Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In US War And Occupation Of Iraq 1,311,695 estimated.
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In U.S. War And Occupation Of Iraq 4,257.
Cost of U.S. War and Occupation of Iraq
$603,609,488,252 or so.....18,000 children die each DAY from hunger and we can't even imagine how better to spend this kind of obscene money....
Map of current permanent bases in Iraq and those still under construction here
http://www.fcnl.org/iraq/bases.htm Sure doesn't look like we're leaving anytime soon [oh, maybe when the oil runs out....]
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n173658
Focus News Agency
March 10, 2009
Further U.S. withdrawal from Iraq unlikely this year: U.S. general
Washington - Further withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq after the planned departure of 12,000 troops by September is unlikely this year, a U.S. general said on Monday, Xinhua News Agency informed.
Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the second-in-command of U.S. forces in Iraq, told a Pentagon conference via live video-link from Iraq that the expected withdrawal of those troops is what the U.S. military is planning "for the foreseeable future."
"We absolutely have to make sure that we have the adequate force available to provide that same degree of security that we saw at the end of January for the provincial elections," he added, stressing the heavy security need for Iraq's general elections in December.
On the previous day, the U.S. military announced it will pull out 12,000 troops from Iraq by September, still leaving the bulk of troops there.
Last month, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a plan to withdraw all U.S. combat forces from Iraq by Aug. 2010, leaving only 35,000 to 50,000 troops for noncombat missions.
But U.S. military commanders said the plan also gave them the flexibility to adjust troops levels around the "window of risk" surrounding Iraq's general election in the coming December.
According to a security pact inked by the former Bush administration and the Iraqi government last year, all U.S. forces will leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
You have to admit, it did make a good campaign slogan. Too bad it was JUST a slogan....fooled again!....
An absolute Obama-ination!
Just think, if they can break up Iraq and call the northern part say, Kurdishville or such, they can keep their troops there AND say that they left Iraq with a straight face. :elefant:
EXCLUSIVE: Top General in Iraq Says 'If They Ask Us to Stay We Will Probably Stay'
Gen. Ray Odierno Tells ABC the Fight in Mosul May Lead U.S. Troops to Stay Longer
By MARTHA RADDATZ and LUIS MARTINEZ
March 9, 2009
[URL="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/comments?type=story&id=7037897"]
[/URL]
Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said that continuing the fight against insurgents in the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul might lead to U.S. troops remaining in the city past a
June 30, 2009 deadline for all U.S. combat troops to leave Iraqi cities, but only if the Iraqi government made such a request.
Despite recent attacks, Gen. Odierno continues to reduce troop numbers.
"If they ask us to stay we will probably stay and help them out. If they ask us to just provide them the advising and training support, then we'll do that," Odierno told
ABC News' Martha Raddatz in an
exclusive interview at a U.S. base outside of the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit.
Odierno also
offered specifics on how the 19-month
drawdown plan for U.S. forces in Iraq and the shift away from combat operations will take place.
Magda Hassan Wrote:Just think, if they can break up Iraq and call the northern part say, Kurdishville or such, they can keep their troops there AND say that they left Iraq with a straight face. :elefant:
The Kurds are rather like the Ukrainians - seeking their own nation state in the middle of a geopolitical crossroads-cum-hellhole.
When Kurdish guerillas fight Saddam, western MSM calls them freedom fighters.
When a very similar bunch of Kurdish guerillas fight NATO member Turkey, they're terrorists.
However, turn south-east, and fight Iran, and they're freedom fighters again.
I wonder what the clinical rate of schizophrenia is amongst Kurds....
Of course, the Ukrainians, despite making some awful geopolitical choices - eg Ukrainian Nazi slaughter squad battalions and the woman & baby-murdering massacres conducted by the Ukrayins’ka Povstans’ka Armiya, or "UPA" - have at least ended up with a nation state. Of sorts.
On reflection, looking at the continued suffering of the Ukrainian people despite having their own nation state, perhaps the creation of a Kurdistan or client-state "Kurdishville", wouldn't help the Kurdish people as much as they hope....
Especially if "Kurdishville" turns into some oil-rich version of the CIA/Hallliburton state known as Kosovo, with its very own Camp Bondsteel.
Named, perhaps, Mordor....