Who Believes This AP Story? Analysis: U.S. Preparing for Iraq Exit

[leftchick]

:eyes:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051225/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_getting_out


At every stop on his three-day tour of Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sent a similar message: The U.S. military is not rushing to get out, but it is getting out, nevertheless.

In his public appearances with U.S. soldiers and commanders, as well as with Iraqi officials, Rumsfeld emphasized the positive — an elected Iraqi government is being formed under a new constitution, and Iraq's own soldiers and police are shouldering more of the security duties.

In other words, the U.S. military is getting out.

That doesn't mean Rumsfeld believes the Iraqis are yet capable of making it on their own. There is still the potential for civil war, and a resilient and deadly insurgency is still alive. But it explains Rumsfeld's frequent assertion that success in Iraq will be decided by the Iraqis.

It also explains why Rumsfeld and his commanders are now scaling back the U.S. presence in Iraq by canceling the deployment of two Army brigades that had been scheduled to deploy in coming weeks. Fewer U.S. combat troops are needed because the Iraqis will be doing more of the fighting.

[Gman]

1. The off-election year starts in a week

You damn right they're pulling troops out. They want as few there in November as possible.

[tularetom]

2. Yep - exiting right into Iran

Can't wait to hear the rationalizations for that one.

[slor]

11. I want to believe that an attack on Iran is not forthcoming...

I want to believe that these idiots know that it will make the massive strategic blunder of Iraq, and turn it into a cataclysmic situation, that will almost certainly bring to fruition the warning from the meeting of the Arab Foreign Ministers whom said it would "open the gates of hell". I want to believe that they can see this danger. But then I look at everything else they have done, and not done, and I can only conclude that they might very well try it. And to that I can only say, God have mercy on my Nation.

[tavalon]

3. Yep, a few months ago I heard a joke to the tune of

Damn right we have an exit plan out of Iraq. We'll be going via Iran. Cue drumroll........

[leftchick]

4. yep

they have nuculur weapons don't ya know.

[mtnester]

5. Of course, it is the only hope they have of salvaging the 2006 elections

THE only hope. This is absolutely expected and has been totally predicted here on DU for months.

[leftchick]

6. there is a difference between withdrawing a few thousand US troops

and leaving Iraq.

[hippiechick]

13. Exactly.

20-30k 'extra' troops were added for the Iraqi 'elections' ... and now that they're complete, those troops can 'leave'. Then somewhere down the road (after the 06 elections, I'm thinkin'), 50-60k more troops will 'leave' Iraq to 'liberate' Iran.

But as far as I can tell, the US will ALWAYS have SOME troops in Iraq thanks to Cokeboy and Uncle Dick.

[auburngrad82]

7. It's all about the GOP retaining control in next year's elections

We'll see a small to moderate drawdown of troops through the November election. Then we won't see a further reduction until the 2008 election cycle.

They're playing games.

[BOSSHOG]

8. I do

- Everything bush does is based on politics
- bush and his administration do not care one iota about the troops whereever they may be
- There is an election in less than a year
- If democrats take the house it increases the likelihood of impeachments hearings and investigations that would be very ugly for bush and his kind
- Republicans want to shed themselves of iraq and label themselves as peacelovers and Dems as warmongers.
- Its all part of the plan shift since we weren't greeted as liberators and the war wasn't over "at the most within months."
- Whatever happens to our troops is totally irrelevant to bush and most republicans in congress.
- A large part of bush's base will blindly follow along.

[PATRICK]

9. Well, Bush's speech blitz went whoosh

and this one is careful because they still have too few troops and the wrong strategy and a lost situation on the ground with a hostile government sitting on the majority we have not yet had to fight.

By the rights of unimpeded propaganda, and even Pravda would have been ineffective with this one, Bush gets credit for bringing a few GI's home, turning token into fact and winning votes in 2006. At the same time the restless natives in Iraq must be subdued both on the ground and in the news. They already did this blatantly by constant downsizing of the protests in Iraq against the elections. Not so easy to do if a civil war is raging and our planes fill the skies.

And they still reserve the right to sneak more troops back into the quagmire and an unrequited lust for more in the ME. They want it all and are accustomed to the illusion of having it.

[PDJane]

10. I would like to point out

That there are a lot of National Guard types in Iraq, and those people are either over or nearing the end of the amount of time that they can legally, contractually, spend on active duty.

National Guard enrollment is down very badly, and active duty recruiting has been going very badly too.

Unless the Bush cabal institute a draft, there is no hope of meeting the troop needs in the foreseeable future.

However, bombing the civilian population is a war crime, especially since the US is not, technically, at war in Iraq.

[rfkrfk]

14. how many NG units are in Iraq, now?

how many people is that?

[PDJane]

23. Approximately............

20% of the troops......an estimated 150,000 to almost 170,000 troops in Iraq...are National Guard.

Doing the math, that is between 30,000 and 34,000 troops. Numbers are very hard to come by, and they are not always as accurate as they could be (that seems to be a normal thing with this administration).

[apple_ridge]

12. Not a chance.

We've built permanent bases over there for a reason. Now that the Shiites have gained power, there is only one thing left to do for the neocons and that is to go after Iran to break the alliance which would inevitably take us right out of the oil game in Iraq. If we lose access to Middle Eastern oil, the gig is up for us.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Getting out? More like getting kicked out.

The Iraqis don't like having their country occupied by a foreign military and are busily throwing them out.

[Vinnie From Indy]

16. AP is a BushCo mouthpiece

They have consistently written Bush slanted columns. These get picked up by Gannett and run around the country in their putrid newspapers.

[librechik]

17. They steal all the dems ideas (because they're popular)

and then pretend it was their idea. Standard MO. During the campaigns, they'll be bragging about how Republicans brought the troops home. And the rubes won't know or remember the difference.

(Except for the ideas like universal health and minimum wage that might cost them money.)

[mmonk]

18. What about this

I posted in another thread?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/25/AR2005122500502_pf.html

[HysteryDiagnosis]

19. Too bad the Iraqis won't get in whatever vehicles they can muster

and go out in the field somewhere so Rummy can blow them to bits, burn them alive and generally make them cease to exist. Too bad they know better. I see they have learned by their mistakes... too be we don't

[warrior1]

20. Nope

Not with 14 plus bases being build. Nope. Maybe on paper.

[peacetalksforall]

21. The AEI think tank for PNAC thunked - and they found it would be

cheaper to move our soldiers next door to Iran rather then bring them home.

Seriously - if you haven't read this article - please do so that you know the probable and imminent invasion of Iran is about currency. The military isn't happy. This is not so much about Iran planning to have nuclear weapons - this is the currency of oil = the same reason we went to Iraq.

The problem is that you may have to read the article twice because it contains paragraphs which were written two years ago - showing, by the way, that the author had it down accurately two years ago, but thought that are invasion into Iran might be in 2005.

The people are going to be told that it is about nuclear weapons - however, I believe it has been proved that Iran is about nine years away from being ready.

Where is Scott Ritter and Hans Blix when we need them?

Watch the media - even if they were allowed to say this is about oil trading currencies - they won't get it because they couldn't understand Whitewater enought to explain that to the public. (Of cours I'm talking about the bar journalists - the ones whose faces we see as guest experts on corporate cable and networks. Then, they will bring out AEI and Heritage FOundation guest experts to tell us it is all about nuclear weapons.

This is a worthwhile article:

http://www.energybulletin.net/7707.html

William Clarke - author

Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse - title

[peacetalksforall]

22. Self-edited to add article I meant to link to. Both are worthwhile.

The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target: The Emerging Euro-denominated International Oil Marker
http://www.energybulletin.net/2913.html

[leftchick]

24. you know China and Russia will be REALLY pissed if we do this

:nuke:

[RSchewe]

25. This was a well predicted farce. The forces being brought home were...

the ones increased to help with election security. This will bring them back to pre-election levels. It was no secret that this was going to be framed this way after the elections were complete.

Yawn.

[Just Me]

26. THEY ARE LYING!!! LYING, LYING, LYING!!! They always lie.

They believe lying is GOOD (and operate like "democracy" is really about exploiting others for their capitalist ambition). They have NO FAITH WHATSOEVER IN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO DECIDE THE FATE OF THIS NATION.

The neoconster corporatocracy believes that the people haven't a clue about how to direct their own lives: the people MUST be manipulated, by any means possible, into doing what they would otherwise not do,...sacrifice everything for those who give nothing and exploit at every opportunity.

The members of the neoconster corporatocracy are akin to leeches, except worse. They suck the life out of their own and spread death across the entire planet, as well.

AND THEY ARE IN CHARGE!!!! x(

Let's go, human spirit. No better time than now

[PurityOfEssence]

27. Not this little black duck...

These guys are dethpicable.