Gates: US open to request from Iraq to stay

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Gates: US open to request from Iraq to stay
By ANNE GEARAN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 9, 2010; 5:11 AM

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the United States is open to the idea of keeping troops in Iraq past a deadline to leave next year - if the Iraqi government asks for it.

Gates says the U.S. will "stand by" for such a request once the country ends an eight-month political deadlock and forms a new government. He says the U.S. is "ready to have that discussion."

Gates is urging Iraq's squabbling political blocs to form an inclusive government. But he says he has not weighed in with any of the leaders directly.

The leaders are holding three days of discussions - their first such gathering since elections in March.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/09/AR2010110901386.html

[ixion]

1. I guess that depends on who you ask. For neocon fascists like Gates, I'm sure it's a no-brainer

for those of use who have NEVER supported the illegal invasion of Iraq, it is a continuous source of frustration, anger and embarrassment.

[Bragi]

2. The new "Don't Ask, Won't Stay" policy? /nt

[Solly Mack]

3. lololololololol

K&R


lololololololol


Mustn't. Mustn't. Mustn't. type it.

[tavalon]

4. Of course we are

And I'm sure such a request will be forthcoming when there is a metaphorical gun to your head.

[madrchsod]

5. did anyone think we would leave iraq?

iraq has some the largest undeveloped fields in the world.

american blood is cheap

[No Elephants]

12. But Amerian wars seem to be very expensive.

[Javaman]

6. I said it before and I will say it again, We. are. never. leaving. nt

[lib2DaBone]

7. Well ....surprise... surprise... we will never leave Iraq....hmmm..

Who could have guessed that?

Now that leaves Hillary and her 7 thousand Blackwater goons (just approved by CONgress) to guard the $10 Billion dollar Embassy in Iraq at a cost of $_____ per year. (fill in the blanks)

[saigon68]

8. Hillary and her Black water goons

LOL

[Jokerman]

9. If this "government" doesn't ask us to stay we'll just "regime change" them too.

Until we get a "government" that is more cooperative.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[EFerrari]

11. Omg, Houston is being invaded by nannies and gardeners!

:scared:

[Name removed]

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[EFerrari]

17. The 'Dangerous' Border: Actually One of America's Safest Places

When U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled on Wednesday that key provisions of Arizona's new anti-immigration law were unconstitutional, she could have also declared them unnecessary. That is, if the main impetus behind the controversial legislation was, as Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said when she signed it in April, "border-related violence and crime due to illegal immigration." The fact is, despite the murderous mayhem raging across the border in Mexico, the U.S. side, from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas, is one of the nation's safest corridors.

According to the FBI, the four large U.S. cities (with populations of at least 500,000) with the lowest violent crime rates — San Diego, Phoenix and the Texas cities of El Paso and Austin — are all in border states. "The border is safer now than it's ever been," U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Lloyd Easterling told the Associated Press last month. Even Larry Dever, the sheriff of Arizona's Cochise County, where the murder last March of a local rancher, believed to have been committed by an illegal immigrant, sparked calls for the law, conceded to the Arizona Republic recently that "we're not seeing the that's going on on the other side." (See photos of the Great Wall of America.)

Consider Arizona itself — whose illegal-immigrant population is believed to be second only to California's. The state's overall crime rate dropped 12% last year; between 2004 and 2008 it plunged 23%. In the metro area of its largest city, Phoenix, violent crime — encompassing murder, rape, assault and robbery — fell by a third during the past decade and by 17% last year. The border city of Nogales, an area rife with illegal immigration and drug trafficking, hasn't logged a single murder in the past two years. (See pictures of immigration detention in Arizona.)

It is true that Phoenix has in recent years seen a spate of kidnappings. But in almost every case they've involved drug traffickers targeting other narcos for payment shakedowns, and the 318 abductions reported last year were actually down 11% from 2008. Either way, the figure hardly makes Phoenix, as Arizona Senator John McCain claimed last month, "the No. 2 kidnapping capital of the world" behind Mexico City. A number of Latin American capitals can claim that dubious distinction.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2007474,00.html#ixzz14ofEErvh

Sorry, the right wing is out of its mind. Drug crime in Mexico is a NAFTA dividend. And as far as keeping brown people out of America, it's too late. We're already here and we're voting for Democrats.

[Name removed]

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[EFerrari]

19. Um, the border is better "defended" today than it ever has been.

No one is turning a "blind eye" to any thing. ICE activity is UP all over the country and Obama sent troops to the border to appease the right wing xenophobes.

Sorry, "securing our borders" is right wing cr@p.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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[EFerrari]

21. LOL. I think you are safe from Al Qaida in Mexico for now.

Although you may not be safe from the drunken, petty thieving, wife abusing, shooting their own feet off Minute Men. :)

[Name removed]

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[No Elephants]

13. .....

[Paper Roses]

15. Mid course correction. Phooey! n/t

[meow mix]

16. better get used to saying "president palin"

going for 1 term after all, war president indeed LOL

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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