US May Break Promise to Leave Iraq (Anyone Surprised?)

[de novo]

US may break promise to leave Iraq

By The Associated Press via The Raw Story
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 -- 8:40 am

The United States is open to the idea of keeping troops in Iraq past a deadline to leave next year if Iraq asks for it, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.

"We'll stand by," Gates said. "We're ready to have that discussion if and when they want to raise it with us."

Gates urged Iraq's squabbling political groups to reconcile after eight months of deadlock. Any request to extend the U.S. military presence in Iraq would have to come from a functioning Iraqi government. It would amend the current agreement under which U.S. troops must leave by the end of 2011.

"That initiative clearly needs to come from the Iraqis; we are open to discussing it," Gates said.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have said for months that they expect Iraqi leaders to eventually ask for an extension of the military agreement with the U.S., but the political impasse has put the idea on hold.

more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/break-promise-leave-iraq/

[Gman]

1. The key words here are: "if Iraq asks for it"

which I have no problem with. As opposed to going in and doing whatever we damn well please.

[arcane1]

3. All according to plan...

It's just a matter of finding the right "Iraqi leader" to "ask" us to stay.

As long as Iraq has resources, we'll have troops there.

[ProSense]

2. What an absolutely bogus headline.

Breaking promise implies that the U.S. will violate the agreement.

As for Gates' comment, it's not the first time he and others have made ambiguous comments.

The article even indicates that such a request is unlikely to be made by Iraq.

[elleng]

5. Agree.

and 'deadlines' always bad, imo, even tho many want to see/hear them. Governing is TOUGH!

[kirby]

6. They mean Obama's Campaign promise...

Not our agreement with Iraq.

[The Northerner]

8. +1

[TheWraith]

7. Precisely. What else is Gates supposed to say?

"No, even if they asked us to keep troops here, we'd tell them to fuck off"? Politely keeping the possibility open is the only thing to do, even if we'd never actually keep troops there.

[kenny blankenship]

4. As long as we still have IRAN to threaten

And as long as we still want to sit on the head of the Iraqi govt and give them the benefits of our "guidance", we will remain in our Iraqi bases. We will be there as long as Obama is President, despite his campaign promises, and well beyond.