Now, there are some people who aren't going to trust this. "Obama promises a lot. We've heard this before."
Well, technically, what we heard before was a troop reduction, not a complete pullout. And Obama lived up to that.
But some people, ignoring the evidence, have always refused to believe that Obama is acting in good faith in Iraq, and I suspect that they will continue to ignore reality.
Well, I don't know if this will help, but here's a little reality for you.
When I was in Iraq (in the first relief group, replacing the actual invasion forces), the Army had taken over Al-Faw palace, one of the last of Saddam's overly ornate structures left standing.The Army named it and the area around it Camp Victory. It became the HQ for the US Army, and was referred to by the Army as the Victory Base Complex, also encompassing Camp Liberty, Camp Striker, our Air Force unit in Camp Sather, and a number of other encampments from all branches of the military, and even forces from other countries - we had a British unit right next door, for example.
And how do you know that the military is actually going to pull out by January?
They have closed the main PX in Camp Victory.
You can trust in one thing over all others. You have a buttload of generals in one place, you're going to have someplace for them to stock up on clean underwear, chocolate and cigarettes. And the little black-market supply of Jack Daniels and porn coming in aboard the military aircraft isn't going to be able to expand enough to keep them supplied with all the amenities available. (There are other ways to keep supplied with contraband, but I bought mine straight from the aircrews, and I wasn't in charge of anything...)
They can't shop in Baghdad (OK, they could, but there's rules to keep the military out of town, because of those pesky bullets that keep flying toward them), and they don't want to go all the way to the Green Zone after a long day at the office.
An argument can be made about the lower-ranking troops needing some place to get razors and shampoo, but in the end, the needs of the brass override anything else.
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Update (10/17/2011): As was pointed out in the comments, I misidentified the Embassy as being in Tehran, rather than Baghdad. That has been corrected.
Tehran? Don't you mean Baghdad?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, if it happens it is great news!
I think it's been a year and a half since I read the president/administration was serious about keeping upwards of 30,000 troops in Iraq indefinitely. My head nearly exploded.
ReplyDeleteThat would be 30,000 magnets for jihadist crazies from all over the Mideast. That would be an ongoing irritant, I'm sure, for a whole lot of Iraqis. Last but not least, doing that or anything like it would cost a huge amount of money we simply can't afford.
If the plan now is a full withdrawal, I'm all for it. Four thousand-plus American lives and $2 trillion is more than enough.
I suspect, too, that Obama knows there is virtually no public support for continuing our large-scale military presence in Iraq. That's a good thing to be realistic about with an election approaching.
160 U.S. Troops and a whole shitload of Xe contractors, which was the plan of the Chenistas all along. A war that profits nobody but their friends is a perfect war.
ReplyDeletedemocommie
Are comments being moderated? I just left one and it disappeared as soon as I hit "Post comment".
ReplyDeletedemocommie
Demo - yes, comments are moderated. Which is why you got the message "your comment will be visible after editors approval" (or something similar, anyway...)
ReplyDeleteRational - good point. Fixed.
S.W. - yeah, plans changed a few times. But the rumors changed even faster. So it's good to see evidence that the withdrawal is happening. At least, that's what I think.
I think it would be a very welcome development -- we almost never get completely out of places where we have had a conflict, so this would be an unusual and healthy move.
ReplyDelete