U.S. withdrawal from Iraq: Ending or outsourcing the war?

[unhappycamper]

U.S. withdrawal from Iraq: Ending or outsourcing the war?


U.S. withdrawal from Iraq: Ending or outsourcing the war?
15:57 13/08/2010

Iraqis, along with the rest of the Muslim world, have ushered in the holy month of Ramadan, hoping it will give their thoughts some refuge from worries about Iraq's future. The country is still living without a cabinet, and only God knows when it will get one. Meanwhile, the U.S. has started withdrawing combat brigades in keeping with President Barack Obama's election pledge. All combat troops are expected to be out of Iraq by September 1, while the remainder of U.S. forces are scheduled to leave by the end of 2011.

Yet, few Obama administration officials actually believe that the complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq is realistic in the foreseeable future.

In the weeks to come, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will be trying to convince the nation and the world that the U.S. strategy in Iraq has been a success and therefore it is safe for troops to leave.

About 100,000 American soldiers have left Iraq since Obama took office a year and a half ago. In 2007, during the peak of the American occupation, the number of U.S. troops in Iraq totaled 166,000. That number has fallen to 65,000. By September 1, as few as 50,000 will remain as a "transitional force" to train and advise Iraqi security forces. Operation Iraqi Freedom will be renamed New Dawn at that point.

All these moves were election promises, and Obama is making good on them. Had he failed to, he would have suffered political fallout among his supporters - a prospect Obama can scarcely afford, particularly ahead of this November's mid-term elections.

[DCBob]

1. You left off the part about the "outsourcing"..

"Once the U.S. troops are gone, the State Department will have to hire private contractors to ensure the security of its Iraq-based staff. The number of private security personnel employed by the U.S. embassy in Iraq currently stands at 2,700. Mrs. Clinton says that after September 1, that number will triple, reaching 8,000 people."

Although this is not the ideal situation, I prefer this to US soldiers.

[msongs]

2. let iraq pay for them nt

[madrchsod]

4. they could use billions on those pallets......

[DCBob]

5. Yes, I think they should and why not.. they have enormous oil wealth.

Its time Iraqis started to pay for their own security.

[madrchsod]

3. the us marines are not capable of protecting our embassies.

the us marines used to protect our embassies but it`s obvious that a highly paid private mercenary force will do what the marines are incapable of doing.