The Drawdown in Iraq begins

[QueEx]

<font size="6"><center>
Drawdown in Iraq begins:</font size><font size="5">
12,000 troops to return by fall</font size><font size="4">

The two combat brigades that would have
replaced them will go to Afghanistan instead</font size></center>


The Christian Science Monitor
By Gordon Lubold, Staff writer
From the March 9, 2009 edition


Washington - The top US commander in Iraq is sending two combat brigades home from Iraq, marking the first major drawdown of US troops there since the "surge" ended last year.

The announcement comes just days after President Obama announced that the US combat mission in Iraq would end by September 2010, but left open the question of when they would begin to return.

The redeployment could be seen as a down payment on the promised withdrawal of forces. Administration officials have indicated that, as expected, most of the rest of the combat forces won't return from Iraq until much later this year or early next, in order to ensure security for the Iraqi elections.

The Afghanistan mission also plays a role: The brigades that would have replaced the two returning from Iraq are being sent instead to Afghanistan, where Mr. Obama has promised more troops to deal with the deteriorating security.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, announced Sunday that over the next six months, two combat brigade teams and their supporting elements, or about 12,000 troops, would return home from Iraq without being replaced. An American F-16 fighter squadron will also be sent back without being replaced.

That will reduce the total combat force in Iraq from the current 14 brigades to a total of 12 brigades. General Odierno also formally announced that a British brigade of about 4,000 troops would be sent home without being replaced.

"The time and conditions are right for coalition forces to reduce the number of troops in Iraq," Odierno said in a prepared statement. "The successful provincial elections demonstrated the increased capability of the Iraqi army and police to provide security."

At the height of the surge of US troops in 2007, there were a total of 20 combat brigades deployed to Iraq, driving up the total number of American forces there to 166,000 in October 2007. When the surge ended last year, US commanders sent back five brigades, or about 20,000 troops.

The Pentagon then reduced American presence further by another brigade, leaving 14 combat brigades in Iraq and a total of 140,000 American troops.

"After we remove our combat brigades, our mission will change from combat to supporting the Iraqi government and its security forces, as they take the absolute lead in securing their country," Obama said during a speech at a Marine base in North Carolina Feb. 27.

Iraq's own security force has grown in recent years to more than 600,000 and become increasingly more capable.

The combination of US troops and Iraqi security forces has improved security in the country since the height of the insurgency in 2004. About 135 American troops were killed in April that year, according to icasualties.org.

Last month, 16 Americans were killed in Iraq, according to the website.

There remain pockets of insurgency in some areas, including in the north around Mosul and Baquba. US commanders are concerned that the drawdown of US forces is done carefully so as not to alter the security situation on the ground. Generally, US forces will pull out of the cities and back to more centralized bases before withdrawing altogether.

Although Obama pledged to end the combat mission in Iraq by September 2010, he has also said he will leave as many as 50,000 American troops in Iraq for another year or so after that to perform advisory and training roles.

The current agreement between Iraq and the US requires all US forces to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. But experts and military commanders believe new agreements will ensure that some residual American forces will reside in Iraq even after that time.


http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0309/p03s06-usmi.html

 

[QueEx]

<font size="5"><center>
The 'coalition of the willing'
becomes an army of one</font size></center>



McClatchy Newspapers
By Hannah Allam
Thursday, December 31, 2009



BAGHDAD, Iraq — The British said cheerio back in July, around the same time the Romanians cleared out "Camp Dracula," their compound on a U.S. base in southern Iraq. Tonga and Kazakhstan left ages ago, and no one seems to remember if any Icelandic forces ever made it to Iraq.

It doesn't matter now, anyway, because as of Friday, former president George W. Bush's "coalition of the willing" formally ceases to exist, leaving only the U.S. military's 130,000 or so forces to shepherd their Iraqi counterparts through a volatile election season before a full American troop withdrawal that's expected by the end of 2011.

U.S. commanders will officially disband the Multinational Force Iraq, or MNF-I, and introduce the USF-I, or U.S. Force Iraq, at a ceremony Friday in Baghdad. American soldiers and officers said the transition is largely a formality because they've been going it alone since the summer.

Iraqis also said the change barely registers. To them, there's never been a question that Americans were in charge for these tumultuous past six years.

"There's no difference, even if they change the name," said Mohammed Abdul Jabar, 40, a furniture salesman in Baghdad. "The main enemy, the ones who destroyed the country, who disbanded our military, it's the Americans. If I see a fighter jet loaded with missiles, do I wonder whose it is? No, it's always been the Americans."

American officials spin the disbanding of the coalition differently, saying the end of the MNF-I brings Iraqis one step closer to regaining real sovereignty, "a new era in Operation Iraqi Freedom," as one news release put it. On the lack of sovereignty, Iraqis agree. The name change is another matter.

In several street interviews, Iraqis of different backgrounds were asked how many members of the coalition they could name besides the U.S. and Britain. Some correctly identified the Italians (3,200 troops) and the Australians (2,000 troops). Others confidently named France, which refused to join.

"Coalition? Well, truthfully, we always called them the occupation forces," said Yousra Abdul Zahra, 47, whose son lives away from home because the family still can't tell its neighbors that he works as a translator for the U.S. military. "But I do worry that if they leave, what happens to my son? As a mother, I'm scared."

For the military, the name change also brings some structural tweaks. USF-I will bring five command groups under a single headquarters, streamlining some operations and shrinking the American footprint.

That might be the easy part. Getting soldiers to use "USF-I" instead of "MNF-I" is trickier.

The U.S. military is staking its claim to the new acronym through a Twitter account and a Facebook page. One military-affiliated group already produces a USF-I T-shirt printed with the slogan, "Return with Honor," and it's probably only a matter of weeks before base commissaries are stocked with souvenir USF-I battle coins and uniform patches.

For now, however, a Google search of "USFI" turns up the Unmarried and Separated Fathers of Ireland and the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, a revolutionary socialist group.

"At certain levels and with certain people, I think that MNF-I will still be used for many months and many years. We say MNF-I or MNC-I and it kind of rolls off the tongue," said Army Master Sgt. Edward Kosbab of El Paso, Texas, who's in southern Iraq with the 4th Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division from Fort Bliss, Texas.

Southern Iraq, a mostly Shiite Muslim region whose homogeneity made it relatively more stable than Baghdad or the north, was home to the biggest contingents of non-U.S. forces: Japanese, Australian, Italian, Romanian and British, among others.

"The British had that strong accent, but it was fun," recalled Sgt. Maj. Craig Youngblood, 37, of Miami, Fla. "I remember 'dungarees.' It was pants or something."

U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Lauro Obeada, 42, who was born in Romania and speaks the language, grew especially close to the Romanian troops on his base in the southern city of Nasiriyah. He said American forces viewed their coalition partners as equals, shared their grief over casualties and were united by a mission to stabilize and rebuild Iraq.

Sometimes, though, that unity was tested on the playing field.

"When it came to American sports, we did well," Obeada said. "When it came down to soccer, they pretty much whupped us bad."

As the Romanians prepared to leave last summer, Obeada was singled out at some of their transition activities because of his Romanian heritage. When he watched them depart, he said, it hit him that he was witnessing the end of the coalition.

"Obviously, having other countries here was better, and I wish they could've stayed until the mission was completed, but it's OK," Obeada said. "Now it's just us and the Iraqis, and we can carry this through."


http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/81544.html

 

[QueEx]

<font size="5"><center>
Obama salutes promised end of US combat in Iraq</font size><font size="5">

"as promised and on schedule" </font size></center>

AFP/File – US President Barack
Obama exits the Oval Office to
speak in the Rose Garden at the
White House in Washington

By JULIE PACE and
JENNIFER LOVEN,
Associated Press Writers
Julie Pace And Jennifer
Loven, Associated Press
Writers –
Mon Aug 2, 2010



ATLANTA – Nearing a milestone in the long and divisive Iraq war, President Barack Obama on Monday hailed this month's planned withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops — "as promised and on schedule" — as a major success despite deep doubts about the Iraqis' ability to police and govern their country.

Portraying the end of America's combat role in the 7-year war as a personal promise kept, Obama said Iraq will have 90,000 fewer U.S. troops by September than when he took office — a steady homeward flow he called "a season of homecomings." But there could still be more fighting involving U.S. forces.

"The hard truth is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq," the president said in a speech to the national convention of the Disabled American Veterans. "But make no mistake, our commitment in Iraq is changing — from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats."

A transitional force of 50,000 troops will remain, down from the peak of 170,000 in 2007. Their mission will be to train and advise Iraqi security forces, protect U.S. civilians, manage the chain of supplies and equipment out of Iraq and conduct counterterrorism operations.

Those soldiers and Marines will remain in harm's way and will be likely to engage at times in some form of fighting. Iraqi commanders will be able to ask the U.S. for front-line help.

All American troops are to leave Iraq by the end of next year, as mandated under an agreement negotiated before Obama took office, between the Iraqis and President George W. Bush.

Obama's speech Monday was the first of many, with appearances planned throughout the month by the president, Vice President Joe Biden and other administration officials. The schedule reflects a White House eager, with pivotal congressional elections approaching, for achievements to tout, especially in areas with the emotional significance of the Iraq war.

Obama's campaign pledge to oversee a speedy conclusion to the U.S. fighting was the promise that most defined his presidential campaign, and it brought him significant support.

Actually, while running for the White House, he said he would remove one or two brigades a month from Iraq to achieve an end to combat operations within 16 months of taking office. Instead, shortly after becoming president, Obama settled on a slower plan, to remove all combat troops within 19 months, and not at the pace of one brigade per month but on a more backloaded timetable.

Those were concessions to the military that disappointed Obama's anti-war base of support.

Obama's celebratory rhetoric on Monday brushed past some of the more grim realities in today's Iraq.

Leaders there remain at a political impasse that has prevented the formation of a new government for the nearly five months since parliamentary elections did not produce a clear winner.

In a reminder of Iraq's fragility, two bombings and a drive-by shooting killed eight people there Monday just hours before Obama spoke.

With such attacks remaining a daily occurrence, especially in Baghdad, questions persist about the readiness of Iraqi security forces to take over for the Americans and hold back insurgents. Obama said, "Violence in Iraq continues to be near the lowest it's been in years," but figures released by Iraqi authorities over the weekend — dismissed by the U.S. military as too high — showed July to be the deadliest month for Iraqis in more than two years.

Frustration over the political deadlock has come on top of widespread Iraqi anger over the governments failure to improve basic services such as electricity and drinking water.

With billions of dollars already spent to improve electricity since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, households in Baghdad continue to suffer lengthy power outages. That's a particularly sore subject with Iraqis since the summer months routinely see 115-degree days and buying electricity from privately owned neighborhood generators is beyond the reach of many.

Some longtime Iraq observers worry that the country's sectarian divisions could widen in the months ahead.

"Much of the violence has occurred because there is no government, because nobody knows what the future is," said Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who has periodically advised top U.S. commanders in Baghdad.

However, military officials say that neither Iraqi political turmoil nor the continuing violence will change the departure plan. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Iraq last week and came away confident that the switch to a fully advisory role can occur as planned, his spokesman said Monday.

Also, Cordesman said that if the Obama administration were to extend the combat mission beyond Aug. 31 or seek to renegotiate the December 2011 withdrawal, the U.S. would be seen by many Iraqis as reverting to the role of an occupier.

At the same time Obama has drawn down forces in Iraq, he has increased the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan, ordering a surge of 30,000 additional troops for the 9-year mission there.

Casualties are on the rise, causing some to argue the Afghanistan war should be ended quickly but others to question Obama's plan to begin winding it down as soon as next July. Critics say such a timetable will embolden the Taliban and other extremist groups in the region.

With debate continuing and war support low, the White House has launched a fresh effort to paint the U.S. goals in Afghanistan as modest: keeping the region from being a haven for terrorists.

"We face huge challenges in Afghanistan," Obama said Monday. "But it's important that the American people know that we are making progress and we're focused on goals that are clear and achievable."

The United States lost four troops in Iraq last month, and only one of those was in combat. July was the deadliest month of the war in Afghanistan, with 66 U.S. troops killed.

Speaking before a mostly friendly crowd of more than 2,500 disabled veterans, some in wheelchairs, others with lost limbs, Obama promised an all-out effort to support the nation's troops. "Your country is going to take care of you when you come home," he said.

After the speech, he headlined a lunch to raise campaign cash for the Democratic National Committee, his latest stop in a summer fundraising sprint that also includes events in Chicago later this week.

___

Jennifer Loven reported from Washington. AP writers Hamid Ahmed and Hamza Hendawi in Baghdad, Shannon McCaffrey in Atlanta and Robert Burns and Anne Gearan in Washington contributed.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100802/ap_on_re_us/us_obama

 

[QueEx]

w i t h d r a w a l

<font size="6"><center>
Last U.S. combat convoy
has left Iraq</font size></center>

The last U.S. combat brigade has left
Iraq and crossed into Kuwait. Their
departure leaves about 56,000 U.S.
troops in the country.


c a b l e n e w s n e t w o r k
By Arwa Damon
August 19, 2010


Mosul, Iraq (CNN) -- The last U.S. brigade combat team in Iraq has left the country, a move that helps U.S. President Barack Obama reach his goal of 50,000 troops in the country by September 1.

Their departure leaves about 56,000 U.S. troops in the country, according to the U.S. military.

Capt. Christopher Ophardt, spokesman for the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, said the last of the 4,000 members of the unit crossed the border into Kuwait early Thursday.

A few hundred members stayed behind to finish administrative and logistical duties but will fly out of Baghdad later Thursday, Ophardt said.

Much of the brigade departed more than a day ago, but the announcement was delayed for security reasons.

Their departure comes more than seven years after U.S. combat forces entered, though their departure does not signify the end of all U.S. combat forces in the country.

Another 6,000 U.S. troops must leave Iraq to meet Obama's deadline for the end of U.S. combat operations in the country and the beginning of Operation New Dawn, in which the remaining U.S. forces are expected to switch to an advise-and-assist role.

A public information officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, said it will take a few weeks for all of the 4-2's members to return home. "It is one flight at a time," she said. "We are expecting most of them to be home by mid-September."

As they prepared to depart, some soldiers laughed and some expressed relief at having survived multiple deployments. A few reminisced about having endured firefights and helping carry the bodies of buddies off the field of battle. Many said they would never forget the war.

"The first time you get shot at, it's just, I mean, it wakes you up," said Sgt. Terry Wetzel, the company's senior sniper. "You think, before you come here, that you're an adult, that you're a grown man. But this place will change you."

Wetzel said he was ready to go home. "I feel like we have done as much as we can do here now. It's pretty much up to the Iraqi army and Iraqi police and their government," he said. "We have helped them out as much as we can."

"We put our blood, sweat and tears since we've been here for 12 months and we know we did our job and we know it's not going to be in vain, but there's a lot of excitement right now," said Spc. Don Lanpher as he prepared to depart.

"We're keeping the promise that we've made when I began my campaign for the presidency," Obama said Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, where he was attending a Democratic fundraiser. "By the end of this month ... our combat mission will be over in Iraq."

Obama said that more than 90,000 U.S. troops have left Iraq in the past 18 months.

"And, consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, all of our troops will be out of Iraq by the end of next year," he said.

Former U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker told CNN that the United States has plenty of work left to do in Iraq.

"Iraq is still at the beginning of the story of its evolution since 2003," he said, referring to the date of the U.S.-led invasion of the country. "As tired as many Americans may be, this process is still just at its beginning."

In fact, Iraq remains without a functioning government, electricity and other utilities are available only sporadically in the capital, and violence appears to be increasing. At least 48 people were killed Tuesday outside a military recruiting center in Baghdad.

"We're going to have to leave a large footprint behind, and this is not going away for us as an issue," he said.

The State Department is preparing to leave much of that footprint. It will handle many of the responsibilities currently shouldered by the military, increasing its security contractors from 2,700 to nearly 7,000, sources said.

They are expected to work with diplomats and police trainers in some facilities.

The State Department has asked for an additional $400 million to cover the costs, though it was not clear they would get it.

The State Department has asked the U.S. military to leave behind surveillance systems, about 50 bomb-resistant vehicles and a few dozen UH-60 helicopters, a military official said. Though they got a lot of what they wanted, the Pentagon said it could not give them all the helicopters because they are needed in Afghanistan, the official said.

According to the Pentagon, 4,419 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/18/iraq.combat.convoy/?hpt=Sbin

 

[thoughtone]

Stop believin the hype Thought!

More Wars
More prisons
More surveillance
More debt
Less freedoms - get used to it

No Lamarr?

 

[QueEx]

No Lamarr?

Or Gunner . . . on subjects like this . . .

QueEx

 

[Lamarr]

No Lamarr?

Seek......And you shall find

Let the occupation begin ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Always was, and still is............an occupation!

It’s 50,000 “non-combat” troops still there. What the fuck is a Non-Combat Troop?

Perfect timing for the November elections. Stop fallin for the O-Kee-Doke

BTW, did we win?

 

[QueEx]

Q

Seek......And you shall find



Let the occupation begin ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Always was, and still is............an occupation!

It’s 50,000 “non-combat” troops still there. What the fuck is a Non-Combat Troop?

Perfect timing for the November elections. Stop fallin for the O-Kee-Doke

BTW, did we win?

I was about to respond by saying your answer is par for the course and just about what I expected of you, but, on second thought, I'll wait until your battery mates chime in.

QueEx

 

[Gunner]

Or Gunner . . . on subjects like this . . .

QueEx

Didn't know you missed me so?

It's a great thing. Sadly enough 50,000 have to stay. Heard some of the troops remembering their fellow friends who were lost.

Good Post

 

[Lamarr]

I bet all the private contractors are still there..................*cough*..........Halliburton, Blackwater.

 

[Lamarr]

Military Veterans Hang Enormous Banner in D.C.: "Mr. Obama: End These Fucking Wars!"

U.S. Military Veterans Hang Enormous Banner On Front of Newseum in Wash. DC, Wrapping Their Message Around First Amendment

Earlier this afternoon U.S. military veterans hung an enormous banner on the front of the Newseum in Washington, DC, wrapping their message around the First Amendment.

Several Veterans for Peace dropped the banner down the front of the Newseum, while others distributed special edition copies of the War Crimes Times, explaining the action and what they considered obscene.

National President of VFP Mike Ferner, 59, who served as a navy corpsman during Vietnam said:

"The American public should be shocked that we are still killing and crippling thousands of innocent people in these countries as well as our own soldiers -- that's what's truly obscene. Blowing people's arms and legs off, burning, paralyzing them, causing sewage to run through their streets, polluting the water that kills and sickens children, terrorizing and bombing people and their livestock with flying robots-- that defines obscenity. If this banner shocks and offends a single person who hasn't been shocked and offended by what's being done in our name, we've accomplished our mission."