard this before. "reconstructing" will go on, as usual.

[ProSense]

12. There isn't anything more.

If someone don't believe a word the President says, then there isn't anything he can say or do to change their mind.

Therefore, the President's statements will mean nothing to those in the above category. The only thing they have left is cynicism. So be it.

[n2doc]

13. All I can say is, I haven't seen the troops acting like they are getting out

We get a lot of soldiers here in Savannah, and talking with them, yeah, some units are leaving, but many are staying or repositioning. No one is saying that Iraq won't still be a major destination for them.

So we shall see, won't we?

[Cha]

18. Exactly..they can always pull out that cheap

trick refering to bush like there's no difference because they just can't get it.

[bvar22]

23. One thing WOULD change my mind, and everybody else's too.

Actually LEAVE Iraq instead of just talking about it.

BTW, THIS timetable IS the timetable specified in the SOFA Agreement negotiated by Bush the Lesser.
Shouldn't you be singing his praises?
I hardly find it laudable that Obama is adhering to the Bush Plan.
It is a "withdrawal" in Name Only.
Well over 50,000 Combat Trained and Combat Capable Troops will remain.
They WILL still engage in combat operations against Iraqis.
They will just call it something else.
Creative Branding.

You want to change my mind?
Get out of Iraq, and stop killing Iraqis.
I will gladly apologize for my cynicism.

[ProSense]

26. Here's the problem with these claims

"BTW, THIS timetable IS the timetable specified in the SOFA Agreement negotiated by Bush the Lesser." (The August date was not negotiated by Bush, and how do you know that Bush wouldn't have done everything in his power to negate the SOFA?)

"Shouldn't you be singing his praises?" (No)

"I hardly find it laudable that Obama is adhering to the Bush Plan." (It's not Bush's plan, see above)

"It is a "withdrawal" in Name Only." (No it's a withdrawal in progress, troops and equipment are being removed)

"Well over 50,000 Combat Trained and Combat Capable Troops will remain." (The plan calls for 50,000 troops to remain as trainers. You can debate that.)

"They WILL still engage in combat operations against Iraqis." (No, they will not, they are not engaged in combat now.)

"They will just call it something else." (So you anticipate a return to the more than 100 troops being killed each month disguised as training?)

"Creative Branding." (See above)

[bvar22]

30. Here is the problem with your claims.

We will have to wait and see, just like we had to wait and see on the Public Option.

My cynicism is based on past performance.

[Hydra]

19. Well, we know the MIC doesn't like this idea beyond the PR value of saying it

So despite my cynicism, I'll break out the popcorn and see what happens

:evilgrin:

[Scurrilous]

20. K & R

:thumbsup:

[happygoluckytoyou]

27. 150,000 SOLDIERS NO LONGER IN IRAQ...replaced by 150,000 heavily armed military cooks...UNDER SIEGE!

[ProSense]

28. Currently, there are only about 90,000 troops left in Iraq. n/t

[junior college]

29. "Changing needs....abroad" - Like minerals in Afghanistan?

Let's git sum troops over there to protect them minerals!!