Comments on: Boy, did they show us

by: clytemnestra

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:37:37 +0000

(in my best Steven Wright voice)

Yes, they showed us. I was so wrong.

by: paul

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:29:33 +0000

So we get to protect the current crop of yahoos against anyone who might actually form a working government in return for completely unfulfillable promises of access to money when they have some that we didn’t give them?

This almost makes the last four years of iraq policy look sane.

by: Linnaeus

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:25:49 +0000

Haven’t we heard this song before? When are we going to start hearing about “Iraqization”?

by: libhomo

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:41:16 +0000

This is an example of how the Iraqi “government” has no sovereignty. It really is a puppet state. We saw that before with the fact that their decision to kick Blackwater out of the country was overturned by the Bush regime.

by: PhoenicianRomans

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:24:12 +0000

Iraq’s government, seeking protection against foreign threats and internal coups, will offer the U.S. a long-term troop presence in Iraq in return for U.S. security guarantees as part of a strategic partnership, two Iraqi officials said Monday.

“The Parliament of Poland is pleased to announce they have reached an agreement with their German visitors, offering them a long-term troop presence in Warsaw in exchange for strategic foreign and military coordination between the two independent nations…”

by: mcc

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:12:23 +0000

The initiative is highly unlikely to be successful.

Although I still can’t figure out, what happens if it fails? Anything?

by: croatoan

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:03:32 +0000

President Bush's National Strategy for Victory in Iraq defines victory as including "An Iraq that is peaceful, united, stable, democratic, and secure, where Iraqis have the institutions and resources they need to govern themselves justly and provide security for their country." (emphasis added) If we're providing security, the strategy has failed.

by: norbizness

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:02:12 +0000

The initiative is highly unlikely to be successful. Unless we have a parliamentary purge or some extralegal shenanigans are employed. But what are the chances of that?

by: MikeEss

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:55:00 +0000

You forgot to mention “Using up military equipment so we have a good excuse to spend billions buying more”.

‘Course they’re also using up military personnel, but who at the country club cares about that?…

by: mcc

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:48:27 +0000

Trying to figure out what I’m looking at here. This is about Iraq’s parliamentary decision due at the end of the year as to whether to renew/revoke the U.S.’s permission to stay in the country, right?

Isn’t 50,000 troops about the amount to which the mainstream Democratic presidential candidates were planning to draw troops down to under their “withdrawal” plans?

When should we expect this down-by-2/3 shift to occur, if the plan is approved? Would troops start pulling out at the end of the year, or would this be an “indeterminate future” kind of thing?

Found this part interesting:

The Americans appeared generally favorable subject to negotiations on the details, which include preferential treatment for American investments, according to the Iraqi officials involved in the discussions… Preferential treatment for U.S. investors could provide a huge windfall if Iraq can achieve enough stability to exploit its vast oil resources.