unless we do it

Quote :

"The US is expected to pull significant numbers of troops out of Iraq in the next 12 months in spite of the continuing violence, according to the general responsible for near-term planning in the country. Maj Gen Douglas Lute, director of operations at US Central Command, on Wednesday said the reductions were part of a push by Gen John Abizaid, commander of all US troops in the region, to put the burden of defending Iraq on Iraqi forces. He denied the withdrawal was motivated by political pressure from Washington. He said: “We believe at some point, in order to break this dependence on the . . . coalition, you simply have to back off and let the Iraqis step forward. “You have to undercut the perception of occupation in Iraq. It's very difficult to do that when you have 150,000-plus, largely western, foreign troops occupying the country.” While he cautioned that any troop reduction would be conditional on continued political progress and ongoing improvement in Iraqi force training, he said Centcom planners believed “the political process will play out, that we will see a constitution, that we will see, by some political machinations, the Sunnis brought into the process and we will proceed to national elections in December”."

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/9f81fef2-14de-11da-9df1-00000e2511c8.html

8/24/2005 6:41:53 PM

what is "significant numbers"

8/24/2005 6:44:16 PM

whats the point if you dont bust inside?

8/24/2005 6:59:49 PM

Pulling out is always bad. Condoms baby condoms!

BTW my son is due in September.

8/24/2005 10:19:27 PM

Quote :

"DirtyGreek: unless we do it"

what's so entertaining is watching all you people on teh L3ft be all over the map on this one.

One day there's a story that the military is planning on keeping things at the current level for another 2-3 years, and its "OMF quagmire!!1"...then there's a story about a planned withdrawal, and it's "OMF flip-flop!!1"...then there's a story...

[etc]

8/24/2005 10:28:21 PM

kinda like how anyone attacks someone for "flip-flopping"
first example i think of is seeing flip-flops hanging from teh back of suv's with w stickers

8/24/2005 10:30:30 PM

[Edited on August 24, 2005 at 10:33 PM. Reason : n/m]

8/24/2005 10:32:49 PM

Quote :

"there's a story about a planned withdrawal, and it's "OMF flip-flop!!1"...then there's a story..."

Most of the time I see people call flip-flop, they are doing it as a subtle attempt to show what a stupid thing it is to say, as it was during the campaigning. It's a stupid thing to say, but it got Bush the election. The irony that the people who so scorned the "flip-flop" are master flip-floppers themselves is too juicy to ignore.

Anyway, I'm not sure how I feel about this move. On the one hand, pulling out gives the Iraqis a chance to see how serious they are about finding democracy, but on the other hand, if they never get out of the rut we put them in, it will be our fault. What would be even worse though is if they ended up constructing a fascist gov. like Saudi Arabia (that we're so friendly with), because that would cause worse problems for us 10-20 years down the road.

Basically, we can guarantee they develop well if we stay for a long time and build things up, but it will be a hard road because they hate us, or we can leave, giving rise to the possibility that they recover by themselves fairly quickly, or they dig deeper in to poverty like Afghanistan, then becoming a terrorist hotbed.

8/25/2005 2:18:24 AM

More an more people keep talkin about gettin outta Iraq, but the president wants to stay the course. Well here at Fafblog we believe in compromise. Why not keep the occupation AND get outta the country at the same time!

camouflageTHE TROOPS
The problem isn't REALLY that we got a over a hundred thousand troops in Iraq and Iraqis don't want em there. It's that we got over a hundred thousand troops in Iraq and Iraqis just happen to notice em! The compromise: keep our army in Iraq, but cleverly disguised as idle French tourists vacationing in the cool mesopotamian summertime. Sure some Iraqis might ask some questions, like "Where did all the American troops go" an "Where'd these French guys come from." "Sacre bleu, vive la france," our army would say in its striped shirts an berets, wavin a croissant in the air with disaffected charm. They do not understand, they are just on holiday! We'd have ta change costumes every coupla days so the Iraqis don't catch on. Like one week they could be disguised as bullfighters or cowboys or sexy nurses. The week after that they could be colorful potted plants. Who's that launchin an air raid on neighboring Iran? Why that's not the United States military - that's just lovable comic legend Groucho Marx pullin another one a his screwball stunts!

THE BASES
Should we keep permanent bases in Iraq or should we leave the area completely? Why not do both! The compromise: keep our permanent bases, but put up great big pieces a cardboard around em with paintings of permanent bases on em. Then paint signs on the paintings of the permanent bases that say "Ceci n'est pas une permanent base." That way when Iraqis wander by they'll just take our militarization of their country as a whimsical statement on the elusive nature of representation.

THE WORLD
So far it's all goin great, but what about the rest a the world? What if they keep on naggin us about "What's goin on in Iraq" an "Aren't you still in Iraq" an "Whatever happened to Iraq?" The compromise: Throw a big tarp over Iraq! If the world starts gettin suspicious America can always distract it with its lively jugglin skills.

http://fafblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/great-compromise-more-more-people-keep.html

8/25/2005 8:22:40 AM

Do we know what these significant numbers are? An actual figure, not just "a lot of troops" or something.

8/25/2005 2:14:16 PM

i hope that we leave at least ten thousand there for like 50 years

I MEAN, FOR CHRIST SAKE, I HOPE THIS WAR WAS FOR SOMETHING

8/25/2005 2:30:30 PM

Quote :

"It's a stupid thing to say, but it got Bush the election."

Actually, kerry sucking balls and not taking a stand on ANYTHING is what lost him the election.

8/25/2005 2:39:08 PM

i like that you're admitting bush didn't win
kerry just lost...

because picking the lesser of two evils is awesome for america!

8/25/2005 2:56:01 PM