Turn on MSNBC right now.
---------- Post added at 07:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:15 PM ----------
annnnnd all combat troops are now in Kuwait.
it’s over.
lol that’s what I was going to say. "We are leaving IRAQ! YEAH!!! but we are waiting on the border…
Combat troops only, not “All US Troops.”
No it’s far from over. Next time a democrat can send guys there. Maybe the loony left will support it then.
The private contractor army is staying, don’t worry…
yea i meant to say that, i actually thought i did, proofreading fail
headed to Pakistan/Afghanistan/Tajakistan
Last US combat unit / last us combat convoy… that does not mean we still won’t have troops in the field. That means we won’t be doing active patrols solo.
Fuck it…if we get some troops home let alone all troops home that’s great. Thanks to all those serving and those that have served!
Fuck Iraq
Just some food for thought for everyone:
We’re still in Germany AND Korea …
Lol but let’s be honest, Germany is a far cry complaint from Iraq.
That wasn’t my point. My point was just to illustrate the fact that this “war” will never be over. We will forever have troops in Iraq who will forever be targets of Muslim extremists. However, I do believe attacked focused on soldiers is much better than attacks focused on civilians.
Oh yeah on that point I completely agree.
Not sure that you’d be saying that back in '45. Evil dictator? Check. Racial genocide? Check. Beer? Oh. There it is.
So does this mean that we can declare mission accomplished on an aircraft carrier again?
Beer?
I was going to come back and say this… Japan as well. We’ve been there since WW2 and probably will never leave. I’m sure we’ll never leave Iraq either, but the image projected by removing 100,000 troops from the “offensive” in iraq is a huge deal.
Sure there will be privately hired guard details, but it’s still a dangerous place and we will still be there for the whole “rebuild” thing. Now we just have to see if the Iraqi people can start to take care of themselves
I always forget about Japan … It’s mostly Marines and Navy.
What was the number of the troop surge that was recently (since 2007) placed in Iraq ( I think it was close to 70,000 total after the Bush and Obama surges)? We’re closer to pre 2007 numbers in Iraq again. The point I’m really getting at is this is a media stunt (pulled by the gov’t) to get the ignorant American off the back of the government about troops being in Iraq.
I kinda feel that way, which is why i said the “image projected” is huge, because it is. Obama’s approval rating will rocket because a shitload of soldiers moved a few miles southeast to Kuwait.
But really at this point, what isn’t a publicity stunt? Everything seems to have underlying causes and intentions.
Maybe, just maybe, this is a good thing though. No reason not to have at least a little optimism. There are a lot of people who are in a much less dangerous situation now, so that’s a plus
It would be a first.
Throughout most of the period of Ottoman rule (1533–1918) the territory of present-day Iraq was a battle zone between the rival regional empires and tribal alliances.
Ottoman rule over Iraq lasted until the World War I when the Ottomans sided with Germany and the Central Powers. In the Mesopotamian campaign against the Central Powers, British forces invaded the country and suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Turkish army during the Siege of Kut (1915–1916). British forces regrouped and captured Baghdad in 1917. An armistice was signed in 1918…Britain imposed a Hāshimite monarchy on Iraq and defined the territorial limits of Iraq without taking into account the politics of the different ethnic and religious groups in the country, in particular those of the Kurds and the Assyrians to the north. During the British occupation, the Shi’ites and Kurds fought for independence.
In the Mandate period and beyond, the British supported the traditional, Sunni leadership (such as the tribal shaykhs) over the growing, urban-based nationalist movement. The Land Settlement Act gave the tribal shaykhs the right to register the communal tribal lands in their own name. The Tribal Disputes Regulations gave them judiciary rights, whereas the Peasants’ Rights and Duties Act of 1933 severely reduced the tenants’, forbidding them to leave the land unless all their debts to the landlord had been settled. The British resorted to military force when their interests were threatened, as in the 1941 Rashīd `Alī al-Gaylānī coup. This coup led to a British invasion of Iraq using forces from the British Indian Army and the Arab Legion from Jordan.
Britain granted independence to Iraq in 1932, on the urging of King Faisal, though the British retained military bases and transit rights for their forces. King Ghazi ruled as a figurehead after King Faisal’s death in 1933, while undermined by attempted military coups, until his death in 1939. Ghazi was followed by his under age son, Faisal II. 'Abd al-Ilah served as Regent during Faisal’s minority.
On 1 April 1941, Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and members of the Golden Square staged a coup d’état and overthrew the government of 'Abd al-Ilah. During the subsequent Anglo-Iraqi War, the United Kingdom invaded Iraq for fear that the Rashid Ali government might cut oil supplies to Western nations because of his links to the Axis powers. The war started on 2 May and an armistice was signed 31 May.
A military occupation followed the restoration of the pre-coup government of the Hashemite monarchy. The occupation ended on 26 October 1947. The rulers during the occupation and the remainder of the Hashemite monarchy were Nuri al-Said, the autocratic Prime Minister, who also ruled from 1930–1932, and 'Abd al-Ilah, the former Regent who now served as an adviser to King Faisal II.
The reinstated Hashemite monarchy lasted until 1958, when it was overthrown by a coup d’etat of the Iraqi Army, known as the 14 July Revolution. The coup brought Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qassim to power. He withdrew from the Baghdad Pact and established friendly relations with the Soviet Union, but his government lasted only until the February 1963 coup, when it was overthrown by Colonel Abdul Salam Arif. Salam Arif died in 1966 and his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, assumed the presidency.
The Baathist regime advocated women’s literacy and education. Shown here is Saddam Hussein with Iraqi schoolgirls.In 1968, Abdul Rahman Arif was overthrown by the Arab Socialist Baath Party. Ahmed Hasan Al-Bakir became the first Baath President of Iraq but then the movement gradually came under the control of Saddam Hussein, who acceded to the presidency and control of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), then Iraq’s supreme executive body, in July 1979.
In 1979, Saddam Hussein took power as Iraqi President after knocking down his close friend and the leader of his party (Ahmed Hasan Al-Bakr) and killing and arresting his leadership rivals.
But hey maybe we can get them to play nice for the first time in history. :tup:
I doubt it. Baghdad can change as it is mostly modernized with a diverse culture. All the out lying cities and farm land areas are still tribal. The Kurds to the north still want their independence. The majority of Iraq still believes Kuwait is and should be part of Iraq. There will be a strong enough US presence to make sure they fly right as we want to protect our investment.