Posted on 03/08/2009 12:34:55 PM PDT by SandRat
BAGHDAD, March 8, 2009 – Two Army brigades leaving Iraq in the next six months won’t be replaced, Multinational Force Iraq officials announced today.
Associated enabling forces -- such as logistics, engineers and intelligence soldiers -- will leave along with the brigades, and an Air Force F-16 squadron that recently returned to its home station also will not be replaced, officials said.
The drawdown will reduce the total number of U.S. brigade combat teams in Iraq from 14 to 12. A British combat brigade also will return home without replacement.
Officials said the increased level of security and stability that Iraq has achieved over the last 12 months, the growth in capability and capacity of the Iraqi security forces, and the transition from counterinsurgency to stability operations throughout most of Iraq made the reduction possible.
Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, made the recommendations to reduce these forces within the next six months, leaving 12,000 fewer U.S. and 4,000 fewer British forces in Iraq.
Officials called the force reduction a significant step in the implementation of the U.S.-Iraq security agreement that took effect Jan. 1, and of President Barack Obama’s decision to conduct a responsible drawdown of U.S. combat forces in Iraq.
"The time and conditions are right for coalition forces to reduce the number of troops in Iraq," Odierno said. "The successful provincial elections demonstrated the increased capability of the Iraqi army and police to provide security. In the coming months, Iraqis will see the number of U.S. forces go down in the cities, while more and more Iraqi flags will go up at formerly shared security stations."
(From a Multinational Force Iraq news release.)
Hmmm here for us.
The November 2008 Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), not Obama’s February 27 speech, defines endgame for Iraq military involvement. He did not choose timelines for U.S. combat brigade departures. SOFA requires withdrawal from cities, villages, and localities by June 30, 2009. SOFA, not Obama, requires all U.S. forces withdrawn from Iraq territory by December 31, 2011. Iraq and U.S. as sovereign and coequal countries, and without Obama, devised SOFA strategies implementing U.N. principles and purposes.
July 2007 heralded Obama’s last noteworthy Iraq involvement when he, Biden, Clinton, etal co-sponsored the Levin-Reed Amendment requiring most troops leave by April 2008. Passage would have precluded achievements he now embraces. Beginning in 2007 with the “Al Anbar Awakening” and throughout 2008, Iraqi people and leaders experienced deliverance from lives dominated by assassins stalking them and their families. Iraqis witnessed national institution ascendance in providing personal and material security.
Obama’s refocus on Afghanistan and Pakistan provides political theater, depreciating vital African, Oriental and Asian country initiatives against entrenched violence. About 1100 AD Hassan bin Sabah enlightened the Islamist world to terrorism as foundational for political prosperity. Concurrently, extraordinary Arab achievements in science, mathematics, and medicine submerged within authoritarian and feral societies.
War on Terror victory means frustrating plans, breaking alliances and fracturing all terrorist organizations. As Wahhabi, Twelfth Imam, and secular terrorists (Hamas and Hezbollah) become less effective moderate constituencies and representative governments emerge. Obama decisions legitimizing terrorists such as with Hamas’ $900 million gift contravenes basic objectives.
Soon we will find out if we, like Simon Bolivar, "have plowed the sea."
Last month Gates mentioned that the MEB going to Afghan is diverted units from Iraq. That means 8,000 of that is coming out of the 18,000 in Anbar. Reduction to a single Marine Expeditionary Brigade in Iraq.
Looking at the rest, the reductions are coming out of Baghdad and the south. The MND-North is actually increased in combat BCTs and battalions...
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