Gates: Keep Troops in Iraq to Make Iran Uncomfortable
Insists Sadr's Opposition to US Occupation Because of Iranians
Most of the attention this week has been at the AIPAC conference, but speaking today at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Secretary of Defense Robert Gates struggled to lay out the reason(s) to keep troops in Iraq. Gates described it as “my last major policy speech.”
And among his flimsiest, as Gates’ entire argument for keeping the troops in Iraq was because it would make Iran uncomfortable. The comments came in the wake of an AEI “report” earlier in the day claiming Iran is a “serious threat” to Iran’s security.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has recently left the door open for keeping troops, but only if a “consensus” is reached on the matter. This would be impossible, however, because top Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc controls the Iraqi National Alliance, has repeatedly condemned the notion, demanding an end to the US occupation.
Gates shrugged off Sadr’s opposition, however, and insisted within the speech that he wasn’t sure how much opposition Sadr actually had and how much his comments stemmed from “Iranian backers.”
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MoT
May 24th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
Gates is the prototypical Bushian/Obama "bag man". Any ideas people might have had over his comments earlier about the insanity of sticking Uncle Scams pecker in yet another quagmire should be laid to rest. He is what he is and that ain't good for the rest of us.
JLS
May 24th, 2011 at 7:56 pm
"Gates’ entire argument for keeping the troops in Iraq was because it would make Iran uncomfortable. "
Well that seems like a pretty good reason to piss away a trillion dollars in ten year occupation of another country. What the heck, what could possibly go wrong?
lipservice102
May 24th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
ISRAEL'S STANCE: "ONLY NUKES CAN FORCE ISRAEL BACK TO 1967 BORDER" AND US HAS SCREWED UP AND DISARMED ALL OTHER MIDEAST NATIONS SUPPORTING PALESTINIANS BY ALL PROPAGANDA LIES. BRAVO !!!
lydia476
May 24th, 2011 at 10:43 pm
Gates is another numb nuts, for the troops in Iraq like those in Afghanistan are sitting ducks.
Whenever they get too big for their breeches the get a timely reminder in the form of a few rockets lobbed at the green zone or they cut off the supply lines and blow up a couple of tankers a la Pakistan.
persnipoles
May 25th, 2011 at 12:09 am
Gates: …[not] sure how much opposition Sadr actually had and how much his comments stemmed from “Iranian backers.”
A snapping sound fills the theater as half a marionette's implement falls to the stage, and Gate's left side gos limp. The cry of the fishmonger is audible.
FedUp
May 25th, 2011 at 4:16 am
Gate;s YOU go stay in Iraq! 4 of my family has been there while YOU and all your politcal appointed generals cant even finish what you started. Go To Blazes!
tomofsnj
May 25th, 2011 at 5:30 am
Today I read our congressmen and senators have unusually large gains in their stock accounts and today I hear that we need to deploy our sons and daughters into iraq to bother a nation that we are not at war with. I am not sure which upsets me more but both are shocking but not unexpected. We entered Iraq on a lie and why not continue a good thing. Other than the few thousands of our kids that were kills a lot of the right people made a lot of money in Iraq. If somehow our officials can get a shooting war with another nation the right people can benefit again. Only the dead and taxpayers suffer.
John Doe
May 25th, 2011 at 6:41 am
It seems an error has crept its way into your text:
"Iran is a “serious threat” to Iran’s security"
I think it's supposed to be:
"USA is a “serious threat” to US’s security"
Jamie N
May 25th, 2011 at 7:20 am
America was wonce one of the most loved countrys in the world.Now they are just if not more hated than Israel and I can't blame the world.Americans not all; but most are lazy well the mid eastern citizens fight there American puppet regims and die Americans that are the most armed nation in the world let there government destroy there country look at the almost gone middle class.The American constitution calls for the government to be replaced when they become tyrants and now longer follow the constitution of the rule of law.This is been going on since WW2 if not longer the more you wait less chance of not becoming more tyranicle if possible.
Jerry
May 25th, 2011 at 8:17 am
So, we are broke. We are told we can't have any stimulus that helps anyone but the bankers. We are told we are so broke as a nation that we have to be laying off our teachers and our nurses. We are told that we have to cut the deficit by taking away our children and grandchildren's chance at retirement and medical care in their old age.
But, we've got hundreds of billions of dollars to waste keeping troops on the other side of the world for the purpose of 'bothering Iran'.
These people are insane.
Watson
May 25th, 2011 at 9:09 am
Gates is getting ready to retire, probably has a cushy job waiting for him with a big defense contractor, and therefore it is in his own best personal interest to keep the wars going.
andy
May 25th, 2011 at 9:23 am
I got an idea. How about Iran keep troops in Mexico to make America "feel uncomfortable"?
drunderhill
May 25th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Or maybe it's not an error…it's telling us the Iranians have taken up self-mutilation en masse…they are so weird and evil, as we've been instructed for decades, that they would do something like that.
steve h.
May 25th, 2011 at 11:53 am
The US government is a threat to everyone's security!