Comments on: You Can’t Tell Me Nothing

By: Kilo

Kilo — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:51:18 +0000

BTW this “J McC” business just looks clumsy.
Surely someone is out there trying to get the handle “J-Mac” to stick to try and market him to the kids.

By: Kilo

Kilo — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:26:21 +0000

When Maliki talks about American troops out of Iraq by 2010, does he mean “combat” troops or ALL American troops?

You’d look to motive and conclude visibile troops. Armour, humvees, patrols, mega-bases. Nobody gives a toss about those working behind the scenes.

The troop training and CT functions mentioned can be done with minimal visibility. It really is baffling the “Obama wants to stay!” comments I see talking about CT forces continuing operations there as though this means 30000 grunts. This and training local forces is the domain of special forces. The guys who’ve been operating everywhere including Pakistan without much grief.

There’s no such thing as a president who’s going to give up the ability to kill aQ in an area where they’re operating and where you’ve got the ability to stage operations. That’s a given that SF ops continue.

With the numbers, remember that when they talk about 30000 personnel this includes all the non-combat support staff. These personnel — or more to the point their expertise, tech, etc — is what Iraq REALLY doesn’t have and will find lacking when they just replace M4s with AKs.

By: Spencer Ackerman

Spencer Ackerman — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:55:33 +0000

Pretty clear he means all combat troops. Unclear when/if he’d consider adding force-protection troops into that mix, or what the Maliki government thinks of a residual presence.

By: Spencer Ackerman

Spencer Ackerman — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:54:38 +0000

I think it’s more that he realized, after nearly a year of Bush pressuring him to sign over the country via two permanent-occupation agreements, he saw there was no upside for him — Bush is on his way out; Obama is probably on his way in; and in Iraq this is a huge deal and everyone hates it. The life you save may be your own, as they say.

By: csp1

csp1 — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:53:04 +0000

Obama’s promise of removing “combat” troops from Iraq within 16 months sounds good but there is not much talk about the 50k troops who will be stuck there to guard the mega-bases, train the Iraqi Army, and hunt remnants of AQI. If Obama wishes to keep 50k US troops in Iraq throughout his term, will the Left turn on him? Are these troops being used as a trip-wire, to keep Iran’s influence in check? Would Barney Frank, Rahm Emmanuel, Howard Berman turn on Obama if he decided to withdraw all troops from Iraq and remove the US buffer between Iran and Israel?

When Maliki talks about American troops out of Iraq by 2010, does he mean “combat” troops or ALL American troops?

By: AnonymousSecs

AnonymousSecs — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:36:33 +0000

Good article. Do you think that Al-Maliki, because caught somewhat in the middle of what his constituents wanted and what the Bush administration wanted, felt some sense of, well, relief in making his initial statement? It seems to me that he extricated part of himself (or wholly?) from under the thumb of Bush, pleased his people, and inserted prominently himself and his country’s requirements in US politics.

I say “relief” to be prudent. Were I him, I’d be somewhat cackling up my sleeve. Or have I watched too much BSG geekliy finding it applied to all things RL?