BUSH: TROOPS TO STAY IN IRAQ THRU '08

[babsbunny]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! http://news.yahoo.com/

[Roland99]

1. That's not what Condi said on Nov. 24, 2005.

She said the withdrawal would start "fairly soon"

[maxsolomon]

2. jan 19th, 2009

then president wesley clark has to explain to Fox & CNN & the GOP pundits why he "lost" Iraq.

[rodeodance]

3. what a crapola. Three years later--NOW he says--Much later folks!

[htuttle]

4. In the world of corporate takeovers, that's known as a 'poison pill'

[FreedomRain]

5. So there's light at the end of the tunnel?

I can see the last chopper leaving the "Green Zone" now with several thousand Iraqi's left behind to deal with the chaos.

Seriously, they need to divide that country up while the troops are there. It's ridiculous to keep it together.

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. "6 days, 6 weeks, ...I don't think 6 months"

[Jack Rabbit]

7. President Pelosi may have something to say about that in '07

. . . right after the Senate convicts Bush and Cheney.

[Wisconsin Larry]

8. They never intended to leave that's why the army is building

14 permanent bases ("enduring bases") in Iraq. The neocons went into Iraq to stay not to "accomplish" a mission (pick a mission du jour") and leave. They also went to Washington to stay. Getting them out of Washington may be as difficult as getting them out of Iraq...

From a September 2003 Christian Science Monitor article,
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0930/p17s02-cogn.html

"But a dozen is the number of so-called "enduring bases" located by John Pike, director of GlobalSecurities.org. His military affairs website gives their names. They include, for example, Camp Victory at the Baghdad airfield and Camp Renegade in Kirkuk. The Chicago Tribune last March said US engineers are constructing 14 "enduring bases," but Mr. Pike hasn't located two of them.

Note the terminology "enduring" bases. That's Pentagon-speak for long-term encampments - not necessarily permanent, but not just a tent on a wood platform either. It all suggests a planned indefinite stay on Iraqi soil that will cost US taxpayers for years to come."

More in The Nation January 2005
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/outrage?pid=2132

And in Mother Jones March/April 2005
http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2005/03/enduring_bases_iraq.html

[long_green]

9. Way to stay the course

Where on earth do these men think the good news is coming from? What do they think will happen that will make the vast majority of this country (and getting vaster all the time) and the entire rest of the world suddenly slap their foreheads and say, "Ohhhhh, NOW I get it."
What sort of people will the military be reduced to recruiting by 2008?

[Disturbed]

10. Exit Strategy?

There never was one.


"The terrorists want to control the oil. Our way of life will be at risk". George W. Bush (Nov. 2005)



Bush Regime Iraq Successes (Phase 1)

1. The Iraqi Regime will no longer sell Iraqi oil via the Euro.

2, A military foothold in the ME. other than Saudi Arabia.

3, No countries will be able to buy Iraqi oil that the U.S. disapproves of.

4. Slowing production of Iraqi oil garners more profits to US Oil Corps.

5.The Military Industrial Complex is a booming Industry.


Phase 2

“Iraq: Permanent US Colony”

Iraq: Permanent US Colony
By Dahr Jamail

t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Tuesday 14 March 2006

“Why does the Bush Administration refuse to discuss withdrawing occupation forces from Iraq? Why is Halliburton, who landed the no-bid contracts to construct and maintain US military bases in Iraq, posting higher profits than ever before in its 86-year history?
Why do these bases in Iraq resemble self-contained cities as much as military outposts?”

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031306A.shtml

The Hand-Over That Wasn't: Illegal Orders give the US a Lock on Iraq's Economy
by Antonia Juhasz

Officially, the U.S. occupation of Iraq ended on June 28, 2004. But in reality, the United States is still in charge: Not only do 138,000 troops remain to control the streets, but the "100 Orders" of L. Paul Bremer III remain to control the economy.

These little noticed orders enacted by Bremer, the now-departed head of the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority, go to the heart of Bush administration plans in Iraq. They lock in sweeping advantages to American firms, ensuring long-term U.S. economic advantage while guaranteeing few, if any, benefits to the Iraqi people.

The Bremer orders control every aspect of Iraqi life - from the use of car horns to the privatization of state-owned enterprises. Order No. 39 alone does no less than "transition from a … centrally planned economy to a market economy" virtually overnight and by U.S. fiat.

Although many thought that the "end" of the occupation would also mean the end of the orders, on his last day in Iraq Bremer simply transferred authority for the orders to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi - a 30-year exile with close ties to the CIA and British intelligence.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0805-07.htm

U.S. Edicts Curb Power Of Iraq's Leadership

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8665-2004Jun26.html

[raysr]

11. It's called "Pass the War"

Just in case the Dems win in '08 not only will they have a broken economy but a fucking war to de-fuse.