Not me either, but you have to give him credit for it. Can you say that his handling of the military(in general) has been a pleasant surprise? Like Pakistan for example? Beefing up Afghanistan? The pirates? I didn't think this day would happen any time soon.
You know you kind of have to on this. I don't know if it is because he is so out of his league that he just said the hell with it and let someone else run this or if he had a bigger part in it. Beings he campaigned on "not doing what the other guy did" and gets elected and does "exactly what the other guy did" it makes you wonder. I'm not as full of piss and vinegar as carolina tiger is. I'm not sure this thing is put down as much as he thinks or if its just time to wash our hands of the whole mess. Time will tell. If it is the last "big" thing that barry does I will be extremely happy. It still amazes me that people can't see him for what he is.
We were out on an exercise out in California last month and had an Iraqi national speak to us. He was a Squadron Commander in the Iraqi Air Force at the start of OIF and jumped ship because he didn't want to fight a war with the Americans (and like everyone else, hated Saddam). Anyways, his argument was that if you up the education level of the Iraqis, things will get start to get better, mainly from the fact that they will be able to get a job and not have to resort to taking money from AQI to blow themselves up to "help" their family. As it stands though, that country is embroiled in an undeclared Civil War. Until the Shia and Sunni decide they can live together peacefully, things will stay bad.
It's not true. There are 50,000 troops in Iraq on stability and security missions. Many are "combat troops". The focus has shifted. The capability remains. On 1 January 2012, the last of the combat troops will have left Iraq. There is more killing to do, and it will be done with Iraqis leading. American troops have not fired their last rounds in Iraq. Not yet.
Don't make the mistake of thinking of Iraq in terms of only Arab-Muslim dominatated societies. Iraq at its core was a much more moderate society, with a tradition of education and - by Arab standards - liberal tendencies. Saddam and the Baathists crushed all that 35 years ago or so, but many, many Iraqis remember. Iraq has a very real chance to become the shining jewel of the Arab world but it will take time to undo 35 or more years of dictatorship. Iraq is not a western culture. But it is also not Saudi Arabia or Yemen. Iraq has a lot going for it. There's a chance. And don't fool yourself into thinking we're out of there. No US President wants Iraq to fail. The implications are enormous. We're in Iraq for a long, long time - just with a different face, and a quieter profile.
Every soldier has a weapon, so of course they can turn into a "combat troop" if need be. But this event marks the last full combat-arms unit whose purpose there was specifically to kill people who needed killin'. Plus, how many soldiers and airmen stayed on in Germany after VE Day? Or Marines and sailors in Japan after VJ Day? 60 years later, they're still there. I'm fairly confident that even after Operation New Dawn is over, we'll still have people there. We may not be occupying, but I bet we'll be there to advise and do joint training. Our presence in Iraq is too tactically important and mutually beneficial to give up completely.
I agree. But their exit is largely symbolic and the hype is meant for the media's consumption. The redeployment has been going on for months. Nothing's different on 1 Sep except for a new name and hitting a threshold (which was very well done, by the way). That's all I'm saying. Actually - your comment about every soldier has a gun is very misleading. And not true. Combat arms and combat support are two extremely different flavors of soldier, even today. The Army is not the Marine Corps. There are plenty of combat arms soldiers to provide security and stability support in Iraq.
