As President Barack Husein Obama (peace be unto him) prepares to make a purportedly self-congratulatory speech tonight concerning the end the lengthy and divisive U.S. combat operation in Iraq, he’ll personally thank some of the soldiers who fought there for their service to a mission he forcefully opposed from the start.
Many of those soldiers that went to Iraq deployed from Fort Bliss, the huge Army base in El Paso, Texas, that Obama will visit Tuesday. After a victory lap photo op with the troops, Obama will return to Washington to address the nation from the newly renovated Oval Office. Did they put a Persian rug in there?
He will formally announce the end to a combat mission in Iraq that lasted more than seven years, leaving more than 4,400 U.S. troops dead and thousands more wounded.
Obama remains a critic of the war, speaking out against it during the U.S. invasion in early 2003 and promising his Far left Base, during his presidential campaign, to bring the conflict to an end. The White House is promoting Tuesday’s benchmark as a promise kept and has gone to great lengths to make sure that everyone can revel in Obama’s glory. They are accomplishing this by sending Vice President Joe Biden to Iraq to preside over a formal change-of-command ceremony and raising Tuesday night’s remarks to the level of an Oval Office address, something His Eminence has graced us peons with only done once before.
Among Obama’s Public Relations goals on Tuesday is honoring those who have served in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, many returning to the battlefield for multiple tours of duty. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday that while the Iraq war would have never happened had Obama been commander-in-chief at the time, the president holds the service and sacrifice of the troops in high regard. Uh huh.
According to Baghdad Bob:
Whether you are for the invasion or whether you opposed the invasion, you had our men and women in uniform who undertook the commands of their commander-in-chief, and should be held up and celebrated for what they’ve done in allowing combat troops now to come home.
200,000 personnel from Fort Bliss have deployed to Iraq, serving in every major phase of the war. Fifty-one soldiers from the base died there and many more were wounded.
Last week, some 600 soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team returned to the base as part of Obama’s self-imposed Aug. 31 deadline for having all U.S. combat troops out of Iraq. Just about 50,000 U.S. troops will remain, down from a peak of nearly 170,000 in 2007. U.S. troops will no longer be allowed to go on combat missions unless requested and accompanied by Iraqi forces.
Administration officials are trying with all their might to avoid equating the end of the combat mission with a mission accomplished.
So, the war is not really over . Gibbs said:
You won’t hear those words coming from us. Obviously tomorrow marks a change in our mission. It marks a milestone that we have achieved in removing our combat troops. That is not to say that violence is going to end tomorrow.
Under a security agreement between the U.S. and Iraq, all U.S. forces must be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. The Terrorists have marked their calendars. But the Obama administration insists the U.S. is not abandoning Iraq and is ramping up a diplomatic corps to help stabilize the country’s government and economy over the coming years.
Because there’s nothing an Islamic Terrorist fears more than a stern talking to.
Listen to the logic of Baghdad Bob:
This redoubles the efforts of the Iraqis. They will write the next chapter in Iraqi history, and they will be principally responsible for it. We will be their ally, but the responsibility of charting the future of Iraq first and foremost belongs to the Iraqis.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s remarks, Obama also planned to call President Bush. While Bush’s decision to invade Iraq was criticized by wild-eyed Liberals all over the world, including Obama, the troop surge Bush ordered in 2007 has been credited with striking a several blow against violence in Iraq and helping keep the country from falling into a civil war. However, all bets are off as to whether Obama will be man enough to give Bush any credit for the role the surge played in leading the war to its end.
Meanwhile, as mentioned before, Vice President Joe Biden is in Iraq, “presiding” over the formal end to U.S. combat operations in Iraq. However, the majority of Iraqis are not very happy about it.
Iraqis, who for years have voiced opposition to the U.S. occupation, are generally happy to see that American forces will not be there forever. However, at the same time, they are scared about their country being overrun by Islamic barbarians.
Johaina Mohammed, a 40-year-old teacher from Baghdad, is worried:
It’s not the right time. There is no government, the security is deteriorating, and there is no trust.
While there, Biden has been pleading to Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, to end the political deadlock and seat a new government. March 7 parliamentary elections left Iraq without a clear winner, and Terrorists have since exploited the uncertainty to hammer Iraqi security forces.
Iraqi forces have improved the number of attacks have gone down a lot since the dark days of 2006 and 2007. But rarely a day goes by without some loss of life, and spectacular attacks such as the violence on Wednesday that killed 56 people still happen with disturbing regularity.
Biden and U.S. officials have blown off suggestions they are abandoning Iraq at a crucial time. The vice-president Tuesday said militants’ attempts to again wreak havoc in Iraq have been unsuccessful.
Biden said Tuesday in comments to al-Maliki before the two met privately:
Notwithstanding what the national press says about increased violence, the truth is, things are still very much different, things are much safer.
But many Iraqis do not share his optimism.
Mohammed Hussein Abbas, a Shiite from the town of Hillah south of Baghdad, said:
They should go, but the security situation is too fragile for the Americans to withdraw now. They should wait for the government to be formed and then withdraw.
However, U.S. military officials are not basing their reduction in troop numbers on Iraq forming a new government, but on the ability of Iraqi forces to handle security on their own.
The decision to draw down to 50,000 troops was made by President Barack Obama, and is not part of the security agreement between Iraq and the U.S. in 2008 under President Bush.
Ali Mussa, a 46-year-old engineer from eastern Baghdad is worried about his country’s neighbor:
The U.S. withdrawal will put Iraq into the lap of Iran.
Iran and Iraq are both majority Shiite countries. Since America got rid of Saddam Hussein, Iran has been working to secure greater leverage in Iraq, using centuries-old religious and cultural ties.
Even former Sunni insurgents in Fallujah, who supported armed resistance against two American assaults on the city in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, are worried about U.S. troops leaving after they joined forces and fought extremists together.
Col. Abdelsaad Abbas Mohammad, a Fallujah commander in the government-supported Sunni militia, known as the Awakening Councils, said:
Of course we were against the occupation, but in 2007 the Americans came up with a good plan for fighting al-Qaida, not Iraq. Americans have committed many mistakes, but they did not go into houses and chop people’s heads off.
Riyadh Hadi, a 47-year-old Shiite from the southern city of Basra, said the frustration over power shortages and unemployment has reached the boiling point in Iraq and:
The U.S withdrawal will worsen the situation. Corruption is now clandestine, but after the American withdrawal it will be out in the open and widespread among Iraqi officials.
Many Iraqis believe that the U.S. drawdown and emphasis on the end of combat operations means that Obama is playing to domestic politics instead of assessing what is truly right for Iraq,
Sheik Ali Hatem Sulaiman al-Dulaimi, an influential tribal leader from Anbar province cautions:
The Americans should think about the door they’re walking out of. This is the destiny of a nation.
It appears that the Iraqis have figured out what the majority of Americans have: All of Obama’s promises have expiration dates which are subject to change for the benefit of the greater good: his.
Kingsjester's Blog 
They have no government. Now is not the time, Obaka.
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All I will hear tonight will be one loud sound of a vacuum sucking the life and money out of our country.
Can’t wait to get a look at the new digs and look at that new persian rug.
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“It appears that the Iraqis have figured out what the majority of Americans have: All of Obama’s promises have expiration dates which are subject to change for the benefit of the greater good: his.”
True words! Good post, KJ!
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Joe “Let’s Partition Iraq” Biden, good choice…
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Soon, al-Maliki will not be the PM of Iraq and that could change many things (for the better) in Iraq and the region…In addt to “The Won” being “The Loser” come November 2012…
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