Out of Iraq? Don't Hold Your Breath by Will Pitt

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.truthout.org/out-iraq-dont-hold-your-breath59458

President Obama will not get the United States out of Iraq in his first term. If he wins a second term, it is highly unlikely he will get us out of Iraq before he finally leaves office.
Print that out and tack it to your wall. Six years from now, it will still be hanging there, yellow and curled, but entirely correct. We're not going anywhere.

The reasons for this grim truth are myriad, and most recently have to do with another frenzy of violence and bloodshed in that ravaged, raped nation. A parliamentary election on March 7 failed to deliver majority control to either of the two major factions - one controlled by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, the other by current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - and the resulting power struggle has spilled into the streets. Again.

Read between the lines of that carefully-worded report, and the reality of the situation becomes all too clear. We made such an incredible mess in Iraq that continued violence is a brass-bound guarantee. Every act of violence gives more fuel to those who argue for staying. It's a perfect circle, and it is not going to stop.
George W. Bush and his merry men got us into Iraq with the absolute intention of staying there forever. We've built a bunch of massive bases for exactly that purpose. Most people consider the Bush administration to be an abject failure, but in this they succeeded beyond even the wildest expectations. The companies that continue to rake in cash from our expenditures in that war are going to be building golden statues of Bush for a long time to come.

Whether President Obama is a prisoner of this situation, or is actively continuing the policy, is entirely irrelevant at this point. He may hate this war, or he may love it, but at the end of the day, he will continue in the manner of his predecessor.
We're there, and unless this country erupts in a frenzy of furious protest and civil disobedience, we're staying. Even that may not make the nut, but it would be awfully nice to see this country shake itself out of its stupor and do what needs to be done.

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Stanchetalarooni]

6. The US never intended to leave the land of the Sioux..

...and neither does it intend to leave the land of Babylon.

[UndertheOcean]

2. Is Will still banned ? n/t

[no limit]

3. Why did he get banned?

[jaxx]

4. I disagree.

Plans are on target for the withdrawal. The violence comes and goes, like always.

[zipplewrath]

5. Easy prediction to make

They've always left themselves wiggle room on this one, using phrases like "combat troops" or otherwise allowing for some troops to remain as "advisors" or "assist in fighting Al Queada". We have troops all over the world to some extent or another. I'm dubious we'll really ever remove everyone in a uniform in Iraq.

[whattheidonot]

7. there now

we are there until Al Qeada is defeated. There cannot be an Al Qeada victory there. It would be best if the Iraq's defeated Al Qeada but they may not be able to. Iraq will be a bigger deal than Afghanistan.

[no limit]

8. Lol. Just how exactly do you defeat an ideology?

It sure as hell isn't with bombs.

[whattheidonot]

11. a democracy

A democracy in iraq is the end of Al Qeadea. A Qeadea will fight this hard. Al Qeada will be finished anyway because they have nothing to offer. These far right religious cults always fade away but we should not make easy on them. They will remain a threat.

[no limit]

12. Does Iraq want a democracy?

[Ken Burch]

13. It's enough that Iraq has had elections.

That makes it a democracy already. There's nothing we can do by force of arms that could make it MORE of a democracy.

[eridani]

10. Al Qaeda is utterly irrelevant to Iraq, which is under the control of Shi'ites

--and will be for the forseeable future.

[IndianaGreen]

9. K&R

Few among us really believed the 2011 exit date, just as we decried the escalation in Afghanistan.

Sadly, so-called moderates will blame liberals for the failure of moderate (aka DLC) policies.

[yurbud]

14. right conclusion, wrong reasons

whether or not there's ongoing sectarian violence is irrelevant.

If there is calm, we will say it is safe to establish a garrison like we have in Korea, Germany and other countries.

If there is violence, we will say we are staying to establish calm.

Either way, we are staying to pressure the Iraqis to enact contracts on terms favorable to the oil companies and to ensure that they follow those contracts. If we leave, they could re-nationalize their oil or drive a harder bargain.

Talk about anything else is naive or propaganda.

If we cared about violence and social disorder, we'd still be in Somalia and would have invaded Rwanda during their genocide.

[Andronex]

15. Leaving was never an option...

read the Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski, or the neocon PNAC(project for a new american century) document, the violence is ramped up to justify a permanent military occupation, western forces have been found on a few occasion to be behind the violence.