No, the U.S. is not leaving Iraq

[MinervaX]

http://www.salon.com/2011/12/17/no_the_u_s_is_not_leaving_iraq/

Thousands of armed U.S. private contractors will be based in the country, and the potential for violence is real
By Justin Elliott

*
*

In a speech at Fort Bragg, N.C., Wednesday, President Obama declared that the war in Iraq is over.

“I’ve come to speak to you about the end of the war in Iraq,” he told gathered troops. “Over the last few months, the final work of leaving Iraq has been done. Dozens of bases with American names that housed thousands of American troops have been closed down or turned over to the Iraqis. Thousands of tons of equipment have been packed up and shipped out. Tomorrow, the colors of United States Forces-Iraq — the colors you fought under — will be formally cased in a ceremony in Baghdad.”

All the specifics were true. But what about Obama’s claim that the war has come to a end?

The truth is more complicated. It turns out the Obama administration is leaving behind a huge contingent from the State Department along with thousands of armed private contractors. The possibility for violence between Americans and Iraqis is very real.

[ingac70]

1. .....

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/world/middleeast/asserting-its-sovereignty-iraq-detains-american-contractors.html?pagewanted=all

[morningfog]

19. Interesting article. Hundreds of contractors have been detained.

I am curious on the actual number of armed contractors still left, but it is a good sign, in my opinion, that Iraq is exerting control over the situation through denials of renewals to carry weapons and arrests.

[TheWraith]

2. Sorry for the shit stirrers, but we already have.

Trying to create imaginary contractor armies doesn't change the fact that the war is over.

[Angry Dragon]

4. The face of the war has just changed

We have an embassy that is 1.5 miles square
and we left the country in worse shape than when we got there

[truebrit71]

6. But we "won" though, right?

...what was that someone once said about putting lipstick on a pig..???

[Angry Dragon]

9. that would be a big ..... NO

[mdmc]

7. The War is Over, We Won, Bush was Brilliant for Invading..

I opposed the war because I didn't think getting rid of WMD (aka nerve gas) was worth 50 years of blood and sacrifice.

Ten years later we have a stable, secular, pro west, unified Iraq. I guess I was wrong to oppose Bush. He was playing multi dimensional chess like a champ, not a chump..

[morningfog]

10. Edited to add a source.

In my original post, I asked if you knew how many contractors were still in Iraq and what operations they were conducting.

Here is a report from March 2011 that shows the contractor numbers have been steadily dropping, which is positive. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R40764.pdf

As of March 2011, there were still 64,000 contractors in Iraq, of which around 18,000 were US. I am sure that number is much lower. In this thread a poster said the numbers were now under 10,000.

Also in the report, the majority (61%) were base support, which undoubtedly has lessened. 18% were security and 1% were training.

I am interested in seeing updated numbers.

[mike_c]

16. but the occupation has merely entered another phase...

...with a less familiar face. Arguably, the "war" ended when it became clear that further hostilities against the occupying force were futile except as a way to express anger. At that point it became a garrison occupation. Now the garrisons have been replaced with foreign service officers, "security consultants," and "embassy staff." But no one is under any illusions about the occupation being ended. That will happen when Iraqis have no need to fear retribution from Americans, their proxies, or their drones.

There's another dimension to this that rarely gets mentioned. It took three years for Obama to end a war that was started on false pretenses and should never have happened. The war itself was a war of aggression, and thus an international crime under the U.N. Charter. Again, we can spin arguments about the details all day long, but the war should never have happened and it shocks me that a U.S. president apparently cannot remedy a mistake of that magnitude in less time than three years. It's like telling a bank robber to wind it up sometime in the next month or two, or else! If the will to do the right thing rather than the maximally politically expedient thing had existed in the White House, we could have ended the war against Irag (and Afghanistan) within weeks, rather than years, and could have begun an orderly stand down immediately upon Obama taking command. He PROLONGED the wars unnecessarily. That is absolutely unforgivable.

[lamp_shade]

3. Armed Private Contractors????

[ManiacJoe]

28. Security guards and body guards.

[ProSense]

5. But

"In a speech at Fort Bragg, N.C., Wednesday, President Obama declared that the war in Iraq is over." (when?)

...Bush ended it! But the Iraqis ended it! But Obama doesn't deserve credit! But contractors!

Did you know that there were more than 130,000 contractors in Iraq in January 2009 and now there are less than 10,000, and dropping?


http://www.whitehouse.gov/iraq

[MinervaX]

12. I remember that speech

It's the one where Obama praises George W. Bush the war criminal.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/01/maddow-outraged-obamas-kind-words-bush-iraq-speech/

“I think we shouldn’t get past how remarkable it is how much the proponents of the Iraq war are getting off easy here,” Maddow said to MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann immediately following the speech.

“And to to have in this speech, as combat operations are ending, to have, as you point out Keith, the president not only not addressing the circumstances in which he we went to war, but these kind words for President Bush, describing his commitment to our security, despite the recklessness with which President Bush discarded that national security in favor of this war of choice, which only diminished our security, and is responsible probably for the Afghanistan war still going on today, for the depths of people who have died in Afghanistan after the time, after which that war would have ended had we not gone to Iraq, not to mention all of the people who died in Iraq,” Maddow continued.

[morningfog]

13. Is that true there are less than 10,000 contractors? That is great news.

Last I had seen it was much higher. Do you have a link on the contractor levels?

I agree that for all intents and purposes the war in Iraq is over.

[xchrom]

8. Tax payers dollars - just covered up a little bit. Nt

[JoePhilly]

11. And another manufactured outrage widget hits the shop floor.

If only we could export them!!!!

[truebrit71]

14. Yeah because all of those deaths and the emptying of the US Treasury is just so fucking...

right?

[JoePhilly]

15. Call a Bush supporter with that nonsense.

Obama pulled our troops out of Iraq.

But hey ... maybe you can start a business dedicated to moving goal posts from one location to another.

[truebrit71]

17. Yeah, we "won" and we have left Iraq a better place...

...Sorry but I ain't buyin' your happy sauce...

[JoePhilly]

20. When did I say "we won"?

I said its over. And it is. Our troops are out.

Sorry that truth pisses you off.

[jwirr]

18. As far as I can see it is out of the frying pan into the fire. Mercanaries are more dangerous to

this world than armies who can be controlled if TPTB have the balls.

[SpartanDem]

21. How is this not the war being over?

The contract is for diplomatic protection. You’re not supposed to see Triple Canopy employees, say, go out on raids. Fifty-six days before the U.S. withdrawal, the State Department also put out a contract for aviation support. That’s an indicator of how this is being put together on the fly. It’s also an indication that the State Department is contracting for missions as sensitive as Medevac or close air support.


The contractors are for security of our embassy, consulates and the State Dept. employees. Is it still as very dangerous situation, of course, but it's not active combat.

[Scurrilous]

22. I read on DU that Bradley Manning ended the war.

[NNN0LHI]

24. LOL

[onenote]

23. Thanks for the month old article that was has previously been posted here several times

I suppose if one wanted to, one could fill up DU just reposting old stories.

[progressoid]

26. MinervaX has been here for 2 weeks.

Maybe he/she hasn't read every post yet.

[onenote]

27. Then the possibilities for posting old material are just about endless

Maybe its just me but I don't recall a lot of new DUers posting old articles.

[NNN0LHI]

25. Welcome to DU

Really nice to meet you here.

Don