Speaking today at the US Senate, incoming Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta insisted that Iraq was already preparing to request the continuation of the US occupation beyond the end of 2011. He insisted the Iraqi government would submit a request soon.
Such a “request” would be the culmination of months of US demands for such a request, which would allow them to continue the military presence beyond the 2011 deadline of the Status of Forces Agreement.
Though the exact size of the continued force remains to be determined, most officials have suggested it would be at least somewhat smaller than the current number, just shy of 50,000. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the troops could stay for many years if Iraq “requested” it.
And Panetta appears to see no shortage of enemies to fight, claiming there are upwards of 1,000 al-Qaeda inside Iraq. He offered no evidence to back up this claim, but the figure likely refers to all militant figures within the Sunni umbrella organization in the country, not literal members of al-Qaeda itself.
The US is the new Soviet Union.
The USSA.
We said that from the beginning, you people haven't seen nothing yet.., wait until Panetta take over the Pentagon and generals take over the cia.., then we could talk wars and wars and more wars.., off course with Obama and queen of england – Canadian ministers blessing. Their plan is to start another war and invade Yemen, from their preparing for Iran war. Libyan war is just a beginning for US/EU colonialism to start the third world war. Look those of you who thought or think that Obama is democrat or socialist.., you been tricked to think that.., while it is only a few democrats who run the democratic party.., there is no such party exist any more.., the democratic party is AIPAC party and they are stealing your freedom as we speak.
You're right in that they want to start all of these wars, and have been trying to do so for a long time.
However, the generals and bureaucrats changing chairs in DC has little or nothing to do with it. The plan was the same before, and will be the same after. Some small changes in the details of how the new people dish out lucrative favors for their friends. But the overall policy stays the same. These people wouldn't even be considered for these jobs if it wasn't already certain that they adhere to the policy.
"Yew've got a noyce country fulla ruins he-yeah, Proyme Ministah. Wouldn't want nothin' ta 'APPEN to it, wouldja?" If only Graham Chapman could then get up and say, "Stop that — this is SILLY." Well, it is, and utterly transparent.
Things have moved beyond no longer being able to be proud to be an American to finding it hard to stomach being an American. . .
If there is a God, we are in deep trouble.
Didn't Panetta previously claim that there were less than 100 AQ in Afghanistan
And without proof that there are "upwards of 1,000 al-Qaeda inside Iraq" the Senate murmured and nodded and bought the package. Why didn't any one of those pontificating Arschlöcher jump up and demand proof? Oh, wait, I forgot – they're all part of the game…sorry for the interruption.
No,see the explosions are caused by the divine righteous wrath of God himself(rolls eyes).
I generally agree with most things I see on Antiwar.com but stuff like this is just silly.
The fact that there are still Al-Qaeda members in Iraq is already embarrassing enough,so why would the man lie ABOUT THE NUMBER of them?
Was he lying about the number of Al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan(when he claimed there were only 100 remaining),or do we just take him at full value THEN because it suits our political agenda?
The post-modern Anti-War movement is intellectually lazy.
Personally I don't believe that there are (or ever were) any real al Qaeda in Iraq. I believe that from the beginning, the insurgents were completely Iraqis who were objecting to the US occupation – as they still are. But, the American people have been trained to hate and despise al Qaeda and to hunt them down and destroy them wherever they are, especially if they're someplace the MIC wants to own. So, the numbers are theater, for the American people who have drunk the koolaid. The Congress doesn't care how many there are, the MIC doesn't care, the military doesn't care…but they need a number to feed the FCM to continue to convince those Americans who live for this stuff.
And as for the numbers in Afghanistan…that is the number that has been tossed around for over a year – it also doesn't mean anything. It's just a bogeyman to scare the sheeple.
They will like us or we will kill them. I guess it is official the Iraq people are not palestinians. They get no say in anything but pay the price of everything. After all these years no one person has been identified as the official liar who got us into this fiasco. Then again we are paying $4 a gallon for gasoline so maybe that is the success they wanted all along.
What a charade! Remember, the SOFA was supposed to be put to a vote by the people of Iraq before it could be ratified. That never happened, because the people, unlike the politicians of Iraq, would have rejected it by a huge margin. But, never mind that, Iraq is now going to "ask the US to stay" despite Maliki's earlier posturing that no such invitation would be extended. Sadly, it is my prediction that Sadr will also end up going along with this "invitation" and on and on it goes …
SOFA itself was not a charade. President Bush was faced with the fact that without SOFA the US presence in Iraq would become illegal on January 1, 2009 because the UN Security Council had warned that it would not continue to approve the US occupation. Bush did not want the firm date of January 1, 2012 at which all US military personnel and its civilian support personnel would have to be out of Iraq. Like Obama today he wanted a kind of indefinite stay. His attempt failed primarily because of the threat of El Sadr to open a new resistance. I am not so sure that El Sadr will meekly "go along" this time.
It was easier and less embarrassing to get Maliki to go along with the SOFA than it would have been to get the UN to publicly twist itself into a knot and extend the occupation — though I have no doubt that they would have done so if required.
Every single political hack is feverishly vying for a slot in the post-US era, calculating how things will shake out, and positioning for a place at the world trough. They're all liars. Every last one of them.
You're right about Sadr though, he figures to be a populist, that is, someone who knows what the Iraqi people want, and is prepared to promise it to them and, indeed, fight to see that they get it. For which strength and courage he will naturally claim the leadership of the New Iraq. Iraqis/Muslims are not Belgians.
The Americans will leave Iraq, just not on schedule, and not willingly.
News flash, Sparky. The entire shebang, invasion and occupation were/are illegal. They were an act of War, an act of Aggression – which constitutes a War Crime of the 1st degree. Since when does legalities phase Bush/Cheney? Bush/Cheney thumbed their noses at the world in March 2003 so why would they be worried about having a SOFA or not? Just lipstick.
You realize Maliki just lied right?
He lied his ass off.
I just don't understand this atypical "ugly American" narrative going around that "we" must have been the ones to convince the Iraqi government to allow "us" to "stay" in their country for perpetuity.
Never does it come across to people's minds that maybe just MAYBE the corrupt exiles we put into power in Baghdad might actually WANT us to stay in order to secure their power base *again* for perpetuity(ala the junta in S Korea).
This dumb narrative usually comes with the idea that Al-Maliki is a Persian puppet and that we've "opened" up Iraq to Iranian "influence"(the influence was ALWAYS there) so thus the neocons were deadwrong about Iraq being pro-American in that regard.This is bullshit.If anything the Iraqi government is too conspicuously PRO-American and if this Anti-War movement wasn't so goddamn lazy we'd call them out on that.But instead we just deceive ourselves into national sadomasochism by pretending Iraq is now a Persian satrap.This just gives the neocons an even BIGGER reason to stay you imbeciles.
"I just don't understand this atypical "ugly American" narrative going around that "we" must have been the ones to convince the Iraqi government to allow "us" to "stay" in their country for perpetuity."
What's not to understand? The US hates anything approaching democracy in other countries. How can another govt serve US interests if they faithfully serve their own peoples interests ahead of those of the US?.
The Iranian "puppet" talk is just Neocon/AIPAC boilerplate, the old blame Iran for everything from the Lindbergh kidnapping to global warming. Maybe something will stick and the US will blunder into another war for Israel.
Al Queida, or Muslims Brotherhood both are the illegitimate child of Saudis and Arab Emirates. in the other hand any terrorist attack in Iraq could have planed by the US embassy and its mercilessness staff, therefore Penatta is very precis in amount of Al Queida being in Iraq. Otherwise how would he know.., is he been to their camp and count them reporting it to Obama and senators…?
Gee, Panetta must be psychic or maybe he has a crystal ball. And a wad of cash. And some of us had absolutely no doubt that Iraq would be asking the US to stay, pretty please with sugar on it.
He speaks with the certainty of a Godfather who's made a request that he knows can't be refused.
Be leery of requests that puppets make of the puppetmaster, and always remember who is pulling the strings.
And remember that for all of Charlie Wilson's war in Afghanistan, the Soviet Red Army was there at the 'request' of the official Afghan government.
I wonder how many people Maliki will have to kill to get the Iraqi people to accept this? Betcha NATO doesn't do any 'no-fly zones' to protect the likely thousands that will have to die to make this happen.
This is what you get when you vote Democrat. Its also what you get when you vote Republican. Please try another option next time.
"Please try another option next time."
The Accountability Party, maybe?
http://theaccountabilityparty.wordpress.com/