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Deadly Iraq war ends with exit of last U.S. troops
CNN ^ | Sun December 18, 2011 | Moni Basu

Posted on 12/17/2011 9:58:41 PM PST by MinorityRepublican

A U.S. soldier atop an armored vehicle gives a thumbs-up upon reaching the checkpoint on the Iraq-Kuwait border.

(CNN) -- Early Sunday, as the sun ascended to the winter sky, the very last American convoy made its way down the main highway that connects Iraq and Kuwait.

The military called it its final "tactical road march." A series of 110 heavily armored, hulking trucks and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles carrying about 500 soldiers streamed slowly but steadily out of the combat zone.

A few minutes before 8 a.m., the metal gate behind the last MRAP closed. With it came to an end a deadly and divisive war that lasted almost nine years, its enormous cost calculated in blood and billions.

Some rushed to touch the gate, forever a symbol now of an emotional, landmark day. Some cheered with the Army's ultimate expression of affirmation: "Hooah!"

Once, when hundreds of thousands of Americans were in Iraq, the main highway was better known as Main Supply Route Tampa and soldiers trekked north towards Baghdad and beyond, never knowing what danger lurked on their path.

On this monumental day, the Texas-based 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division's main concern was how to avoid a traffic jam on their final journey in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Daniel Gaumer, 37, was on this road in August 2003. It was his first time at war. He was frightened.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


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To: MinorityRepublican
For the Iraqis the war is no more over than it was over for the Vietnamese when US troops pulled out of South Vietnam. The death total after US withdrawal was quite high. My wife and I sponsored a Vietnamese refugee family. They were lucky to get out in time.

As happened in Vietnam, the war will go on, but there will be no more US losses. Those Iraqis who supported us will be murdered; those who try to form a democratic government will be attacked.

Makes me wonder why we bothered. Maybe we should have pulled out after Saddam Hussein was killed. The domestic violence would have started then, but without US losses.

101 posted on 12/19/2011 9:20:53 AM PST by JoeFromSidney (New book: RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY. A primer on armed revolt. Available form Amazon.)
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To: dragnet2
I'll tell ya what they lost, but you tell me exactly what we, "Won".

I would, but paultards are usually too insane to reason with, so I don't bother anymore.

Have a nice day.

102 posted on 12/19/2011 9:44:04 AM PST by A.Hun (Common sense is no longer common.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Out with the liberators, in with the Brotherhood.


103 posted on 12/19/2011 10:17:44 AM PST by crosshairs (Liberalism is to truth, what east is to west.)
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To: crosshairs

With today’s arrest warrant issued by Iraq’s Shia majority against the Sunni Vice-president, Tariq al-Hashimi, the civil war will soon revive in full force. My view all along is that the US should have removed itself from Bagdad and the other major cities after it decapitated the Hussein regime, protected the Kurds and the oil fields, and let the Sunnis and Shias go at each other. A peace treaty would have eventually been reached with 3 new nations emerging from the ruins of the artificial entity known as Iraq.


104 posted on 12/19/2011 12:02:06 PM PST by littleharbour
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To: A.Hun
What exactly did the American people win?

I would, but paultards are usually too insane to reason with. Have a nice day.

What kind of cockeyed answer is that?

11 years later, multiple trillions of tax dollars spent, thousands of dead Americans, and you pop off with that?

Of course, your insane response is not fully unexpected or surprising.

Ya see, nothing is going to justify these country killing, lunatic U.S. foreign policies.

105 posted on 12/19/2011 1:16:12 PM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: littleharbour
Woulda, shoulda, coulda...

Nice fantasy ya got there.

106 posted on 12/19/2011 1:24:00 PM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: bigheadfred

All the sacrifices made only to be discarded by a petulant jackass.


107 posted on 12/19/2011 9:42:16 PM PST by Gene Eric (Save a pretzel for the gas jets.)
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To: dragnet2

My fantasy involves about 4000 less US fatalities and probably 20,000 fewer injuries than your fantasy of a democratic Iraq emerging after the US troops have departed. The US presence merely delayed the civil war - it did not avoid it.


108 posted on 12/20/2011 12:42:01 PM PST by littleharbour
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