Is Obama following the Bush Doctrine with Iraq withdrawl timeline?

PLYMCO_PILGRIM

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Chris Weigant: Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Timeline

So, from the huffington post article, it appears Obama is just going along with Bush's plans with Iraq, for iraq.

huffington post said:
So, the bargaining began with Obama suggesting 16-month timeline for withdrawal of all American troops (later hedged with unspecified residual force staying after this time). This would have meant all troops would have left around the end of May, 2010. Bush offered Maliki the date of December 31, 2011 for all combat forces to withdraw from Iraq. Maliki countered that the end of 2011 sounded just fine, but that all American forces would be gone by then. Bush reluctantly agreed to this, and to the June, 2009 deadline for American troops to be out of Iraqi cities.

Its interesting.
 
Maliki Is A New Saddam...
:eusa_shifty:
Exclusive: Iraqi Vice President: Maliki Is Becoming a New Saddam
DECEMBER 22, 2011 - An arrest warrant for Iraq's Sunni vice president just days after the U.S. troop withdrawal has sparked fears that the country may once again plunge into sectarian violence.
Shortly before a wave of 15 bombings ripped through Baghdad on Thursday morning, killing more than 60 people, Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi warned that a simultaneous political crisis in the country could spiral "beyond control." In an interview with Foreign Policy on Wednesday from Sulaymaniyah in Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region where the vice president has fled to evade an arrest warrant, Hashemi declared that the Iraqi political system is "drifting from building democracy to building an autocratic regime" -- and implied that Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, was becoming a new Saddam Hussein.

Earlier this week, Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, accused Hashemi, a Sunni, of running a hit squad targeting government officials during the height of sectarian strife in the country. In a press conference on Wednesday, Maliki went further, casting doubt on the sustainability of power-sharing in Iraq by threatening to replace the current unity government with a majority government if Hashemi's largely Sunni Iraqiya bloc doesn't end a boycott of parliament and the cabinet. The political crisis has sparked concern about sectarian violence returning to Iraq just days after the last U.S. troops withdrew from the country.

hashemi_maliki_0.jpg


Hashemi has vehemently denied the charges against him, arguing that they are politically motivated and yet another effort by Maliki to consolidate power. When asked if Maliki has become a Saddam-like figure since assuming power in 2006, as fellow Iraqiya leaders Saleh al-Mutlak and Iyad Allawi have suggested, Hashemi noted that "many of Saddam's behaviors are now being exercised by Maliki unfortunately." But he added that Saddam rebuilt Iraq in six months after the invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War in the early 1990s. In contrast, under Maliki's leadership, Hashemi pointed out, the consulting firm Mercer ranked Baghdad the worst city in the world in terms of quality of life.

And there's no question in his mind that Maliki is to blame. "Now everything is in his hands: the ministry of defense, the ministry of the interior, intelligence, national security," Hashemi claimed. He wants his case transferred to Kurdistan because he doesn't think Iraq's judicial system is independent. Instead of judiciary authorities responding to his appeal, the vice president notes, Maliki himself shot down the request during his press conference yesterday, calling instead for Kurdish officials to hand over Hashemi. "The judicial system is really in his pocket," Hashemi argued.

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Iraq Vice President says PM al-Maliki behaving like Saddam Hussein
Friday 23rd December, 2011 : Iraq Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is facing an arrest warrant on terror charges, has accused Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of behaving like former leader Saddam Hussein.
Hashemi, a member of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, said al- Maliki is controlling key institutions of the country with the help of Iran and the US, The Telegraph reports. "Many of Saddam's behaviours are now being exercised by Maliki unfortunately. The judicial system is really in his pocket," he said.

"Maliki is very much adamant about running this country in a very bad and tough way, and there's no way that we will reach any sort of solution in the foreseeable future," he added. Hashemi's statement came in the wake of bombings over the sectarian strife that has killed 72 people across the country.

Hashemi said US efforts to tackle the political crisis, which erupted following the US forces completed a withdrawal, did not yield any results. Hashemi has fled to Kurdish region amid the court issuing a warrant on him for terror charges. He decried the charges as politically motivated and added that he would face trial before Kurdish Court.

Iraq Vice President says PM al-Maliki behaving like Saddam Hussein
 
Maliki eliminatin' the competition...
:eusa_eh:
Iraq could slide back into civil war
May 11, 2012 - Al Maliki's actions seem to align with Iran's strategic interest in consolidating Shiite control in the country
The arrest warrant, issued by the Interpol at the request of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government, against Iraqi vice-president and prominent Sunni leader Tareq Al Hashemi is seen by many in the region as a recipe for a another bloody civil war in Iraq. It is also interpreted as a further demonstration of how influential Iran has become in Iraqi politics.

On the eve of the US withdrawal from Iraq at the end of last year, Iran and its local allies, rushed to exploit the vacuum Washington left behind and consolidate their influence in Iraq. Iran seems determined not to miss a historic opportunity to turn Iraq from a long-time regional foe into a junior ally. Should this happen, and it is in fact happening, Iran would then be able both to secure its western flank and use Iraq as a base from which to project influence in the wider Arab world. This would come only if Iran's foes in Iraq are purged and its friends are made powerful enough to rule Iraq unchallenged.

Leading these efforts is pro-Iran Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri Al Maliki, who is increasingly becoming an authoritarian leader. Ever since he became prime minister in 2006, Al Maliki has been working to consolidate his power inside the army, the security forces, and intelligence services, mostly through purges and through the creation of loyal parallel security agencies. When he returned to the premiership in 2010, following nearly a year of intense political wrangling over electoral results, Al Maliki accelerated these efforts to establish full control over the political, security and economic affairs of the country. The makeup of the current cabinet clearly illustrates Al Maliki's prowess; he holds the positions of acting defence minister, interior minister and minister of state for national security. But in order for Al Maliki to effectively wield his influence in each of these arenas, he needed to remove whatever tenuous influence Iraq's Sunnis maintain.

Following the fall of Saddam Husain's regime in 2003, Iraqi Sunnis chose to resist the change brought by the US invasion. They boycotted the 2005 parliamentary elections and opted for armed resistance against the US occupation and the puppet government it installed in Baghdad. By doing so, they have effectively allowed Shiite factions to garner disproportionate power in parliament. When Sunnis tried to re-enter the political scene in 2010, they did so under the banner of Al Iraqiya, a centrist political bloc with heavy Sunni representation. Though Al Iraqiya won the largest number of seats in the 2010 elections, Al Maliki and his Shiite allies manoeuvred to deny it an electoral victory. In the early stages of its formation the government half-heartedly promised Al Iraqiya various appeasements, but it did not take Al Maliki long to begin purging the government of Sunni power. He refused to integrate Sunni Awakening Council members into the security apparatus and used the Shiite-led Justice and Accountability Commission as a vehicle for targeting Sunnis and former Baathists.

Fierce response
 
Chris Weigant: Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Timeline

So, from the huffington post article, it appears Obama is just going along with Bush's plans with Iraq, for iraq.

huffington post said:
So, the bargaining began with Obama suggesting 16-month timeline for withdrawal of all American troops (later hedged with unspecified residual force staying after this time). This would have meant all troops would have left around the end of May, 2010. Bush offered Maliki the date of December 31, 2011 for all combat forces to withdraw from Iraq. Maliki countered that the end of 2011 sounded just fine, but that all American forces would be gone by then. Bush reluctantly agreed to this, and to the June, 2009 deadline for American troops to be out of Iraqi cities.

Its interesting.
Just as long as you also blame Bush if anything goes wrong after the withdrawal according to the Bush timeline.

Of course, we know the CON$ will give Bush the credit if the Bush withdrawal timetable goes well but they will blame Obama if it fails.
 
edthecynic, PLYMCO_PILGRIM, et al,

Chris Weigant: Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Timeline

So, from the huffington post article, it appears Obama is just going along with Bush's plans with Iraq, for iraq.

huffington post said:
So, the bargaining began with Obama suggesting 16-month timeline for withdrawal of all American troops (later hedged with unspecified residual force staying after this time). This would have meant all troops would have left around the end of May, 2010. Bush offered Maliki the date of December 31, 2011 for all combat forces to withdraw from Iraq. Maliki countered that the end of 2011 sounded just fine, but that all American forces would be gone by then. Bush reluctantly agreed to this, and to the June, 2009 deadline for American troops to be out of Iraqi cities.

Its interesting.
Just as long as you also blame Bush if anything goes wrong after the withdrawal according to the Bush timeline.

Of course, we know the CON$ will give Bush the credit if the Bush withdrawal timetable goes well but they will blame Obama if it fails.
(COMMENT)

It is not a matter of "who" you blame for what. It is a matter of understanding the original intent versus the outcomes.

And that has to do with US Foreign Policy in, not only Iraq, but the entire region. And it is do, in no small measure, to the lack of understanding what we (The US) was planning to do after the cessation of hostilities (PHASE IV - Post War Activities).

Most Respectfully,
R
 

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