Obama announces total Iraq troop withdrawal

Obama announces total Iraq troop withdrawal

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama on Friday declared an end to the Iraq war, one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in U.S. history, announcing that all American troops would be withdrawn from the country by year’s end.

Obama’s statement put an end to months of wrangling over whether the U.S. would maintain a force in Iraq beyond 2011. He never mentioned the tense and ultimately fruitless negotiations with Iraq over whether to keep several thousand U.S. forces in Iraq as a training force and a hedge against meddling from Iran or other outside forces.

Instead, Obama spoke of a promise kept, a new day for a self-reliant Iraq and a focus on building up the economy at home.

“I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year,” Obama said. “After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over.”

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Obama announces total Iraq troop withdrawal

Maybe it’s because I hate Barack Hussein Obama and everything he stands for. Maybe it’s because I don’t believe that he will ever do anything that is good for America just because it’s good for America. Maybe it’s because I believe that this withdrawal is not about what’s good for America and I simply believe it’s all about Obama and his pathetic poll numbers.

Whatever the reason, Barack Hussein Obama receives NO vote of confidence from me over this announcement today.

Iraq was a place that we had NO business sending our troops into. Iraq has been the most incredible boondoggle in modern American history and has cost untold numbers of lives on OUR side of the equation. We know that as it stands, more than 4,400 American military members have been killed since we went to Iraq, and we’re not OUT yet.

We also know that many thousands have been physically wounded and maimed, and it is a fact that many of these individuals will die from related matters as time passes. We also know that there are many of our troops that have been wounded in ways that can’t be seen or assessed, not until they snap and the wiring inside their heads shorts out.

We know that the American economy has been all but bankrupted because of our actions in Iraq, and I have to ask; what have we actually accomplished? We will NEVER regain the lost American dollars spent in Iraq, we will never see a true democracy in Iraq, and I will say this, in all honesty, as soon as we are out of Iraq, that nation will explode in the most savage Civil War imaginable. It is, in my estimation, inevitable.

Obama, an opponent of the war from the start, took office and accelerated the end of the conflict. In August 2010, he declared the U.S. combat mission over.

“Over the next two months our troops in Iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home,” Obama said. “The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops.”

Make no mistake about it, I want to see each and every one of our troops OUT of Iraq. I simply don’t care what happens to Iraq or the Iraqi people after we leave either. They have been engaged in a secular struggle for centuries and there is nothing that we can do to change Iraq, or any other Islamic nation.

You don’t believe that? Think *The Crusades*, read the next passage, see what has been accomplished over the centuries and get back to me…I’ll wait…

The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian control of Jerusalem. The Crusades were originally launched in response to a call from the leaders of the Byzantine Empire for help to fight Muslim Seljuk Turks expansion into Anatolia. The crusaders came from all over western Europe. The main series of Crusades occurred between 1095 and 1291; historians have given them numbers, later unnumbered crusades were also taken up for a variety of reasons. The Crusades were fought by Roman Catholics primarily against Muslims. After some early successes, the later crusades failed and the crusaders were defeated and forced to return home.

Several hundred thousand soldiers became Crusaders by taking vows; the Pope granted them plenary indulgence. The emblem was the cross-“crusade” is derived from the French term for taking up the cross. Many were from France and called themselves “Franks,” which became the common term used by Muslims. The Crusades, were originally launched in response to a call from the leaders of the Byzantine Empire for help to fight Muslim Seljuk Turks expansion into Anatolia. The battle cry to win back Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim invaders, came later to stimulate the fervor of the Christian people who had little interest in helping the Byzantine Empire.

The term “crusade” is also used to describe religiously motivated campaigns conducted between 1100 and 1600 in territories outside the Levant usually against pagans, heretics, and peoples under the ban of excommunication for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons. Rivalries among both Christian and Muslim powers led also to alliances between religious factions against their opponents, such as the Christian alliance with the Sultanate of Rûm during the Fifth Crusade.

The Crusades had some temporary successes, but the Crusaders were eventually forced out of the Holy Land. Nevertheless the Crusades had major far-reaching political, economic, and social impacts on Europe. Because of internal conflicts among Christian kingdoms and political powers, some of the crusade expeditions were diverted from their original aim, such as the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the sack of Christian Constantinople and the partition of the Byzantine Empire between Venice and the Crusaders. SOURCE

Iraq was nothing more than a modern day version of The Crusades and carried out mostly because George W. Bush was pissed off at Saddam Hussein, and as in history long past, it was over nothing more than Christian against Muslim against various Muslim sects and ALL Muslims against ALL Christians and Jews.

At the risk of offending, I have to make note, The Crusades were done to retake the Holy Lands, I presume that to be modern day Israel. I am fairly certain someone will correct me if I’m wrong, or write a post about what an anti-Semite I am, or something… 😈

In any case, not to denigrate the Israelis, but what have they done in this War on Terror and in the fight against the Muslims that have vowed to destroy them?

Don’t get me wrong in ANY of this, I am NOT anti-war, but if we’re going to war, then By GOD go to WAR. Don’t make some long, drawn out political game of it. Get in, get it done and get back home.

Maybe it’s time the Israelis got an attitude and started kicking ass and taking names, as opposed to just guarding their ever shrinking borders. Just sayin’, maybe they need to become fully engaged in this fight that is, basically, about their survival…