The Administration has heralded the withdrawal of the last combat troops from Iraq as evidence that it is partially keeping campaign promises to pull out of Iraq. What has been largely ignored in coverage is not only that 50,000 military personnel remain but the Administration is going to double the number of security contractors to take up the slack. That is the change from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn.
The Obama administration is planning to more than double the number of private security guards it has in Iraq — up to 7,000 — according to the New York Times. They could find a few extras in Afghanistan where the Administration was surprised with an order to get its civilian security forces — most of the 45,000 contractors — out of the country.
Source: New York Times
Buddha,
As I prepare for my granddaughter’s birthday party (an event that has morphed into gargantuan numbers), I am thinking about your comment of willingness versus capable … it is may opinion that even if he were willing he would not be capable … but
Perhaps you see him with a venal cast that I don’t see … however, according to many of my friends, my ability to spot venality is not one of my strengths … I have been fooled on more than one occasion.
rcampbell
We’re essentially done with Bush’s failed Iraq misadventure.
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We will never be done with the failed Iraq misadventure, at least in my lifetime, which is why I can’t be more optimistic.
Our main failure of not going in with 200,000 – 300,000 troops like the first time, since we were foolish enough to go back in at all, has led to many of the following problems – some of which could probably have been avoided:
Thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraquis have been killed and wounded.
The basic infrastructure of the country is destroyed – they can’t keep the electric on 24/7 (or, often, even for more than 15 minutes at a time) – which will mean even more deaths and the perfect conditions for civil unrest.
There is ittle fresh water, and so little work that men are willing to go back into the killing lines at sign-up stations within minutes of a massive bombing.
Almost everyone expects a either another strong-man ending up as head of the government, given the religious/ethnic divisions, and this time with 50,000 US personnel + contractors from who knows where helping him/them maintain order; or an outright civil war.
In which case we will be obliged to go back in, if not for the oil, on which our national security really does rest (unfortunately), then because if we don’t accept our moral obligation (having broken the pottery), the rest of the world will hold us in even more contempt.
Who will trust us to act honorably from now on if we don’t make reparations to Iraq? and I don’t see that happening.
No, I’m not optimisitic and haven’t been since apprehensively watching the Bush administration spokespersons pre-Iraq, wondering why we were having to go back in, and thinking “this ain’t good”.
… and then there was the Beer Fest … damned silliness …
Buddha Is Laughing and Mike Appleton,
Gentlemen:
I took into account the proposed elimination of the “D” grade. One could say that a C- is the new D.
What pulled his GPA out of the basement in my grading scenario was the “A” I gave him in helping the Auto Industry save itself and thus the manufacturing base of the nation. I consider that action to be one of his finest. However, he accomplished that before he actually took office which means, I suppose, that it shouldn’t count.
Without that A his GPA in my scenario would be 2.33 = C+
However, if I replaced the Auto category with the Torture category, that grade would be – F = 0.00 thus taking his GPA to 1.86 = a low C
I would have to agree that the poor guy does seem to be lost in the woods and … without imagination … he can’t forge a new path.
Blouise, I tend to agree with Buddha’s grade. Robert Frost never encountered someone who stood and stood and stood, before eventually trying to walk somewhere between the two paths and getting lost. Mr. Frost also didn’t account for Yogi Berra, who came upon a fork in the road, and took it.
Blouise,
“no longer based on what he promises but what he is actually capable of delivering.”
I submit that “capable” and “willing” are two very different adjectives.
He had the momentum to make substantive changes and instead went with more of the status quo of corruption and capitulation to lobbyists.
I’m a much sterner grader than you.
At best, I give him a C and lean toward a C-.
If I were a teacher I would look at my student, Obama, very differently at the end of the school year than I had at the beginning. In the beginning the young man showed great promise. He was affable, knowledgeable, and gave every appearance of being a dedicated student. I would sit him in the middle of the class fairly certain that he would evolve into a leader and influence the class in a positive manner. Throughout the year he worked diligently and learned all the material presented but as time wore on I realized that this student was good but lacked that one quality that transforms good into great. Imagination. The potential was never fulfilled and he ended the year as he had begun … good.
Out of the classroom and into the office of the President, Obama’s leadership is uninspired. That spark of imagination is absent. I suppose that if I were grading him on a curve with his predecessor, then his grades would be higher but … I am not doing that. It’s a straight forward grade based on the challenges he faced coming into office and the imagination he employed in meeting those challenges.
Healthcare … so far, but not far enough – B- = 2.67
Financial reform … so far, but not far enough – C+ = 2.33
Stimulus for economy … so far, but not far enough – C+ = 2.33
Iraq and Afghanistan … so far, but not far enough – C =2.00
Saving the American Auto and manufacturing base … so far, and just far enough -A = 4.00
Overall – 2.66 = B-
Obama’s Lament
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
………………….
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I left the one less traveled by,
Content to make a slight difference.
I will vote for him again in 2012 but this time with more realistic expectations … no longer based on what he promises but what he is actually capable of delivering.
rcampbell, I wish I shared your optimism concerning the end of George and Dick’s Wonderful Adventure. However, I expect growing instability in the country. Once things begin to fall apart, there will be tremendous pressure on the U.S., particularly from Israel, to revisit the issue of our involvement. As Bdaman noted, there are an amazing number of people in this country who believe the president is a Muslim, which in itself undercuts his credibility on Middle East foreign policy. I believe we could be dragged back in before it’s all said and done.
I guess I don’t understand what folks don’t understand. We were told very early on that all—but only—combat troops would be leaving by 8/31/10. And they have. We were told early on that roughly 50,000 trainers, adminstraters, etc. would remain. And they have.
The problems in Iraq caused by Bush’s unwise invasion and “surge” are not over, but they are no longer primarily our responsibility. That’s a very positve and profound event.
Some 50,000 American personnel will be there for a while longer. They may possibly get dragged into a shooting incident by being shot at or theatened, but they’re no longer the first oir second line of defense. Why is that so shocking or cause for high blood pressure? This is soooo much better a situation for the Americans, to complain at this point is to pick nits.
A for the contractors, I believe Xe has been banned by the Iraqi government, but still, some security help is obviously necessary. They aren’t US troops or National Guardsmen. We’re essentially done with Bush’s failed Iraq misadventure. Let’s be happy.
Blouise
Yes. And this is so much easier to do with mercenaries than with conscripts.
Operation New Dawn means that: The administration in Israel is happy; the administration in Saudi Arabia is happy; the administration in Kuwait is happy; the administration in Syria is carefully optimistic; most importantly, the oil fields are safe. As long as the administration in Washington is willing to continue the sacrifice of American lives to keep everybody happy and the oil flowing … who am I to cry foul?
Addiction Analyst 1, August 19, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I was disappointed in MSNBC for being the PR firm that the government used to show the great exodus from Iraq last night. Keith Oberman and Rachel Madow were not analyzing what the withdrawal really means, but they kept remarking on the historic nature of the “Day”. It was obvious that the military and the network had rehearsed how this would all come down…Where is the truth?…thanks Jonathan!
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I think you missed the part where Rachel asked a general again and again “aren’t some of the remaining troops going to be engaged in combat?” The general weaseled, and weaseled, and she kept re-working the question, trying to get him to say the obvious – that, yes, some of the US troops are going to be going out and shooting and getting shot at in “counter terrorism” operations. (however counter terrorism is defined at that time.)
You’re not totally off, though. I certainly got the impression that many of the MSNBC folks were trumpeting this important (if complicated) moment in the arc of US involvement in Iraq, and I assume that they were well aware of the political implications of President Obama being at the helm when this happened. Nonetheless, this clearly was a very important step.
Kieth, Rachel, et al, were certainly not making the “all troops are out of Iraq” mistake. They weren’t letting viewers forget that there are a large number of us troops and “contractors” (mercenaries) sill there, and that they will be seeing action.
More than not, Iraq’s security is now in the hands of Iraqis. Washington and Tehran are clearly both playing a role in Iraq, but the majority of what’s going on there is up to the Iraqis themselves.
A A
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100819/pl_yblog_upshot/pentagon-says-no-favoritism-toward-nbc-in-coverage-of-iraq-withdrawal
NBC had the technology and requested permission – the others didn’t. Now, the real question is – why wouldn’t FOX news want to show such an historic moment in all its military glory? Maybe they didn’t want to transmit in case it all went terribly, terribly wrong – or was really successful?
Every broadcast I’ve seen mentioned the 50,000 troops remaining, and most mentioned the contractors still remaining. Of course, I usually watch MSNBC to get the full picture.
How bout this. The birthers have literally gone poof.
But now 1 in 4 believe Obama is a muslim.
I think this fits.
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
There’s nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU&fs=1&hl=en_US]
I was disappointed in MSNBC for being the PR firm that the government used to show the great exodus from Iraq last night. Keith Oberman and Rachel Madow were not analyzing what the withdrawal really means, but they kept remarking on the historic nature of the “Day”. It was obvious that the military and the network had rehearsed how this would all come down…Where is the truth?…thanks Jonathan!
“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”
The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.” (The Hill)
Operation New Dawn? Well, somebody needs to pee in the cup.
It goes likes this. RWR downsized government! Or did he just privatize it? So, for all of those thinking that things have changed have they really. Democrats have generally been good for Education. But since there is no money, where the hell are they getting the money to do this?
So, 364 men [the Stryker brigade] driving huge military hardware that looks like something out of Star Wars across the border into Kuwait. Lots of TV coverage on MSNBC. Thumbs up.
Meanwhile Rachel Maddow is sequestered in the Green Zone in Baghdad which is being inunundated with rockets. She tells us she may have to “duck and cover” during her discussion of the “end” of the war and the departure of the last “combat” troops from Iraq. What’s wrong with this picture?
Oh, they also forgot to mention the 7,000 new mercenaries they are sending, at what cost, no one knows. The 50K left of course are also combat troops but “never mind.”
They should call this “Operation We’ll Be Back.”