Last US combat troops leave Iraq

[Orphia Nay]

"The 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which left Iraq this week, was the final U.S. combat brigade to be pulled out of the country, fulfilling the Obama administration's pledge to end the U.S. combat mission by the end of August. About 50,000 U.S. troops will remain in Iraq, mainly as a training force."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/18/AR2010081805644.html?wprss=rss_print


Obama's announcement:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/08/18/ending-war-iraq

Shortly after taking office, I put forward a plan to end the war in Iraq responsibly. Today, I'm pleased to report that -- thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians in Iraq -- our combat mission will end this month, and we will complete a substantial drawdown of our troops.

[...]

But is the war really over? It seems Obama is choosing his words carefully, and not saying so in so many words. (And of course, Sunnis and Shias etc have been killing each other for centuries. That won't change.)

 

[Orphia Nay]

Let the controversy begin:

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/08/18/us-announces-second-fake-end-to-iraq-war/#

But like so many other great TV moments, this one was a scripted fantasy, a fake exit done purely for political gain by an increasingly unpopular president trying to look like he is keeping at least one campaign promise.

It was perhaps a different sort of scripted, mythical end to the Iraq War than the last one, the May 1, 2003 “Mission Accomplished” speech of President Bush, but it was no more real, as over 50,000 US troops remain on the ground in Iraq tonight.

The “end of the war” may bring some measure of relief to the American people, but it must be something of a sombre moment for those 50,000 troops, as they continue to go into combat operations with the bulk of the American public believing, because their president told them so, that the war is over and combat operations have ended.

Anyone care to point out the fallacies in that?

 

[Lamafarmer]

antiwar.com
a scripted fantasy, a fake exit
increasingly unpopular president

Well what do you know.

 

[Aepervius]

I dunno, but I find it funny that in a country 30 million people you need 0.16% foreign troop to "train" the locals (50000 out of 30 millions). A few hundred of trainer, I would understand, maybe one thousand or two, but 50K that is a tad a big to be accepted as a training troop. The only way to 100% know the truth would be to make a tally of the action/activity they will take in the next weeks.

ETA: 50K sound more like an army left to watch over, "renamed" to training army, to fulfil some arbitrary requirement that would not be covered if it was named for what it really is. Like for example campaign promise.

 

[Orphia Nay]

I dunno, but I find it funny that in a country 30 million people you need 0.16% foreign troop to "train" the locals (50000 out of 30 millions). A few hundred of trainer, I would understand, maybe one thousand or two, but 50K that is a tad a big to be accepted as a training troop. The only way to 100% know the truth would be to make a tally of the action/activity they will take in the next weeks.

ETA: 50K sound more like an army left to watch over, "renamed" to training army, to fulfil some arbitrary requirement that would not be covered if it was named for what it really is. Like for example campaign promise.

Well, my understanding is that there would be hundreds of leaders doing the training, and the rest of the troops are the leaders' troops, there to demonstrate the leaders' orders in front of Iraqi troops.[/lay person's army terminology]

I find it odd that there are 6 pages of threads tagged with "Iraq war", and now it's 'ended', only two replies. Or is there another thread on this that I haven't found?

 

[GreNME]

No, several thousand of the US troops still there are also handling some security as well as helping to establish basic services when possible (there are communications guys over there setting up more permanent fixtures for the infrastructure, for example). Essentially, the job of helping to put some of Iraq back together while also training the Iraqis to handle their own defense is why there are so many there: it's a huge job.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Thanks for that, GreNME.

I just found this which explains a bit.

As the military role winds down, the state department's role is set to increase. One of the biggest concerns it faces is that while 50,000 "non-combat" troops are to be left in Iraq as back-up for Iraqi forces, they will not provide security for US civilians engaged in reconstruction projects.

The state department will have to recruit thousands of private security contractors, increasing the existing force of 2,700 to 6,000-7,000, to provide protection.

[...]

Still embarrassed by former president George Bush's premature declaration soon after the 2003 invasion of "mission accomplished", US military and diplomatic officials were extra careful today to avoid claiming that combat had ended. "I don't think anybody declared the end of the war as far as I know. There's still fighting ahead," said Geoff Morell, the Pentagon's chief spokesman.

 

[GreNME]

Yeah, I have my own opinions as to whether this was the correct decision or whether it was executed well or not, but those are really beside the point and get in the way of understanding the purpose for the soldiers still over there.

The troops still stationed over there have the harder job of now taking the pieces from the last 7 years, trying to own it as best they can (representing us), and helping to establish some type of working infrastructure in Iraq, both in terms of services and in security/governance. I say it's a harder job because I don't think there's really much debate on the question of the capability of the US military to fight, but the non-combat activities that the military has been engaged in over the course of these last few years will now be a major focus for those still stationed. They're effectively going to be expected to achieve more with less, and a large factor in the success of this undertaking will be the Iraqi forces themselves-- which again increases difficulty because it means that success isn't totally dependent on the abilities of those still there, and is at least in part reliant on the willingness of their trainees and counterparts. Expect trust to be put even more to the test in the coming months over there.