Posted on 01/05/2020 7:20:23 AM PST by Drew68
BEIRUT (AP) The latest on U.S.-Iran tensions (all times local):
4:45 p.m.
Iraqs parliament has voted to expel the U.S. military from the country.
Lawmakers voted Sunday in favor of a resolution that calls for ending foreign military presence in the country. The resolutions main aim is to get the U.S. to withdraw some 5,000 U.S. troops present in different parts of Iraq.
The vote comes two days after a U.S. airstrike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani inside Iraq, dramatically increasing regional tensions.
The Iraqi resolution specifically calls for ending an agreement in which Washington sent troops to Iraq more than four years ago to help in the fight against the Islamic State group.
The resolution was backed by most Shiite members of parliament, who hold a majority of seats.
Many Sunni and Kurdish legislators did not show up for the session, apparently because they oppose abolishing the deal.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Thanks W and feckless OblahMao for 4000 plus American lives lost, wounded Vets and wasted multiple billions for what? So that the head of the snake Iran gets to control Iraq and was a place for ISIS to flourish when we took out Saddam Hussein. What a goat copulation of a result.
It looks like we will never leave Iraq. I was opposed to the 2003 Iraq War from the get-go. I knew it was all rubbish. I knew we’d be there for all time. I am so ashamed that so many Americans allowed Bush to swindle us into that war and now look at the mess they’ve made.
The middle east is like a tar pit. Once you’re mired up you are in big trouble.
Maybe we should leave and rubble their oil fields on the way out.
Out freaking standing! Let’s remove our forces and all the money with them. While we’re at it, let’s get out of Afghanistan too.
They obviously don’t want us there either. But salt the poppy fields on the way out.
Not another cent of foreign aid to either of them.
I was 39 and in the military when it started. Been there, done that. I predicted before I left Iraq in 2009 that it would turn to crap as soon as we left. When the big “drawdown” happened my predictions came true. But a woman with a PhD in Middle Eastern studies told me that she though Iraq would do just fine without us.
Imam of Peace / Pray for Peace...
@Imamofpeace
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2h
#BREAKING: Al-Halbousi, the Speaker of the Council of Representatives, asks the PM of Iraq to stop broadcasting the parliamentary session so that he can begin speaking. This is very dodgy. The entire session has been public. He clearly doesnt want US and allies to hear it LIVE.
If we pull out of Iraq the Iranians will start building ballistic missile launch sites all over Iraq...Not a good option...
Bush spun it as a world communication center....I didnt think it was a good idea then and still don’t. It was built right along with the war. Never hear anything about it, people were pissed back then and they took it out of the news.
Im tired of supporting that Mideast s+hole.
We are energy independent. Get out. Yesterday.
Now president Trump has 53 targets to go after . . . he just added the soon-to-be-empty billion dollar embassy building.
Simple. "Israel, take care of this."
And they will.
I’m not military strategist, just an old lady with an opinion, but this is good. If we pulled our troops out, it would look like we are retreating. This way, Trump can flip the finger at them and say “fine, we’re leaving. You’re on your own.’
“How TH did they get in control of Iraqs Parliament??”
WHO THE F*** IS TH!?!
I’m sure someone must have said it, probably 2, 3 or more times, there may not have been a quorum, Kurds and Sunnis boycotted.
[We should arm both side and let them kill each other.]
The Middle East is both a smaller and a bigger problem. It’s smaller because it doesn’t have Europe’s highly-productive economies. It’s bigger because with 50% of the world’s oil, it can spike oil prices to $200 a barrel, and tank our economy. It’s also bigger because since WWII, both nuclear weapons and the long range missiles with which to deliver them to our cities are now a reality.
Having said that, the cost of staying engaged in the Middle East is peanuts compared to WWII. We spent roughly 50% of economic production every year for 4 years fighting in Asia and Europe. That’s 2 years of economic output spent fighting WWII. The Mideast + Afghanistan costs about $50b a year. That’s 0.25% of a year’s economic output. A pain in the rear end, but we won’t be having decorated vets roaming the country plugging War Bonds.
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files?file=2018-10/54219-oco_spending.pdf
Win-Win!
"De-Baathification" we called it. --another genius move from the Bush Administration. Thanks Rumsfeld.
This is very good news. The US should depart from being the world’s policeman. Let Iraq and Iran (i.e. The sunni versus the shia) go back to the days of the Iran/Iraq war and keep killing each other. All the while, the US will continue to expand fracking, increase oil exports, reduce oil imports and make the oil fields in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait worthless.
This is a winning strategy.
JoMa
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