It’s been a while since we’ve turned a corner in Iraq. You might remember that we used to turn corners with some frequency. Iraqis held various elections resulting in a dysfunctional government; adopted a half-assed constitution that needed massive revision; and my favorite — giving Iraq back its sovereignty — are just a few examples. Now Charles Krauthammer says we’ve turned another another corner.
The barbarism in Mumbai and the economic crisis at home have largely overshadowed an otherwise singular event: the ratification of military and strategic cooperation agreements between Iraq and the United States.
Wow, and we only had to spend about $700 billion so far and occupy Iraq for 5-1/2 years to achieve that.
Tina Susman writes for the Los Angeles Times,
Reporting from Baghdad — Explosions tore through two police stations Thursday in the western Iraqi city of Fallouja, leaving at least 16 people dead, and a blast in a northern city killed two U.S. soldiers in the latest reminders of this country’s fragile security situation.
The attacks came on the heels of other large blasts this week that targeted Iraqi and U.S. security forces and left dozens of people dead.
With U.S. combat troops scheduled to begin pulling out of Iraqi cities and towns early next year, the bombings were an ominous sign of what Iraqi security forces may face on their own after the drawdown.
Iraq’s three-member Presidency Council on Thursday formally ratified a Status of Forces Agreement that mandates the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from population centers by June 30 and from the country by the end of 2011. Iraq’s parliament approved the pact Nov. 27. Ratification by Iraq’s president and two vice presidents was necessary for it to take effect Jan. 1, after the United Nations mandate governing the U.S. troop presence expires.
In other words, Krauthammer looks at a pile of shit and sees a pony.
The agreement forces the Bush Administration and Pentagon to back down from long-held positions, especially over deadlines. The barracking of American troops in remote areas by June 2009 will be a retreat from offensive operations. More important, the language of the agreement in Arabic stipulates that all American forces, not merely combat units, will be withdrawn by 2011. …
…This is not “out now”, but that was never possible politically or militarily. It’s not literally “ending the war in 2009” as Obama promised. But this pact is officially known as “the withdrawal agreement” to all proud Iraqis. Read carefully, it is an agreed 2009 timetable for ending the war, the occupation, the troop presence and closing the military bases in three years.
However,
Only a few weeks ago Prime Minister al-Maliki was praising Obama’s 16-month timetable. Obviously something or someone got to him. American embassy officials, according to press accounts, were button-holing Iraqi parliamentarians in the hallways in the days before the final voter. There are no registered lobbyists or even lobbying laws in Baghdad.
The Iraqis, finally, were fixin’ to just kick us out, and somehow the Bushies threatened or bribed enough people to make “the withdrawal agreement” look like a mutual agreement between Washington and Baghdad, just to let George W. Bush save face.
Krauthammer looks at a pile of shit and sees a pony.
Funny thing though. When you see his photo, the expression on his face suggests it ain’t a pony he’s smelling.
[S]omehow the Bushies threatened or bribed enough people to make “the withdrawal agreement†look like a mutual agreement between Washington and Baghdad.
Which is why I think the war is far from over. Threats + bribes only = democracy in the mind of a fool; e.g. Bush, Cheney, Rice, Krauthammer.
OJ Simpson gets 15-Year Sentence.
Although he can be paroled in 5 years, OJ at last got convicted for committing a crime, this time armed robbery in Las Vegas.
For those of us who thought he should have been convicted of double murder previously, this was minor satisfaction.
But not much.
Under The LobsterScope
Finally I have occasion to use a word a friend recently sent me, flummadiddles to describe the nonsense consistently written by the likes of Charles and George and Michael…wingnuts etal.
If I remember correctly, IRAN used to be the Great Satan. Nevermind, we attacked Iraq (maybe because it was next-door?) spent years, lives, treasure to make her our ‘friend’ – even though she wasn’t our enemy to begin with. (Assassinating Saddam could have been pulled off by the CIA if it had had any balls or brains)
So here we are. The majority of Iraqis can’t stand our guts. The nation of Iraq still isn’t our enemy – by some miracle – and the Great Satan, Iran has grown exponentially more powerful in the region. And Mr. Krauthammer is pleased as punch that we were able to devastate a country and it’s still willing to put up with us which it was willing to do in the first place but, hey, we showed them. Kinda like Iraq was a non-problem that we made a problem and is now no longer a non-problem just a problem on hold – which it never was in the first place.
We’ve “turned so many corners” that I’m beginning to suspect we’re just going in circles…
I picked up my boat from the repair shop this morning, dropped it in the lake for a test run. The temp was about 75, not a cloud in the sky, not a ripple on the lake, so I figured I’d make a run out to Makinson’s Island and do a walk about. There’s a hiking trail around the island perimeter that’s about three miles long
under a canopy of live oak and cabbage palm. At the waters edge was a collection of wading birds along with cormorants and anhingas. There was a group of sandhill cranes on the island shore. Besides the wildlife, I had the place to myself.
About a hundred yards into the walk, I came across three feral pigs crashing through the bush. They run about 35 pounds, and have a fear of humans, so there is little if any threat.
The walk was spectacular, The humidity is low this time of the year, so the biting bugs are not out until dusk; The sun dappled forest was a wonderful break from the crazyness I had endured all week in Miami.
Further up the trail, I heard some grunting and crashing through the bush. Soon, a pack of about 20 piglets came rushing by….beautiful. Another mile up the trail I came across two armadillos. They don’t see many humans, so I got up real close while they basked on a log in the sun, and clicked off a couple of photos. Soon after that, I heard a rustle in the trees, looking up I saw a bald eagle take flight.
Within minutes, I was back on the water where I saw another eagle dive towards the lake to snatch a fish, and several jealous ospreys look on. I got back to the ramp and loaded the boat.
As I left the boat launch area, I flipped on the radio to hear that Jeb Bush is considering a run for the Senate, the news reader then said Bush may run for the presidency in ’04.
Great, just f’in fantastic….. I got a little break from the disaster that the Bush crime family has leveled on the world, now I come back to hear this?
So I call up this guy I work with and tell him the news, his response, is Jeb was a pretty good governor, he should be great in the senate.
OM F’in G! Jeb is a Goddamned neo-con member of the PNAC, and Joe sixpack doesn’t now that, and doesn’t have a clue what the PNAC is either!
Maha and friends, we are faced with the very real possibility of a Palin / Bush or a Bush / Palin administration in four years.
Obama has been handed the biggest shit sandwhich in history, and if he fails to turn the economy around and end this mega fuck-up in Iraq in four years, he is toast!
I would like to remind my fellow Americans that under Bush we have seen the 9/11 attacks,three unnessary wars, the failure of the feds after Katrina,torture, AND the ruin of our economy!
The Bush family should be prosecuted and baned from American politics for 100 years…………
P.S., that THING in Iraq ain’t an embassy.
P.S., that THING in Iraq ain’t an embassy…Bunker????
#6. it’s a command center, a multi billion $ lilly pad to conquor the mid east under the bullshit rubric of the GWOT.
Obama has been handed the biggest shit sandwhich in history
🙂 Off the top off my head I can’t think of any person in history who could challenge the truth of that statement. I know FDR got a full plate of problems when he assumed office, but nothing like the mess that Bush has managed to create.
If Ninnyhammer is right about us turning a corner, it confirms my believe that our misadventure in Iraq is (at least) a hectogon, a geometric figure which has been defined as A 100-sided polygon, virtually indistinguishable in appearance from a circle except at very high magnification. But given the number of corners turned to date, I’m not sure 100 is enough sides… maybe it’s a megagon?
If declaring the SOFA a success will make it easier for the Bushistas to move out of Obama’s way, fine. Whatever. We in the reality-based community can stop paying attention to the Ninnyhammers now.