Forget December: Gates Says Troops Could Stay in Iraq for Years
Defense Secretary Again Pushes Maliki Govt to Endorse Occupation
The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) the US agreed to in 2008 promised to have all US troops out of Iraq by the end of December of this year. In August, the Obama Administration was playing up a redefinition of the troops as “non-combat troops” as an end to the war.
But forget about December, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates insisted on Friday that US troops might still remain in Iraq for “years to come” and that it was possible that they could negotiate a “continuing advise-and-assist role” that would keep troops in Iraq forever.
But first the SOFA has to be done away with. It is to that end that Secretary Gates is in Iraq now, and pressuring the Maliki government to act quickly in approving the continuation of the 8+ year occupation into 2012 and beyond.
Gates reported in February that the Obama Administration had “interest” to continue the military presence beyond December, but more and more officials are talking openly about it as the preferred option. Prime Minister Maliki had been ruling out the continuation in late 2010, but has been largely mum on the question recently.
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Wootie Berster
April 9th, 2011 at 4:09 am
We didn't build the biggest "embassy" in the world to walk away from it! No sir. Of course "we" will stay in Iraq.. forever. "We" are still in Japan and Germany are we not?
jaczar
April 9th, 2011 at 4:53 am
And the results will be the same. Whenever we leave, be it 5, 10, or 20 years, Iraq will revert to the tribes fighting each other. Sunni vs. Shia vs. Kurds.
Meanwhile it costs us billions, plus many more precious young lives for what? Peace in Iraq? Democracy? Oil?
John Ellis
April 9th, 2011 at 5:35 am
By wasting over a million in Iraq we have so terrorized the people that our puppet Maliki rules with relative ease. So comes now the ultimate test, what will the people do when they discover that our capitalist terrorism now and forever?
5ds
April 9th, 2011 at 9:30 am
our troops have more murders, rapes, and looting to commit.
cant interrupt these activities in midstream. not after the millions spent training in israel.
Ira7Epstein
April 9th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
They are busy looking for ways to cut 61 billion from a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit. Why not start with the easy stuff? BRING THE TROOPS HOME! Not just from Iraq and Afghanistan, but from all the 150 plus countries were the United States government has troops garrisoned. Bringing all the troops home, ending all the wars, abolishing all foriegn aid, and cutting military spending to a sane level between 50 billion and 100 billion a year would be a good start to putting the US government on the path to fiscal sanity.