Sam Youngman Reports: "President Obama announced Friday that the U.S. will complete its drawdown of troops by the end of the year, concluding the war in Iraq after almost nine years."
President Barack Obama speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, 10/21/11. (photo: Philip Scott Andrews/NYT)
Obama Declares Iraq War Over
21 October 11
�
resident Obama announced Friday that the U.S. will complete its drawdown of troops by the end of the year, concluding the war in Iraq after almost nine years.
Obama, who sprang to national prominence with his condemnation of the war begun by his predecessor, declared in the White House briefing room that "after nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over."
The president spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earlier Friday, and Obama said the two leaders are in "full agreement about how to move forward."
Obama said he invited Maliki to the White House in December to discuss the "normal" relationship the two nations will now enjoy.
"This will be a strong and enduring partnership," Obama said.
White House officials had considered leaving a few thousand troops in Iraq past the end of the year, but Iraqi officials were cold to the idea of immunity for soldiers remaining in Iraq.
Obama said that he and the Iraqi government will "continue discussions" on how to continue training and equipping Iraqi forces.
The president noted that troops are also drawing down in Afghanistan, saying that when he took office there were more than 180,000 troops deployed in both wars. By the end of the year, Obama said, that number will be halved.
"And make no mistake, it will continue to go down," Obama said, declaring that "the tide of war is receding."
Obama closed by summing up other foreign policy successes, including Thursday's news from Libya, and saying that America is leaving Iraq from "a position of strength."
Now, Obama said, the task for our veterans will be enlisting them in rebuilding the U.S. economy.
"After a decade of war, the nation that we need to build � and the nation we will build � is our own," Obama said.
Obama's announcement doesn't mean there won't still be a U.S. presence in Iraq.
The U.S. has an embassy and two consulates in the country, and the State Department has long been scheduled to take over the lead role for the U.S. mission in Iraq.
Foggy Bottom officials have been quietly building what some lawmakers have called a "private security force" that will be charged with keeping American diplomats and U.S. facilities safe once military troops are withdrawn. A handful of U.S. Marines will also be in Iraq to guard the U.S. diplomatic posts, as they are in other countries.
While the White House put the likely number of private security contractors who will be in Iraq come Jan. 1 at 4,000 to 5,000, Senate Armed Services Committee member Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said Wednesday that she understands that 14,000 of the 17,000 State Department personnel that will be in Iraq after the military withdrawal could be private contractors.
This story was posted at 12:38 p.m. and last updated at 1:44 p.m.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
There is always a way around a safeguard, but unless guns are being used they should be secured. Perhaps legislation to make a gun safe part of gun purchase and penalities levied against owners that don't secure thier guns appropriate to the challenge of that environment, i.e., man living alone might be fine with a combo safe, whereas a family man with frequent vistors might need a gun safe with a lock and interior combination safeguard or a gun locker away from the home enviroment. There will always be accidents, but shall we take away every single privledge that has a dangerous component to it? What kind of freedom is that?
They are not called "scatter guns" for nothing.
There is much more going on here and he only paints a brief picture.
I have two personal stories. My first experience with a gun in the home was when my little brother decided he wanted to learn to hunt. He got a gun, took safety courses offered by NRA. The first family argument he took it out and pointed it at my brother. Guns represent a sense of power and as my law enforcement friend told me, that sense of power is seductive. Secondly, a friend's husband had brain cancer and the treatment made him violent. She and her children snuck his weapon collection out of the home and into a locked closet of an uncle in another town. Their patient never remembered his gun collection but continued to get more violent. When managing care,keeping firearms around is a chance should never be taken.
There's a disease of power in this country because guns have replaced personal wit and character. The NRA sells guns with the simple solution to personal power.
My little story is of being shot next to my eye with a bb gun by a cousin who was completely indifferent to what he had done. The play and the rowdy tempers that can flair can easily be a precursor to the next stage of real rage with a real gun.
Then there are the two little boys who found their father's pistol in the glove compartment of the car, and the little brother was killed. Jeb was his name. No words will describe the brother's lifelong guilt and the sorrow.
A small boy found a high-powered rifle abandoned in a Cinema seat in the city of Tillamook with the SAFETY OFF!
The kid had the sense to not touch the weapon but went and told his dad, who in turn called the police. But imagine how many kids might have messed with this lethal object planted with what looked like lethal intent by some deranged copycat in the immediate wake of the Connecticut massacre.
Gosh, is the equally deranged NRA goin' to arm not only teachers and have armed guards in schools but tool-up cinema employees too? It'd save people having to go to the movies to watch violence -they could just have shooting matches in the aisles and over the seats. The last one standing gets a free super-sized drink and popcorn!
Exactly!
And it's the same linked reactionary forces who want to destroy public education and make "learning" the realm of the privileged and keep the sacred market forces strong by passing it down through their fortunate spawn.
But there are always rebels and those who insist on looking beyond the box they are born into. They can't keep everybody down!
If a kid has legs long enough to reach the pedals, it is time to learn to drive and understand that vehicle and what makes it run. Those lessons also teach the responsibility of the privilege of driving. And so on in everything possible to teach them. As for schools, it could be there will be group home schooling as there was in communes of the past, should the elites running this country destroy all good things.