American Troops out of Iraq

alternative-energy · Post by **alternative-energy** » 15 Dec 2011, 17:26

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16192105

Does this mean all the oil has now been secured by the USA?
Are bases still being maintained by a skeleton force ready for redeployment at sometime in the future?
Is this a serious tactical blunder by the Obama administration?
Can the USA simply not afford the cost of this operation anymore?

Many people, including myself, thought the US army would never leave Iraq.
Thoughts welcome...

Lord Beria3 · Post by **Lord Beria3** » 15 Dec 2011, 18:09

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/dec20 ... -d15.shtml

Read that for a brillant analysis of what is going on.

alternative-energy · Post by **alternative-energy** » 15 Dec 2011, 18:30

Lord Beria3 wrote:http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/dec20 ... -d15.shtml

Read that for a brillant analysis of what is going on.

Great article, thanks!

They'll be back!!

Ludwig · Post by **Ludwig** » 15 Dec 2011, 20:36

alternative-energy wrote:
Lord Beria3 wrote:http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/dec20 ... -d15.shtml

Read that for a brillant analysis of what is going on.
Great article, thanks!

They'll be back!!

They're not even leaving! Did you read this bit? -

As it is, Washington is doing its best to maintain its grip on Iraq, replacing uniformed troops with an army of up to 17,000 under the nominal direction of the US State Department. It is to include a force of 5,500 private mercenary security contractors, a massive CIA station, and Special Operations troops operating covertly out of uniform.

Good article, anyway. It's tragic that we never read stuff either this well-written, this insightful, or this honest, in any the mainstream media any more.

Naomi Klein drew attention to the replacement of troops with "contractors" in "The Shock Doctrine". Contractors are great - they're mostly foreign, so their body bags get delivered elsewhere; they're not subject to either US or Iraqi law; and most Americans never stop to think that it's THEY who are paying their wages.

Also, interesting overheard comments by an American soldier on Craig Murray's blog - DonnyDarko, 15 Dec, 2011 - 7:41 pm:

http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/ ... /#comments

Maybe the statement that US troops are being withdrawn is not so much an obfuscation as a simple lie!

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 15 Dec 2011, 21:20

Too many of these

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOil ... 8420111214

and the troops will back on the streets

... "We have enough storage until we repair these pipelines. We will bypass the oil pumping operations through another pipeline network until repairs are done," spokesman Asim Jihad said.

It will take no more than a week to repair the damage done to the pipelines, he said.

On Wednesday, export flow was at normal rates of 1.68 million bpd from Basra, a shipping source told Reuters. An oil official said Iraq had enough crude stored to keep exports at same levels for two-three days. ...