6/20/2014

19 Responses to “Obama on Iraq, Then and Now”

1. Bah! Wouldn’t make much difference if Romney was president, Patterico.

   And the band played on…

   Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/20/2014 @ 8:06 am

   
   

2. Obama… never before in an executive position, has repeatedly demonstrated that he lacks common sense and good judgement (like most academics), or that he can be trusted with the well-being, security of or anything associated with the American people. He has been a cancerous growth on the body politic and the Western world, in general.

   Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/20/2014 @ 8:26 am

   
   

3. RIP Gerry Goffin… dead at age 75.

   Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/20/2014 @ 8:30 am

   
   

4. Thunder-stealer!

   Icy (53b59e) — 6/20/2014 @ 8:33 am

   
   

5. Dude, the 2012 presidential debates were a long time ago!

   Icy (53b59e) — 6/20/2014 @ 8:36 am

   
   

6. Just remember, your potential hypocrisy on this subject will invalidate Obama’s known hypocrisy.

   DejectedHead (a094a6) — 6/20/2014 @ 8:59 am

   
   

7. ∅’s foreign policy and foreign policy team is under the delusion that you can pick up a turd by the clean end. Until he is dispelled of this notion, it’s unlikely to get better.

   Hadoop (f7d5ba) — 6/20/2014 @ 9:26 am

   
   

8. this is the situation the First Islamist wanted all along…

   US power & prestige damaged/negated, our economy gutted, the world in an uproar, and his jihad buddies ascendant.

   plus he gets to golf a lot.

   redc1c4 (abd49e) — 6/20/2014 @ 9:34 am

   
   

9. Icy got stung! FYI, IceMan… I subscribed to a service where I have a ticker tape ala Walter Winchell where I get the latest on celebrity comings and – in Goffin’s case – goings, so I’m throwing down on yer franchise!

   Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/20/2014 @ 10:41 am

   
   

10. Keep in mind, that wasn’t a decision made by me. That was a decision made by the Iraqi government.

    I think this is pretty much how that bit of the conversation went:

    OBAMA: We would like to keep a small residual force in Iraq, pursuant to the arrangement you negotiated with the Bush Administration.

    MALIKI: No.

    OBAMA: Ok, thanks. For the record, I asked.

    JVW (feb406) — 6/20/2014 @ 1:33 pm

    
    

11. whether or not to build the keystone pipeline is another decision what food stamp never made

    happyfeet (8ce051) — 6/20/2014 @ 2:02 pm

    
    

12. Nore from the 3rd Presidetial debate in 2012 (Oct 22, 2012)

    http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/10/22/transcript-president-obama-mitt-romney-in-final-presidential-debate-at-lynn-university/

    ROMNEY: …..Number two, with regards to Iraq, you and I agreed I believe that there should be a status of forces agreement.

    (CROSSTALK)

    ROMNEY: Oh you didn’t? You didn’t want a status of…

    OBAMA: What I would not have had done was left 10,000 troops in Iraq that would tie us down. And that certainly would not help us in the Middle East.

    ROMNEY: I’m sorry, you actually — there was a — there was an effort on the part of the president to have a status of forces agreement, and I concurred in that, and said that we should have some number of troops that stayed on. That was something I concurred with…

    (CROSSTALK)

    OBAMA: Governor…

    (CROSSTALK)

    ROMNEY: …that your posture. That was my posture as well. You thought it should have been 5,000 troops…

    (CROSSTALK)

    OBAMA: Governor?

    ROMNEY: … I thought there should have been more troops, but you know what? The answer was we got…

    (CROSSTALK)

    ROMNEY: … no troops through whatsoever.

    OBAMA: This was just a few weeks ago that you indicated that we should still have troops in Iraq.

    ROMNEY: No, I…

    (CROSSTALK)

    ROMNEY: …I’m sorry that’s a…

    (CROSSTALK)

    OBAMA: You — you…

    ROMNEY: …that’s a — I indicated…

    (CROSSTALK)

    OBAMA: …major speech.

    (CROSSTALK)

    ROMNEY: …I indicated that you failed to put in place a status…

    (CROSSTALK)

    OBAMA: Governor?

    (CROSSTALK)

    ROMNEY: …of forces agreement at the end of the conflict that existed.

    OBAMA: Governor — here — here’s — here’s one thing…

    (CROSSTALK)

    OBAMA: …here’s one thing I’ve learned as commander in chief.

    (CROSSTALK)

    SCHIEFFER: Let him answer…

    OBAMA: You’ve got to be clear, both to our allies and our enemies, about where you stand and what you mean. You just gave a speech a few weeks ago in which you said we should still have troops in Iraq. That is not a recipe for making sure that we are taking advantage of the opportunities and meeting the challenges of the Middle East.

    Now, it is absolutely true that we cannot just meet these challenges militarily. And so what I’ve done throughout my presidency and will continue to do is, number one, make sure that these countries are supporting our counterterrorism efforts.

    Number two, make sure that they are standing by our interests in Israel’s security, because it is a true friend and our greatest ally in the region.

    Number three, we do have to make sure that we’re protecting religious minorities and women because these countries can’t develop unless all the population, not just half of it, is developing.

    Number four, we do have to develop their economic — their economic capabilities.

    But number five, the other thing that we have to do is recognize that we can’t continue to do nation building in these regions. Part of American leadership is making sure that we’re doing nation building here at home. That will help us maintain the kind of American leadership that we need.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 6/20/2014 @ 2:32 pm

    
    

13. Perhaps Bob Schieffer will highlight Obama’s fecklessness on his next Face teh Nation!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/20/2014 @ 3:06 pm

    
    

14. Obama was making a big point of it that he didn’t want troops in Iraq to “tie us down” although his actual proposal eventually had been 3,000 to 5,000 (but not the earlier mentioned 10,000. )

    And he quite possibly deliberately let the negotiations with Iraq over a status of forces agreement fail, although it could have been the influence of Iran that led to that. He was quite content to let it fail.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/world/middleeast/united-states-and-iraq-had-not-expected-troops-would-have-to-leave.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw

    …Mr. Maliki was afraid that if he came out publicly in favor of keeping troops without gaining the support of other parties in Parliament, his rivals — particularly the former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi — would exploit the issue to weaken his shaky coalition government. Eventually, he got authorization from the group to begin talks with the Americans on keeping troops in Iraq.

    In August, after debates between the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House, the Americans settled on the 3,000 to 5,000 number, which was reported in August. According to two people briefed on the matter, one inside the administration and one outside, the arguments of two White House officials, Thomas E. Donilon, the national security adviser, and his deputy, Denis McDonough, prevailed over those of the military.

    Intelligence assessments that Iraq was not at great risk of slipping into chaos in the absence of American forces were a factor in the decision, an American official said.

    It is thought the low number really discouraged Iraqi interest. In the article, there is
    mention of the possibility of troops being sent to Iraq in 2012, under a totally new agreement, but Obama wasn’t interested.

    There are now several thousand Americans there attached to the Iraq Army, but they are all contract employees (except the up to 300 Green Berets Obama is sending now, and whoever is protecting the embassy)

    Sammy Finkelman (966b43) — 6/20/2014 @ 3:23 pm

    
    

15. 13. Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/20/2014 @ 3:06 pm

    Perhaps Bob Schieffer will highlight Obama’s fecklessness on his next Face teh Nation!

    There’s a [re-recorded interview with President Barack Obama this Sunday on Face the NAtion (by a female reporter)

    A bit was excerpted on the CBS Eveninbg News.

    Obama explaininbg why he didn’t send arms to the opposition in Syria, approximately like this:

    They were farmers and dentists – they couldn’t do anything against a dictator like Assad, or fight trained jihadists – what difference would a little bit of arms have done? So he chose to send nothing.

    Sammy Finkelman (966b43) — 6/20/2014 @ 4:32 pm

    
    

16. I was being facetious, Sammy.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 6/20/2014 @ 4:46 pm

    
    

17. Let us be honest; we had every right to put OBL’s head on a stick. The rest of it, the nation building,the foolish ROE, the kowtowing to Islamic insanity and worrying about their tender insane 7th century idiocy was a terrible waste. The one justifiable reason to vote for The One was to get out of all of it. Sending even the 300 is the mistake.

    To hell with all of them;let them kill each other. Keep them out of here. Snes the ones who have settled here with visions of Sharia America back to the 3rd world toilets, If any GOP candidate wants to get more involved as Romeny and Ryan did, they deserve to lose.

    Bugg (f0dbc7) — 6/20/2014 @ 6:19 pm

    
    

18. As to whether it was or was not his decision, Maliki wanted US troops subject ot Iraqi courts, That is something no US president, even one as awful as Obama, can ever agree to. It’s amenaingless distinction. Like mst of you I hate this fraud. But sadly the GOP is no better. And McCain and Romney as per their statements were worse. THERE IS NO POLITICAL SUPPORT AT ALL FOR MORE MIDDLE EAST WAR ANYWHERE IN AMERICA.

    Bugg (f0dbc7) — 6/20/2014 @ 6:23 pm

    
    

19. 14. SF: “There are now several thousand Americans there attached to the Iraq Army, but they are all contract employees (except the up to 300 Green Berets Obama is sending now, and whoever is protecting the embassy)”

    There are 275 protecting the embassy and there will be 300 Green Berets. There is a ship with Osprey vertical takeoff and landing steaming closer.

    Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 6/21/2014 @ 7:27 pm