Iraq and the United States reportedly have finalized an agreement that would withdraw most U.S. troops by the end of 2011. President Bush is expected to approve the agreement.
This is a very encouraging sign that the Iraq war debacle and its mounting costs might finally be coming to an end — at least there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.
“We have to let go, and we’re not reluctant to do that,” said Gen. David Petraeus. “And the Iraqis are not reluctant to take control.”
How will this development affect the presidential race? Both John McCain and Barack Obama are claiming vindication from the remarkable turn of events in Iraq, which seem to buttress both Obama’s call for a withdrawal timetable and McCain’s claims about the success of the surge.
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46 Comments
Do I need to type slower.
It’s. The. Economy. Stupid.
THE – ECONOMY – IS – FINE!
(And the economy would be BETTER, if we would DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW!)
Apparently so. The troops in Iraq will just have to roll over to Afghanistan to quell the problems there.
Both candidates will destroy the economy, no matter what their ads portray.
THE – ECONOMY – IS – FINE!
Roll one for me. Cause the outrageous gas prices, food prices and weak dollar sure make me wonder about the economy. I’d like to be blind to that for a while, so twist me one up brother.
Terrorists would not respect or fear the United States if we had allowed Saddam Hussein to keep shooting at our troops.
Terrorists would not respect or fear the United States if we had allowed Saddam Hussein to violate the Cease-Fire agreements.
The Iraq war was justified.
The casualties of the Iraq war are tragic and we should all honor our troops and the sacrifice of their families.
However? We lost more men, in a single day, several times in our history, than we have lost in the ENTIRE Iraq conflict.
The American Public is against DEFEAT.
The American Public is NOT against VICTORY —
And George W. Bush is a VICTORIOUS war time President!
And George W. Bush is a VICTORIOUS war time President!
Sheeeeeeeeaaaaht. Roll me two of those bad boys. Starting to sound like some primo stuff !!!!!
Franklin- I suggest you not drive until “it” wears off! Pheeeeeeeeewwwwww.
The economy is slipping a bit. I might have to buy a warmer dog from Hank this winter to keep warm.
Might even have to buy three dogs, in case of those “three-dog nights.”
ba dum dump
thank you thank you,
I’ll be here all week.
“Roll me two of those bad boys”
HA! But be careful. When mixed with brisket, fluffy tortillas, and pico de gallo, it can cause serious binge eating.
Yeah, maaahn, but it tastes so…. Far OUT Good maaaahn !!!!
What are they doing telling al-quida when it’ll be safe to return to Iraq?
Guess they’ll know when to pack up in pakistan. Hope they’re greatful that we got saddam out of the way and made the move possible for them.
HEHEHE,
You might just stick with heating oil, Regular! You don’t want to know what I paid for my last puppy.
“How will Iraq deal affect race?” Obama will still have to deal with the racist.
Political posturing, if mccain wins, they’ll just dissolve the agreement.
Gee I wonder what praetorian guard, I mean blackwater, custer battles and kellog brown and root will do with themselves without a war to fight.
Move operation over to Afghanistan. Then after a while move back over to Iraq to stop the genocide.
Roll one for me. Cause the outrageous gas prices, food prices and weak dollar sure make me wonder about the economy. I’d like to be blind to that for a while, so twist me one up brother.
I already tried that. Didn’t work.
I really don’t want whatever Franklin’s on.
Since we’ve “won” the war, what is the rationale for a McCain presidency? I mean will running on the health of the Bush economy help him that much?
Didn’t Karl tell Condi and George to hold off on announcements like this until 11/05/08?
It WILL likely put the economy higher. As to the war itself it could cut two ways: if perceived as ‘victory’ it could help ’stay-the-course’ McCain; if perceived as a strategy change it could help Obama.
If McCain is elected, he’ll be the first sitting President to be drawing Social Security. Talk about double dipping!
Triple dipping. He gets almost $60,000 ‘disability’ pay from the Navy.
“Since we’ve “won” the war, what is the rationale for a McCain presidency?”
———–
Steven, I would ask, what rationale is there for an Obama presidency? The instability is the former Soviet bloc drives that point home. I’ll let Peggy Noonan take over from here, because, well, she writes much better than I.
They’re Paying Attention Now
August 22, 2008
Why is it a real race now, with John McCain rising in the polls and Barack Obama falling? There are many answers, but here I think is an essential one: The American people have begun paying attention.
It’s hard for our political class to remember that Mr. Obama has been famous in America only since the winter of ‘08. America met him barely six months ago! The political class first interviewed him, or read the interview, in 2003 or ‘04, when he was a rising star. They know him. Everyone else is still absorbing.
This is what they see:
An attractive, intelligent man, interesting, but—he’s hard to categorize. Is he Gen. Obama? No, no military background. Brilliant Businessman Obama? No, he never worked in business. Famous Name Obama? No, it’s a new name, an unusual one. Longtime Southern Governor Obama? No. He’s a community organizer (what’s that?), then a lawyer (boo), then a state legislator (so what, so’s my cousin), then U.S. senator (less than four years!).
There is no pre-existing category for him.
Add to that the wear and tear of Jeremiah Wright, secret Muslim rumors, media darling and, this week, abortion.
It took a toll, which led to a readjustment. His uniqueness, once his great power, is now his great problem.
And over there is Mr. McCain, and—well, we know him. He’s POW/senator/prickly, irritating John McCain…..
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121935481067161515.html?mod=todays_columnists
“Then after a while move back over to Iraq to stop the genocide.”
The Libs won’t care about that until it happens and it will happen.
Then they will wring their hands and look to the Mighty United Nations.
I think that most of the one issue voters who were just against the war will start to lose their motivations for voting for Obama to get us out.
This will help McCain.
I’m not sure if the war in Iraq, the future of the US dollar, the credit crunch, supreme court nominations or the price of energy really matters any more. Those will all work out just fine relatively speaking.
The most important question is: which candidate knows how many homes he owns?
nuff said.
Or, Which candidate has his housing conections to now convicted felon Rezko?
You’re right if you aren’t even smart enough to know how many homes you own, are you ready for the other challenges. I think not. But, you might be ready for the old folks home.
Or who was a member of the Keating Five, and Whose Wife made millions off of the Keating deals.
I know… I know…
Obama has been surrounded by these types of people for the past 20 years, but that is ok, he was only 6 when Ayers attacked the Pentagon… he never heard his Pastor say any of those things the entire 20 years he was there…. yep… you can judge a man by the company he keeps, except for Obama.
gster
Qualification for SS and drawing SS are two different things.
If he is drawing, he is paying taxes on his SS benefit.
McCain’s wife, and McCain’s family trusts, own some realestate. So what?
McCain helps his relatives.
One of the homes in question is occupied by an aging Aunt.
Obama gets million dollar sweet hear deals from convicted felon Rezco, for his house.
Obama lets his BROTHER live in a shack!
(And then Obama quotes the Bible? “Whatsoever you do, for the least of my BROTHERS???”)
Obama gets million dollar sweet heart deals from convicted fellon Rezco for his house —
“Mission Accomplished.”
This will take away Barack Hussein Obama’s, “I will get us out of Iraq”.
Cindy could buy around 7 estates with the Keating investment, come to think of it she probably did, Mccain’s defense: We have a pre-nup so I didn’t directly benefit.
n a postscript to the scandal, McCain finally contributed $112,000 — the amount of money he’d gotten from Keating-related interests — to the U.S. Treasury. (Keating would otherwise rank as his No. 1 career patron.) McCain’s wife and father-in-law, however, held on to their stake in the Fountain Square Shopping Center. In fact, they held on to it long after American Continental Corporation went bankrupt. Cindy McCain, her father, and the remaining owners sold the mall two years ago for $15 million, reaping a profit that McCain has reported as between $100,000 and $1 million.
I am glad McCain and his inlaws have been financially successful.
Whose business is it other than theirs how much money they make or have?
outlander
Posted August 22, 2008 at 2:36 pm | Permalink
“Since we’ve “won” the war, what is the rationale for a McCain presidency?”
———–
Steven, I would ask, what rationale is there for an Obama presidency? The instability is the former Soviet bloc drives that point home
My answer would be that even Bush has acknowledged that there is nothing the US can do about georgia. Paul claims that our bases in Iraq can be a launching point to send help to Georgia – HA! Ain’t gonna happen! Bush has admitted that what we need in dealing with Russia is our allies. Remember them? The ones we dismissed as irrelevant when we unilaterally invaded Iraq?
Obama will be much more able to reassemple our alliances that Bush or his clone McCain. And we will sorely need those allies to put up a unified front to Russia.
Ben,
Are you still using the “unilateral” invasion lie?
There were several countries who went with us and many more who lended support in other various ways.
The mere fact that English were with us is enough to say it was not “unilateral.” But don’t let the truth get in your way.
Obama would not run around nilly willy destablizing countries and antagonizing others.
If we did send military to Georgia I think all hell would break loose in this country. It would make the Viet Nam protests look like a church picnic. I don’t know about anyonelse but I’m getting sick and damned tired of our troops being used as pawns so the President can stroke his ego
“The mere fact that English were with us is enough to say it was not ‘unilateral.’ But don’t let the truth get in your way.”
*****
“The media in the U.S. has been known to use the term U.S.-led coalition to describe this force, as around 93% of the troops are from the United States.[1] The majority of nations that deployed troops confined their men to their bases[1] due to widespread violence.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_force_in_Iraq
Heck of a multi-national force, wouldn’t you say? A coalition of the willing, indeed.
But of course, if there was one soldier from Georgia (the country, not the state) that would be enough for Nathan to dispute the “unilateral” claim. Technically correct, but hardly the “truth” that he claims.
This will take away Barack Hussein Obama’s, “I will get us out of Iraq”.
Now he can say he did.
Steven,
If you read all of the link it would tell you that the United Kingdom contributed 45,000 troops to our 250,000 for the invasion.
That is not 93% American forces. That is a pretty significant number of troops.
Again, not a unilateral action. When you and others use the term you are not just describing military forces either. So focusing solely on active combat troops as “support” for your “unilater” claim is rather less than honest.
How many of their troops are still there?
As the holy book says: “And he took a cup and, having given praise, he gave it to them, saying,” (Matthew, 26, 27)!!