[PAA-Discuss] FW: [ufpj-activist] FW: Obama Will Withdraw All Troops from Iraq

[rebelljb at aol.com]

However, I kind of wonder whether he might exploit some kind of 
loophole to continue the occupation. Such as using corporate forces 
like Xe Corporation, formerly known as Blackwater but maybe it has been 
renamed again. Since they would not be officially categorized as 
"military", it's possible the government could say it has withdrawn its 
troops while leaving the nominally "civilian" mercenaries there.


-----Original Message-----
From: Lee Loe <LeeLoe at igc.org>
To: 'Ann Bragdon' <annbrag at prodigy.net>; fahim <fahim at justice.com>; 
'Bob Carter' <rwcsr1 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Sun, Oct 16, 2011 2:26 pm
Subject: [PAA-Discuss] FW: [ufpj-activist] FW: Obama Will Withdraw All 
Troops from Iraq



Great! Lee
 

 From: ufpj-activist-bounces+leeloe=igc.org at lists.mayfirst.org 
[mailto:ufpj-activist-bounces+leeloe=igc.org at lists.mayfirst.org] On 
Behalf Of Lisa Fithian
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011 10:50 AM
To: 'ufpj-activist'
Subject: [ufpj-activist] FW: Obama Will Withdraw All Troops from Iraq

 
 
 

 From: campcaseyalumni at yahoogroups.com 
[mailto:campcaseyalumni at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Kathleen Hernandez
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011 2:06 AM
To: vfp-all at yahoogroups.com; VFP Los Angeles; 
mlk_coalition at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [campcaseyalumni] FW: Obama Will Withdraw All Troops from Iraq

 
 


I just got this.

Kathleen Hernandez

 

SURPRISING TURN OF EVENTS



A.P. REPORTS ALL U.S. TROOPS WILL LEAVE IRAQ
By tom hayden

In a stunning victory for the American peace movement and Iraqi 
opponents of the American occupation, the Associated Press is reporting 
that virtually all US troops will withdraw as scheduled by this Dec. 
31. 
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16026/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=pO5hbdvx

The withdrawal will allow President Obama to keep his pledge to 
withdraw all American troops by year’s end.

It is a rare rejection of Pentagon plans to keep tens of thousands of 
“residual” counterterrorism forces, trainers and support personnel 
behind. Only last month, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta floated the 
idea of retaining 3-4,000 American troops behind, far below the 
Pentagon’s comfort level. Apparently even that low figure was proven 
unacceptable to the Iraqis.

The sticking point during months of negotiations was the US demand for 
immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts for American troops. The 
Iraqi parliament refused to approve an agreement including such 
immunity.

The withdrawal may be met with a degree of skepticism by some who 
distrust White House promises, even a pledges going back to February 
2009. But President Obama’s position all year has been to keep his 
promise to withdraw combat troops on schedule, but that he might be 
“open” to an agreement leaving a few thousand Americans behind only if 
requested by the Iraqi government. Given the impasse over immunity, 
however, he is free to implement his promise to pull out the remaining 
48,000 US troops.

Doing so would save almost $50 billion in tax dollars per year, or $100 
billion through the November 2012 election cycle.

A White House official told AP that 160 active-duty US soldiers will be 
attached to the US Embassy for protection and to facilitate weapons 
sales to Iraq, a typical embassy function. But in Iraq the embassy is 
projected to be the largest in the world. Bilateral discussions will 
continue over a possible training role in the future.

In the geo-political terms of the region, the US withdrawal was favored 
by Iran and opposed by Saudi Arabia. Iraq’s Shiite majority and 
government is linked on multiple levels with Iran, while Saudi Arabia 
maintains support for the twenty percent Sunni population who dominated 
Iraq under Saddam Hussein. According to the AP, Prime Minister Maliki 
told the diplomatic corps that he lacks the votes to support immunity 
in the Iraqi parliament, where the Shiite forces of Moktada al-Sadr are 
a prominent faction. Underlying the impasse between Iraqi factions was 
the broad opposition of the Iraqi people, still angered at the years of 
occupation and torture of detainees under American watch in Iraqi 
prisons.#

 


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