Pentagon Seeks to Extend Iraq Agreement

[DeSwiss]

Source: The Hill via (Reader Supported News)

Pentagon Seeks to Extend Iraq Agreement

Reader Supported News
By John T. Bennett, The Hill
24 July 11

Effectively, what the Pentagon and the US Government are attempting to do, is negotiate with an Iraqi Government that they installed and support, permission to extend the US military occupation of Iraq. All as US and Western business interests jockey for position in Iraq. -- ma/RSN


Pentagon officials want a new security pact with Iraq worked out as soon as possible, in part so they can extend support contracts to ensure US forces remaining in that country have food and supplies.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, tapped to be the new Army chief of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee "the sooner, the better" in response to a question about how soon the military would prefer a new "status of forces agreement" be put into place.

Under the current agreement, all US forces must be removed from Iraq by Dec. 31. Senior US officials, however, have said recently they expect Baghdad will ask Washington to keep some forces there after the new year.

A quick deal will "make this an appropriate transition," said Odierno, who commanded US forces in Iraq from 2008 to 2010. But he said there is going to "have to be work done before then" on the terms of a new security pact.

Read more: http://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/308-12/6734-pentagon-seeks-to-extend-iraq-agreement

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- And so the real power in this country has spoken......

DeSwiss




"In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a
state. When we are ill...we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one." ~Plato

[gateley]

1. Sigh. nt

[msongs]

2. the commander in chief just can't say "no" to anybody lol nt

[DeSwiss]

8. And that's not all....

State Department Evades Oversight For Private Army In Iraq | Wired’s Spencer Ackerman reports that the State Department intends to roughly double the number of private security contractors in Iraq in order to protect its mission as it takes the lead of the U.S. presence there. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) Stuart Bowen complained that State has blocked his attempts to glean information about the 5,550-man private army. “Our audit of the program is making no progress,” he said. CAP visiting fellow Pratap Chatterjee wrote last month on ThinkProgress that the Obama administration should focus on beefing up State’s internal Bureau of Diplomatic Security rather than doling out lucrative contracts to hired guns.

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/07/22/276115/state-contractor-army-iraq/

[gateley]

16. I know. Sometimes I feel like I can't breathe. nt

[Angry Dragon]

3. The republicans say we have no money for this

[DeSwiss]

9. There's always room for jello.

- And war.

[Angry Dragon]

15. Speaking of jell-o

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/07/boehner-dealing-with-the-white-house-has-been-like-dealing-with-jell-o.html


In a meeting with a small group of reporters in his Capitol Hill office this morning, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, criticized President Obama and White House officials for their lack of resolve in negotiations.

“Dealing with them the last couple months has been like dealing with Jell-o,” Boehner said. “Some days it’s firmer than others. Sometimes it’s like they’ve left it out over night.”

Boehner explained that talks broke down over the weekend because, he said, the president backed off entitlement reforms so much from Friday to Saturday, “It was Jell-o; it was damn near liquid.”

Pretty good article, comments are mixed

[grahamhgreen]

4. It is forbidden to mention the deficit when talking about expanding war-for-profit.

[DeSwiss]

10. Shhh.....

[kestrel91316]

5. Get. Out. Of. Iraq. Right. Effing. Now.

[DeSwiss]

11. Damn. Right. n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

17. and Afghanistan. nt

[Arctic Dave]

6. 1) Pack up our shit.

2) Leave.

Did I leave anything out?

[DeSwiss]

12. I'm sorry?

:shrug: - Just a thought.

[Arctic Dave]

14. My apologies, that should have been #1. nt

[Fearless]

7. In the fields the bodies burning. As the war machine keeps turning. Death and hatred to mankind.

Poisoning their brainwashed minds, oh lord yeah!


:banghead:

[DeSwiss]

13. ....

[awoke_in_2003]

18. thanks...

Black Sabbath had it about right:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbxfe7DMxVo

[Fearless]

19. +1

[awoke_in_2003]

20. Led Zeppelin brought the volume...

and Black Sabbath brought the darkness- and heavy metal was the child.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlNhD0oS5pk&ob=av2n

[earcandle]

21. NO! we need the money here to take care of our own. We are done there. No more requests for funds

[Bluebear]

22. "I would remove our combat troops from Iraq in 16 months," - candidate Obama '08

[No Elephants]

24. Ah, yes, Candidate Obama. I vaguely recall him.

[No Elephants]

23. Shocked, shocked, to learn that gambling goes on in Rick's Casino.

[spanone]

25. ain't it great that the pentagon runs our foreign policy now? just fucking great

and now we got petreaus running the cia....i'm just thrilled

[libodem]

26. .

:argh: :wtf: :crazy: :puke: :mad: :mad: :mad: :freak: :thumbsdown: :banghead: :banghead: :nuke: :rant: