18 replies to this topic

[Mr. Roboto]

KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait – As their convoy reached the barbed wire at the border crossing out of Iraq on Wednesday, the soldiers whooped and cheered. Then they scrambled out of their stifling hot armored vehicles, unfurled an American flag and posed for group photos.

For these troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, it was a moment of relief fraught with symbolism. Seven years and five months after the U.S.-led invasion, the last American combat brigade was leaving Iraq, well ahead of President Barack Obama's Aug. 31 deadline for ending U.S. combat operations there.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: The 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division was officially designated the last combat brigade to leave Iraq under Obama's plan to end combat operations in Iraq by Aug. 31. Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana joined the troops on their final journey out of the country.

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When 18-year-old Spc. Luke Dill first rolled into Iraq as part of the U.S. invasion, his Humvee was so vulnerable to bombs that the troops lined its floor with flak jackets.

Now 25 and a staff sergeant after two tours of duty, he rode out of Iraq this week in a Stryker, an eight-wheeled behemoth encrusted with armor and add-ons to ward off grenades and other projectiles.
http://news.yahoo.co...icans_head_home

[winstonlegthigh]

Well...that was worth it

[TAP]

Well...that was worth it

Yeah really. Seven years on and we haven't even established an acceptable distance between ground zero and mosques.

[winstonlegthigh]

Or found the phantom weapons of mass destruction...lets call it what it is, we basically went in and invaded a country, turned the fucker upside down and left in the name of a pretty much completely unrelated terrorist attack.

[Mr. Roboto]

Well...that was worth it

Nope.

[Mr. Roboto]

Or found the phantom weapons of mass destruction...lets call it what it is, we basically went in and invaded a country, turned the fucker upside down and left in the name of a pretty much completely unrelated terrorist attack.

Well we did help rewrite their Constitution while we were at it, in that we included production sharing agreements which essentially give exploration rights to foreign companies. The oil already in use remains under the ownership of the Iraqi people. This leaves about 2/3 of Iraqi reserves open for exploration by foreign companies.

Also, we brought purple fingers to the Middle East.

[AxlsMainMan]

Maybe basic running water and electricity will be restored while leaving.

[PERM BANNED]

Maybe basic running water and electricity will be restored while leaving.

They have that. Iraq is in better shape in terms of infrastructure than before the war. All the conflict presently in Iraq isn't being caused by America. It's caused by Iraqi and other Arabs bombing innocent civilians left and right. Americans habitually refuse to look at the middle east through a realistic lense. The culture and beliefs of the middle east are vastly different than they are in the west. Over there it's all about what you can do for me and my kin and what can I get to have leverage over you. Their armed forces can't even supply each other with basic logisitics without some kind of barter and trade system. It is fear and force that kept these people in line. That is why the middle eastern countries able to embrace an implement western ideals are convsersely those least like your typical Arab. Iraq can't fix itself because it doesn't want to be fixed.

[freedom78]

Maybe basic running water and electricity will be restored while leaving.

They have that. Iraq is in better shape in terms of infrastructure than before the war. All the conflict presently in Iraq isn't being caused by America. It's caused by Iraqi and other Arabs bombing innocent civilians left and right. Americans habitually refuse to look at the middle east through a realistic lense. The culture and beliefs of the middle east are vastly different than they are in the west. Over there it's all about what you can do for me and my kin and what can I get to have leverage over you. Their armed forces can't even supply each other with basic logisitics without some kind of barter and trade system. It is fear and force that kept these people in line. That is why the middle eastern countries able to embrace an implement western ideals are convsersely those least like your typical Arab. Iraq can't fix itself because it doesn't want to be fixed.

Among the many reasons why assuming that democracy is "the best" or that it will easily work everywhere is an erroneous assumption. I admit to very incomplete knowledge of Arab culture, but I do know that democracy is RARELY "imposed" with success. To do so, you almost have to completely crush a people (i.e. Germany, Japan...as opposed to Iraq or Afghanistan)

[AxlsMainMan]

Maybe basic running water and electricity will be restored while leaving.

They have that. Iraq is in better shape in terms of infrastructure than before the war

Instead of upgrading, let's just bomb the fuck out of everything and take years while spending millions/billions to rebuild it all again.

[AxlsMainMan]

Maybe basic running water and electricity will be restored while leaving.

They have that. Iraq is in better shape in terms of infrastructure than before the war. All the conflict presently in Iraq isn't being caused by America. It's caused by Iraqi and other Arabs bombing innocent civilians left and right. Americans habitually refuse to look at the middle east through a realistic lense. The culture and beliefs of the middle east are vastly different than they are in the west. Over there it's all about what you can do for me and my kin and what can I get to have leverage over you. Their armed forces can't even supply each other with basic logisitics without some kind of barter and trade system. It is fear and force that kept these people in line. That is why the middle eastern countries able to embrace an implement western ideals are convsersely those least like your typical Arab. Iraq can't fix itself because it doesn't want to be fixed.

I do know that democracy is RARELY "imposed" with success.

In addition, Guerrilla warfare like in Afghanistan or Iraq is virtually unstoppable, while ironically Gandhi pretty much brought down the entire British Empire without firing a single shot.

[PERM BANNED]

They have that. Iraq is in better shape in terms of infrastructure than before the war. All the conflict presently in Iraq isn't being caused by America. It's caused by Iraqi and other Arabs bombing innocent civilians left and right. Americans habitually refuse to look at the middle east through a realistic lense. The culture and beliefs of the middle east are vastly different than they are in the west. Over there it's all about what you can do for me and my kin and what can I get to have leverage over you. Their armed forces can't even supply each other with basic logisitics without some kind of barter and trade system. It is fear and force that kept these people in line. That is why the middle eastern countries able to embrace an implement western ideals are convsersely those least like your typical Arab. Iraq can't fix itself because it doesn't want to be fixed.

I do know that democracy is RARELY "imposed" with success.

In addition, Guerrilla warfare like in Afghanistan or Iraq is virtually unstoppable, while ironically Gandhi pretty much brought down the entire British Empire without firing a single shot.

I respectfully disagree. India was let go because the British were dismantling their empire after ww2. They no longer had the will or the funds to sustain a global empire. How many other colonies were released at the same time with no Ghandis on hunger strike?

[winstonlegthigh]

Fuck me, they were letting go for an awful long time, weren't they? I guess they had arthiritic fingers. You could argue that they were dismantling their empire because they didn't have the wherewithal to sustain it and Congress knew this and all this work that had been done by Indians towards independence was a part of it. People think Gandhi was just an idealistic pacifist but i think one could make a good case for his being a very shrewd politician. Other colonies were released, sure but that doesn't negate the work that was going on in India. I think a lot of it had to do with it being the tailend of WW2 and England being too drained in terms of resources to really put up a good fight for the empire. Also, wasn't there a Labour government at the time? Not sure but i think so, could be wrong. The Empirical mentality was very much a Conservative thing by then.

[lynn]

I don't understand the whole hype of this because there are still a lot of units still over there. There shouldn't even be a celebration of this until every man and woman is home.

[Timothy]

media hype .