During the 2008 campaign season, the December 2011 deadline was then-President Bush’s plan and candidates like now-President Barack Obama were pushing for something earlier. Now, having missed his “something earlier” several times over, President Obama is embracing December 2011, albeit reluctantly, and officials and candidates are lining up to loudly condemn the notion.
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en. John McCain (R – AZ), Obama’s 2008 opponent and general war enthusiast, termed the idea of leaving Iraq a “serious mistake,” saying that Obama should have propped up Ayad Allawi after Iraq’s last elections since he would have been more open to an open-ended occupation.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I – CT) termed the pullout a “profoundly disappointing” move and a “failure” that risks the putative gains made in the last eight and a half years of occupation.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R – MN), a 2012 presidential hopeful, also condemned the pullout but focused on demanding that Iraq reimburse the US fully for the cost of occupying their country for so long.
“They’re a wealthy country,” Bachmann insisted. But with the cost of the Iraq War estimated conservatively at upwards of $818 billion, it seems unfathomable that Iraq, a nation with a GDP of only about 1/10th that amount, has the capability of doing so, even if they did have the inclination.
Lost in all of the rhetoric, of course, is the Obama Administration’s “private army” of State Department contractors, which will be many thousands of US combat personnel remaining in the enormous embassy in Baghdad for years to come.
Look at them; listen to them, Democrat or Republican.
Is it possible not to know why they hate usI
I drone, you drone, we drone
And we continue to elect these idiots.
To put it in it's lowest common denominator, the U.S. is like "shit on a blanket". You just can't get rid of it.
Good. This should be a way to determine who will pay for what. Let everyone line up who thinks we should stay anywhere, and sign up to pay for it. This is an ENTITLEMENT, and those who want it, ought to pay for it.
We destroyed their infrastructure now we want them to pay. Is this called nation building?
the idea that brainless Michelle Bachmann thinks (using THAT term loosely here) the Iraqis should pay for an invasion and occupation that was illegal, they never asked for and resulted in hundreds of thousands killed and wounded, millions displaced and so many tortured shows the Imperial Imbecile mindset that infects all prospective leaders in America.
And as for Joe Lieberman ( I – Israel) his constituency in Tel Aviv has nothing to worry about
"…“private army” of State Department contractors, which will be many thousands of US combat personnel…"
Hmmm. Can't have it both ways. Either they are contractors OR they are US combat personnel. My understanding is that the State dept "army" will be private contractors (mercenaries, basically) and that there will be a normal contingent of Marines to secure the compound and protect the diplomats – as they do worldwide.
We throwing Iraq under the bus!!!!!! Oh no!!!! Who's going to bomb them now, drone bomb their weddings and cause general instability now? We better get a one of those Republican neocon sockpuppets quickly in the White House lest the Iraqis get used to life without occupation.