I've been fighting to end the war in Iraq since the summer of 2002.

[WilliamPitt]

I wrote the first book saying there were no WMD there, no al Qaeda there (until we invaded, of course), no 9/11 connections there, and no reason to go to war there. I wrote another book (my third) that heavily emphasized the need to be gone. I traveled to virtually every state and a bunch of Europe, some 800,000 miles in all, speaking to any and all who would listen about how wrong the war was. I have written probably 100 articles on the subject.

The last combat brigades are leaving: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=11432471

We have to get the rest out, and that soon. And that means the military contractors, too.

But this...this...I honestly never thought I'd live to see the day.

We're not done. I'm not done.

But this is huge.

Welcome home, troops. May you never, ever, ever, ever be used so poorly again.

===

As their convoy reached the barbed wire at the border crossing out of Iraq on Wednesday, the soldiers whooped and cheered. Then they scrambled out of their stifling hot armored vehicles, unfurled an American flag and posed for group photos.

For these troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, it was a moment of relief fraught with symbolism. Seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion, the last American combat brigade was leaving Iraq, well ahead of President Barack Obama's Aug. 31 deadline for ending U.S. combat operations there.

[onehandle]

1. We will have troops there for decades. nt

[Kolesar]

11. There was a segment about Elizabeth Warren on NPR Morning Edition this morning

They talked about her extensive netroots.

[onehandle]

17. She better be appointed or there will be Hell to pay. nt

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. I appreciate all you've done along the way to raise consciousness, Will. nt

[Warren Stupidity]

3. We continue to occupy Iraq. nt.

[BootinUp]

4. It was the Iraq War that forced to me to

search out the netroots. To contribute significant sums of money to Democrats etc. Before that I was not really engaged too much in politics.

[bigtree]

12. it re-engaged me into politics as well

. . . bought a computer, started a web page, wrote a book, etc.. Sad.

[JonLP24]

5. It would be nice to fully compensate the TCNs

for their contributions but I understand we don't have the money for it. Maybe give them a special preference or something if they decide to come to this country which one I got to know from Nepal so desperately wanted. Anyways above all I want the same thing. Troops, contractors, and TCNs out of there.

[malaise]

6. K & R

Thank you Obama

[Barack2theFuture]

7. good book it is, too, Will Pitt.

:thumbsup:

[mmonk]

8. I know. I read one of them.

[deminks]

9. K&R

:kick:

[bigtree]

10. it would be almost impossible to spend that much resource, time, and effort

. . . and not be gratified to see troops leaving in these numbers.

I hope folks realize that this came about as a result of all of our combined efforts - exercising every instigation of democracy along the way - culminating with our election of our Democratic president. We may not have gotten the withdrawal we would want, but no one can argue that his campaign and election made no difference in this outcome.


A President who keeps his word on military deployments -
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree/1371

[madinmaryland]

13. Thanks for everything you have written about the war WP. BTW, aren't you with trumad

shooting darts?

[WilliamPitt]

31. Wound up being an early night

My wife requires a daily injection for medical reasons that can't be done within 12 hours of the last one, and has to be up early tomorrow (and got home late for work tonight). The shot had to be done by 9pm, so I had to split to make sure I was home in time.

We had a blast anyway. :)

[LostinVA]

14. Every soldier there is a combat soldier

Everyone keeps acting like there are special soldiers who don't have guns or combat training. Jessica Lynch was a 19-year-old female attached to a supply company. She was in combat. A REMF making coffee is a combat soldier. The 50-year-old clerk is a combat soldier. They may not be attached to combat BRIGADES, but they are combat soldiers.

We have 50K troops still there. It's good some are coming home, especially after so many dead Americans and Iraqis and a ruined country, but i REALLY don't like hearing "Mason Accomplished" BS again.

WE aren't being "Debbie Downers," we are tired of this perpetual war and the perpetual Government doublespeak.

[pecwae]

32. Just so.

I'll celebrate when they're all out.

[Kolesar]

15. I can still recall the early meetings at the Cleveland printers' union hall

Anti war marches in the middle of winter. Mayor Campbell was very accomodating for us. Her mother was a peace activist.

[BeHereNow]

16. Just read your latest on OpEd Will- great stuff.

Missed you around these parts-
Haven't been DUing much of late.
Nice to hear from you- made visiting worth it today!
:loveya:
BHN

[DCBob]

18. I attended three anti-Iraq war protests in DC including the one a few days before the war started.

This feels very good but I still want all the soldiers out as soon as possible. But this is a very important milestone.

[Scurrilous]

19. Thanks

K & R :thumbsup:

[chill_wind]

20. It was your writing, William Pitt

your fearlessly honest, searingly poignant writing about the invasion of Iraq that brought me to search out DU.
Before that, I spent virtually all my time clashing with war-mongering Bush-boot-licking freepers and chicken hawks on a cross-spectrum political "debate board". Then I saw some of your journalism on another website. I knew you were right, so painfully, unmistakably right about all of it, and telling it like no one else. I'll always revere you for your remarkable voice and writing instincts on this whole horrible shameful era from the outset.

One of the first essays of yours that I encountered that lingered and lingered with me (for pretty much forever) was the imagery of our kids sitting in those first days of the broken down convoys, out of rations, out of water, out of cigarettes, some of them surely sobbing quietly in the night at the level of unreality they found themselves in.

I join you in marking this day, as well as condemning the use and betrayal- and disgustingly endless back-door draft- of our troops, our kids, in a war of blood for oil and neocon wet dreams. And pray there will still be justice yet- some distant day- for the vile liars, architects, war criminals and their enablers and protectors that led us and kept us there for so very long.

Thank you for keeping the voice of protest and consciousness alive for all these many years going.

[depakid]

21. Crikey, this has been in the works and going on for months

:eyes:

and the war, such as it's been for the past 6 years isn't close to over- just more "Vietnamized" and Balkanized.

[butterfly77]

22. Kicked&Recommended!

[w4rma]

23. You kick ass William Pitt. I'm so happy about today's events! (nt)

[stevedeshazer]

24. It's just really a good god damned day.

In 2002, I was here:

[The Straight Story]

25. When the last troops leave, it will be over (nt)

[Bobbie Jo]

26. Damn straight, it's a BFD.

K&R :kick:

[derby378]

27. You are correct, Will - we are not done

I know a lot of my old Camp Casey friends are probably watching today's events unfold and saying "So what? Where's the rest of our troops?"

It is not the end of the occupation, but it is another step towards ending our illegal presence in Iraq. Our mission nowadays is to remind our neighbors that the job of getting everyone out of Iraq isn't over yet.

[calimary]

28. no kidding! Hard to believe.

and no, it's not over. But it's a start. IF ONLY we could go after the war criminals!

Makes me sad to think of all that subpoena power we presumably had for controlling the House and Senate - all utterly ignored and unused and wasted! And the bad guys will probably get control and go crazy with the subpoena power, using it for all the wrong reasons.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH OUR PEOPLE????????

[Whisp]

29. Wasn't Scott Ritter, a former inspector in Iraq, just a little help for your book?

Or did you do another one Before that one on your own?

[WilliamPitt]

30. He was a lot of help

Which is why his name is on the cover.

But you knew that.

[Window]

33. Thank you Sir for all you do.

n/t

[watercolors]

34. Thank you Will, many of us have had the same thoughts.

nt