U.S. willing to leave 10,000 troops in Iraq past year's end, officials say

[High_Gravity]

Ya know I think we should set up shop in Iraq. No soldier believed we would be out by the end of the year. Now Iran is testing missles and getting bolder as it believes the US presence is close to dwindeling. Saying it can reach our battleships. Oh to be so bold there must be a plan. We should take some of our funded bases out of Europe and place them in Iraq allowing a close presence at all times.

How are US bases in Iraq going to prevent the Iranians from developing weapons? unless you go into Iran and physically stop them, they will keep developing.

Indeed, however setting up bases in Iraq shows a commitment to the middle east. The people over here want us to be here but if they take our side and we leave then they are defenseless so they strattle the fence just in case we leave and they need a new loyalty. If we show them we are here to see change through then change will come. Iran is sending fighters and weapons into Iraq trying to influence local governments and convince them they can not only help but defeat any who oppose them ie. the threat that missles can reach America.

You are in Iraq so maybe you can answer this, do the Iraqis really want a pro longed US Presence in their country? I don't mind the US being there if they are wanted however I keep hearing reports about the Iraqis wanting us to leave, the Mahdi Army going into full attack mode if we stay, and that insurgent attacks and mortar strikes have increased as the US makes their presence even smaller, boldening insurgents. If we go down to a force of only 10,000 US Troops in Iraq the insurgents will up the anti even more, putting our troops in grave risk.

 

[ekrem]

The people over here want us to be here

Maybe you should ask those peoples before speaking in their name.
Pew Polls is a good start for US ratings in M.Eastern countries.

 

[Mr. President]

The people over here want us to be here

Maybe you should ask those peoples before speaking in their name.
Pew Polls is a good start for US ratings in M.Eastern countries.

I have asked. The "polls" are rediculous and almost never taken by average people. You know kind of like the ones in America.

 

[High_Gravity]

The people over here want us to be here

Maybe you should ask those peoples before speaking in their name.
Pew Polls is a good start for US ratings in M.Eastern countries.

I have asked. The "polls" are rediculous and almost never taken by average people. You know kind of like the ones in America.

Ignore Ekrem, she just wants the US out of the region so the Turks can reclaim the Ottoman Empire again.

 

[ekrem]

I have asked. The "polls" are rediculous and almost never taken by average people. You know kind of like the ones in America.

Whom have you asked?
Did you ask only people in the Green Zone or other also, like for example "avarage people" in Tikrit or Basra and countless other cities where you won't step a foot in without your gun and armored vehicle?

 

[Mr. President]

You are in Iraq so maybe you can answer this, do the Iraqis really want a pro longed US Presence in their country? I don't mind the US being there if they are wanted however I keep hearing reports about the Iraqis wanting us to leave, the Mahdi Army going into full attack mode if we stay, and that insurgent attacks and mortar strikes have increased as the US makes their presence even smaller, boldening insurgents. If we go down to a force of only 10,000 US Troops in Iraq the insurgents will up the anti even more, putting our troops in grave risk.

Well at the end of the day we won't go down to 10,000 thats not realistic and its not safe. Just a bunch of mumbo jumbo around election time. The people here have thanked us daily. We build schools and we allow them to walk the streets in a relative peace they have not known for a long time. Insurgents are stepping up attacks because they 1 are being funded even more by Iran most of the people we kill/capture are from other countries. 2 the insurgents want it to look like America left because our military wasnt strong enough to defeat them. Had a little kid up here raped with a knife because her parents were the wrong religion. Yeah I'd say it was worth us being here.

 

[Mr. President]

I have asked. The "polls" are rediculous and almost never taken by average people. You know kind of like the ones in America.

Whom have you asked?
Did you ask only people in the Green Zone or other also, like for example "avarage people" in Tikrit or Basra and countless other cities where you won't step a foot in without your gun and armored vehicle?

Average people in and out the green zone. You know the people whose faces light up because we are there with our rifles and armored trucks hunting down the people who blew their kids up while they were playing at the park yesterday. Bet you didn't see that on the news.

 

[ekrem]

Average people in and out the green zone. You know the people whose faces light up because we are there with our rifles and armored trucks hunting down the people who blew their kids up while they were playing at the park yesterday. Bet you didn't see that on the news.

Yes, happy children playing in parks and singing Kumbaya.
Data tells us, that children are mal-nutritioned and have no access to water. With thousands of Iraqi children still living as refugees in neighboring countries.
So, please stop with your cheap "saving children"-rhetoric.

And by the way, let me ask, what events triggered the situation of the "happily playing children in parks" not being so happily any more?
You make adventurous claims, that the Iraqis want you to be there.

 

[Mr. President]

Yes, happy children playing in parks and singing Kumbaya.
Data tells us, that children are mal-nutritioned and have no access to water. With thousands of Iraqi children still living as refugees in neighboring countries.
So, please stop with your cheap "saving children"-rhetoric.

And by the way, let me ask, what events triggered the situation of the "happily playing children in parks" not being so happily any more?
You make adventurous claims, that the Iraqis want you to be there.

I know data tells you things and you dont know the data is wrong so you dont know you are wrong. Simple math and all. But as far as access to water we dig wells. We build bridges and buildings. There were thousands of Iraqi kids living as refugees before we got there. You know when people were being exterminated. I make no claims except that which I have heard first hand. Which is obviously more than we can say for you. The reason the kids were blown up at the park was to stop cooperation of a town who was happy to have America there.

 

[uscitizen]

"They should never have been sent there in the first place."

Looking back in history with that thinking does not allow for a forward looking attitude that can deal with the present issues.

Rather useless. Time spent recriminating the past could be put to better use in deciding the future from the present.

YouTube - ‪Jethro Tull - Living In The Past 1969‬‏

I pick the present and look to the future.

Move the troops out now, failing now, as soon as possible.

I said they should never have been sent there before they were sent there.
Of course I was ridiculed a lot for that stance as well.

I'm not ridiculing you. I'm only saying that you might wish to move into the present to deal with these present issues that are coming up which are the 10,000 troops. You know. The ones that might be left. What do you think about that?

Then you can go back into the past and recriminate.

I have been very clear on that bring them home immediately.

 

[DiAnna]

I want them all out of Iraq. I certainly don't want 10,000 soldiers abandoned in that hell-hole without the support they require to stay alive, let alone accomplish anything... as if anything more could be accomplished now.

 

[Ropey]

I have been very clear on that. Bring them home immediately.

That's the context that is important in this discussion imo. You are now very clear in this thread.

 

[Disenchanted61]

I have a good use for our so-called elected officials, let them back up their own B.S. by sending them to Iraq, and bring the good people back to our communities.