Viceroy Odierno Decides SOFA Deal Isn't Binding
By Steve Hynd Sunday Dec 14, 2008 3:30pm
U.S. Embassy Swimming Pool, Baghdad
So much for sticking to the agreement.
Despite a summer deadline to pull American combat troops from urban areas, thousands will stay in cities to support and train Iraqis, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Saturday.
Even with the mandate in the recently approved U.S.-Iraq security agreement, there have been suggestions some troops would not leave urban areas. But Gen. Raymond Odierno was the first military leader to acknowledge some forces would remain at local security stations, as training and mentoring teams.
"We believe we should still be inside those after the summer," he said the sprawling U.S. base in Balad, north of Baghdad before welcoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates on a brief visit.
According to the NYT, he also questioned the final date for 2011.
Mr. Gates met with General Odierno for an hour later in the day and then was scheduled to return to Washington. Before the meeting, Mr. Gates held a question-and-answer session with American soldiers and reiterated the Bush administration’s pledge to the Iraqi government of a complete troop withdrawal by the end of 2011.
But General Odierno said Saturday, as Pentagon officials have said previously, that the agreement might be renegotiated with the Iraqi government.
“Three years is a very long time,” General Odierno told reporters.
And Gates didn't fire him on the spot, so it will be assumed he (and Bush, and Obama) are just fine with all this. I wonder what the various Iraqi factions will say? Viceroy Odierno just handed Maliki (and Obama) a big problem in the form of an "I am a US puppet" button and a target on his back. If Noor al-Napoleon doesn't say "no, the deal must be stuck to", and loudly, then the others will eat him alive.
On a wider stage, if the Bush administration doesn't rap Odierno hard then Obama will have blown some of his capital in foreign places before his administration can even begin because Odierno, a Bush appointee, has indicated that the U.S. will continue to try to bend treaties and deals all out of shape instead of sticking to its word. Yet another Bush administration spoiler.
Crossposted from Newshoggers
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You, as an American citizen, are
going to have the privilege of fucking over Iraq.
Congratulations.
This is not surprising to me. In fact, I pretty much expected it. What this says in my opinion is that relations between factions and rival nations operating in Iraq are not going well at all. The whole "Iraq is progressing well" mantra that the Bush Administration keeps touting remains just an illusion.
Further, I think those troops will remain in urban areas but the real dealings will come later when the Obama Administration moves into office. I can see some troops remaining but the main thrust will not come from the military. I think Obama will use more diplomacy than any other tool to resolve differences. After all, Bush wants Iraq to look like its improving just long enough so that if Iraq does fall apart later on it will do so during Obama's presidency. Obama knows this which is why we are not hearing much from him regarding the General's comments. The last thing Obama wants is to be known as the President who lost Iraq.
"The last thing Obama wants is to be known as the president who lost Iraq." That line is eerily reminiscent of what LBJ and his administration said concerning Vietnam. Joe O. thinks that Obama will rely upon diplomacy to solve Iraqu's problems while completely ignoring the fact that even after Obama's phased [as opposed to immediate] withdrawal plan has been finally completed, he wishes to leave as many as 50,000 American soldiers, if not more, in that country. Joe O. also ignores the fact, as Alice X correctly points out, that civilian contractors [140,000 of them] will also remain in Iraq which is more than the amount of solders that will still be stationed in war-torn country.
Here is a news flash from earth to Joe O. Iraq, like Vietnam, is a lost cause. Just as the U.S. had no business invading and occupying that country, they also have absolutely no right to keep their troops and their mercenary stooges on foreign soil. Obama is just as wrong doing this as he will be in sending in even more troops in what will be known as that quagmire in Afghanistan. In both instances, the citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq will continue to justifiably hate and fear and loath and bitterly resent the belligerent presence of the United States military in their respective countries.
Long live the resistance to the Empire.
Earth to Erroll, that is just an assesment of what I think Obama will do. I never said it was right or wrong. Now, you can try and throw your moral views into it but it will make no difference. You and I are not in charge and Obama is going to deal with the situation as he sees fit. You may not like it but that is the way it is.
Didn't Truman fire McArthur for exactly such insubordination?
So Obama's gonna have to be an FDR *and* a Truman too!!
Blue Girl had a great piece on the topic of this article. It is a good read.
Why would you reduce your troop presence when you are posturing to bomb and or invade the country next door?
Why? Come on guys your heads are being spun with non issues. Get past the Iranian problem, then we can talk about troop pull outs with out winking every other word.
Here is a little inside info for anyone still clueless as to the bigger picture..
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5834/pnacp...
Use your skull and think like a ceo rather than a ignorant tool.
This is an irrelevant squabble to distract. Take a look at the geo political map and tell me its over with Iraq.
awesome map, orangutan! Geopolitical chessboard.
Don't forget the 130,000+ private contractors who are never mentioned in coverage of any of these deals.
The entire army could be privatized, at which point the phrase 'withdrawing troops' has no meaning.
War is a racket, there are many many Fat Cats feeding at this trough.
On top of that, rarely, is there any distinction made between combat and non-combat troops. For all we know, more than 80K troops could stay in Iraq even after 2011.
Personally, I think the size of the embassy and the facilities there are an indication that the U.S. plans on staying for a very long time. The idea is to have enough troops and civilian staff to handle the logistics of keeping the Iraqi puppet government in power.
The US embassy in Baghdad looks like a vacation resort.
I'd like to see what he does vis a vis Odierno after he's sworn in, but I'm not so clear what he could do right now. There are lots of areas where I'll criticize Obama--like not wanting to repeal Bush tax cuts to the uber rich right away--but this isn't one of them.
and willy wagging in the face of Iraqis. Well, as always, I guess.
Shameful shameful shameful.
It's just occurred to me that the embassy with all it's grandeur isn't all that different from Saddam's palaces. Out with the old dictator, in with the new I guess, eh?
You should see the whole thing, I was stationed there at the beginning of the year. The Building in the background is the Republican Palace its original name(what we are using as our embassy). On the right side of the above photo (not pictured) is a raised platform with pool tables and an outdoor fireplace (very nice).
You can get a very good idea of the layout on wikimapia when you zoom in real close to Bahgdad.
You an Aussie, Miss Kitty?
Do you suppose that Obama's image as an anti-Iraq war guy was a fairy-tale?
Them dems did state their priority was ending the war in 2006.
So if that was a fairy tale, then yes.
Maybe Obama has had that very special back door meeting with the Neocons and they have given him a reality check. Did anyone believe that the Military with all its Mega Bases in Iraq were going to leave. The Military Industrial Complex will not be fucked with. I believe Obama will play right along with these assholes.
He’s the general who dictates foreign policy for the USofA. Got war?
I think I liked the old days when insurgents like Odierno were hung from their necks on the gallows.
Viceroy? What is this, Star Trek?
It's a term for a regional governor from the old British Empire. The ones who used to run Mesopotamia from their glittering and fortified embassies.
Regards, C
oh gee didnt see that coming..
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