# News & Current Events > World News & Affairs >  Just left Iraq....

## Captain Caveman

So I just watched "the last truck" of troops cross over into Kuwait.

Is it just me, or were we not hearing about leaving Iraq until a week or two ago?

Glad they're out. Now if we can get the troops over to CONUS!

Yeay!

----------


## Pericles

Let me be the first to "virtually" welcome you back.

----------


## Captain Caveman

erm. I see my error... I meant "we" just left Iraq. Sorry about that!
Kentucky is my spot, always has been. LOL

----------


## ShaneEnochs

> erm. I see my error... I meant "we" just left Iraq. Sorry about that!
> Kentucky is my spot, always has been. LOL


That's why I didn't reply earlier.  I wasn't sure if you were saying you just left Iraq or saw it on tv =P

----------


## TER

> So I just watched "the last truck" of troops cross over into Kuwait.
> 
> Is it just me, or were we not hearing about leaving Iraq until a week or two ago?
> 
> Glad they're out. Now if we can get the troops over to CONUS!
> 
> Yeay!


This is Obama's game in trying to woo the anti war liberals back (cause they are starting to drift to Ron Paul).

He needs their vote so he can be re-elected and start new wars, even without getting Congressional approval.

----------


## ctb619

How many MRAPs and Blackhawks did we leave in Iraq for Hillary's State Department army?

----------


## XTreat

Sorry If I don't get overly excited.

----------


## Captain Caveman

> That's why I didn't reply earlier.  I wasn't sure if you were saying you just left Iraq or saw it on tv =P


Yeah my bad. Not the first time I gave an incomplete thought sorry.

----------


## flightlesskiwi

> How many MRAPs and Blackhawks did we leave in Iraq for Hillary's State Department army?


just so people know what you are referring to:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...iraq/?page=all




> The State Department is quietly forming a small army to protect diplomatic personnel in Iraq after U.S. military forces leave the country at the end of 2011, taking its firepower with them.
> 
> Department officials are asking the Pentagon to provide heavy military gear, including Black Hawk helicopters, and say they also will need substantial support from private contractors.
> 
> The shopping list demonstrates the department’s reluctance to count on Iraq's army and police forces for security, despite the billions of dollars the U.S. invested to equip and train them. And it shows that President Obama is having a hard time keeping his pledge to reduce U.S. reliance on contractors, a practice that flourished under the Bush administration.
> 
> In an early April request to the Pentagon, Patrick Kennedy, the State Department’s undersecretary for management, is seeking 24 Black Hawks, 50 bomb-resistant vehicles, heavy cargo trucks, fuel trailers, and high-tech surveillance systems. Mr. Kennedy asks that the equipment, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, be transferred at “no cost” from military stocks.
> 
> Contractors will be needed to maintain the gear and provide other support to diplomatic staff, according to the State Department, a potential financial boon for companies such as the Houston-based KBR Inc. that still have a sizable presence in Iraq.
> ...

----------


## mtr1979

Quote from wikipedia: 
               "In 2008, the US and Iraqi government signed the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement which implments that all US forces would withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009 and that All US Forces would be mandated to withdraw from Iraqi territory by December 31, 2011 under the terms of a bilateral agreement. On December 14, 2008, then-U.S. President George W. Bush signed the security pact with Iraq. In his fourth and final trip to Iraq, the president appeared with Iraq's prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and said more work is to be done."

Yet the media is all about Obama bringing the troops home.  Also I almost barfed in my mouth when Michele Bachmann said something at the debate how Obama bringing the troops home makes us look weak.  I don't know the exact wording, but Obama has nothing to do with it Mrs. Bachmann.

----------


## kill the banks

> This is Obama's game in trying to woo the anti war liberals back (cause they are starting to drift to Ron Paul).
> 
> He needs their vote so he can be re-elected and start new wars, even without getting Congressional approval.


yes I think we are changing the game plan ... we are a force

----------


## GunnyFreedom

Hey, the Army left Iraq, and now all we got left there is an 'army,' lol.

----------


## TER

> Quote from wikipedia: 
>                In 2008, the US and Iraqi government signed the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement which implments that all US forces would withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009 and that All US Forces would be mandated to withdraw from Iraqi territory by December 31, 2011 under the terms of a bilateral agreement. On December 14, 2008, then-U.S. President George W. Bush signed the security pact with Iraq. In his fourth and final trip to Iraq, the president appeared with Iraq's prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and said more work is to be done.
> 
> Yet the media is all about Obama bringing the troops home.  Also I almost barfed in my mouth when Michele Bachmann said something at the debate how Obama bringing the troops home makes us look weak.  I don't know the exact wording, but Obama has nothing to do with it Mrs. Bachmann.


What's going on here?  Can this scheduled withdrawal deadline date which was claimed to just passed be found in any writings or announcements just prior to now?  I was not expecting this to occur, and something like that, I would usually know.

----------


## GunnyFreedom

I'd love to know how many PMC contractors are there on commercial and diplomatic missions...  I spell diplomacy 'c-a-r-b-i-n-e.'  I don't see what makes a Dept of State army any less offensive than the actual US Army though.  I guess it's all about how it's sold to the people of Iraq and the US.

----------


## GunnyFreedom

> What's going on here?  Can this scheduled withdrawal deadline date which was claimed to just passed be found in any writings or announcements just prior to now?  I was not expecting this to occur, and something like that, I would usually know.


Hmm?  Oh yeah, the Bush plan was "end of 2011"  withdrawal.  No idea where you can find it written.  I suspect all over the place now.

----------


## TER

> Hmm?  Oh yeah, the Bush plan was "end of 2011"  withdrawal.  No idea where you can find it written.  I suspect all over the place now.


 the ignorant masses (of which I am included) being fed propaganda.  Meanwhile, the active men and women in uniform serving this country are donating to Dr. Paul.

----------


## GunnyFreedom

> the ignorant masses (of which I am included) being fed propaganda.  Meanwhile, the active men and women in uniform serving this country are donating to Dr. Paul.


lol yeah, those guys most of all would know it wasn't really Obama what brought them home.  They know who's best for us, too.

----------


## Pericles

> Hey, the Army left Iraq, and now all we got left there is an 'army,' lol.


It depends on what the meaning of "army" is ......

----------


## TER

"As long as there are people who wish to lord it over another people, there will be war."

_- Kludge_

----------


## GunnyFreedom

> It depends on what the meaning of "army" is ......


Alright Bill, I just read about how much you don't like Barack, but I'm pretty sure that nothing can eclipse variability on the definition of "is." 

of course, anybody slippery on the meaning of 'is,' is going to be really loose on the definition of 'army.'  What about that civilian army he talked about as big as the US Army?  Are the US-Iraqi State Department enforcer Regiments going to turn into an experiment eventually carried out in the US? 

We are out of Iraq and Iraq is finally free, except we kept a chunk of it bigger than the Vatican.  And are building the biggest castle ever lol.  Talk about a statement of dominance.  Yeah but we are officially out of Iraq now. :beating head against wall:

----------


## Icymudpuppy

Does anybody have any actual numbers of how many actual servicemembers, armed contractors, and maintenance contractors, will remain in Iraq?

----------


## ctb619

> Does anybody have any actual numbers of how many actual servicemembers, armed contractors, and maintenance contractors, will remain in Iraq?


This article puts the security contractors at 5,100.  WSJ LINK

I believe OSC-I, the military folks handling weapons sales to Iraq, will be approximately 200 personnel.

----------

