Out of Iraq

[bluehenbillk]

All troops out in next 9-10 weeks, by December 31st. Good move.

[ASUG8]

Gotta hand it to Obama - I know he's nearly in full campaign mode, but he's building a decent foreign policy resume this year. Between Awlaki, Bin Laden, our involvement in Libya he's had some impressive results. That being said, these are in places that most voters can't find on a map and has little relevance in their day to day lives, so we'll see if his issues with healthcare and the dismal state of the economy will offset his successes.

[andy7171]

We should pull out of Afganistan too, before Pakistan throw nukes at us.

[D1B]

We should nuke the Vatican.

FIFY

[catamount man]

It is about damn time we got out of there. Wish the 4,400 dead could come back home as well.

[Ibanez]

It is about damn time we got out of there. Wish the 4,400 dead could come back home as well.

Most of them did. Don't you mean, you wishthe 4,400 dead were alive to come home?

[BlueHen86]

Gotta hand it to Obama - I know he's nearly in full campaign mode, but he's building a decent foreign policy resume this year. Between Awlaki, Bin Laden, our involvement in Libya he's had some impressive results. That being said, these are in places that most voters can't find on a map and has little relevance in their day to day lives, so we'll see if his issues with healthcare and the dismal state of the economy will offset his successes.

I think that is a very good assessment.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

Gotta hand it to Obama - I know he's nearly in full campaign mode, but he's building a decent foreign policy resume this year. Between Awlaki, Bin Laden, our involvement in Libya he's had some impressive results. That being said, these are in places that most voters can't find on a map and has little relevance in their day to day lives, so we'll see if his issues with healthcare and the dismal state of the economy will offset his successes.

a relevant point - good messaging can achieve that - to a degree...

[Ivytalk]

Obama flunks foreign policy based on one four-letter word: I-R-A-N.

[CitadelGrad]

Gotta hand it to Obama - I know he's nearly in full campaign mode, but he's building a decent foreign policy resume this year. Between Awlaki, Bin Laden, our involvement in Libya he's had some impressive results. That being said, these are in places that most voters can't find on a map and has little relevance in their day to day lives, so we'll see if his issues with healthcare and the dismal state of the economy will offset his successes.

What about all of his foreign policy failures? Are they really that easy to forget?

[CID1990]

Awlaki, Bin Laden and Qaddafi are not foreign policy successes. They are military successes, and far removed from the "soft power" and "smart power" suggestions that we heard so much of during the 2008 campaign.

Obama is more of the same in terms of propagating America's role as world police, and that is not the kind of foreign policy people are looking for these days, regardless of what side of the aisle they are on. The military successes under the Obama regime will be nothing more than flyspeck blips on the radar for voters as he loses in 2012. The top half of the entire GoP field will be able to take him down.

The key is independent voters, and the majority of them are going to focus on his foreign policy failures, not his military successes.

[Gil Dobie]

We should all go to church on Sunday. Peace be with you

FIFY

[UNHWildCats]

Republicans are saying the US should remain in Iraq and also saying Obama deserves no credit for this withdrawal since the timeline was agreed to by Bush in November 2008.

Yet, it was an Obama type timeline that Bush ultimately agreed to as opposed to the conditions based withdrawal Bush and McCain wanted, so Obama does deserve credit here.

[GrizFanStuckInUtah]

Republicans are saying the US should remain in Iraq and also saying Obama deserves no credit for this withdrawal since the timeline was agreed to by Bush in November 2008.

Yet, it was an Obama type timeline that Bush ultimately agreed to as opposed to the conditions based withdrawal Bush and McCain wanted, so Obama does deserve credit here.

[Bronco]

BHO should get full credit for this.

Reminds me of Clinton fighting the welfare reform until it was passed and was successful he then became a big fan''

Iraq prime minister: Immunity issue scuttled U.S. troop deal
Associated Press ^ | Saturday, October 22, 2011 | Lara Jakes and Rebecca Santana

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister said Saturday that U.S. troops are leaving Iraq after nearly nine years of war because Baghdad rejected American demands that any U.S. military forces to stay would have to be shielded from prosecution or lawsuits.
The comments by Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, made clear that it was Iraq who refused to let the U.S. military remain under the Americans’ terms.

A day earlier, President Barack Obama had hailed the troops’ withdrawal as the result of his commitment — promised shortly after taking office in 2009 — to end the war that he once described as “dumb.”

“When the Americans asked for immunity, the Iraqi side answered that it was not possible,” al-Maliki told reporters in Baghdad. “The discussions over the number of trainers and the place of training stopped. Now that the issue of immunity was decided and that no immunity to be given, the withdrawal has started.”

Nearly 40,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, all of whom will withdraw by Dec. 31 — a deadline set in a 2008 security agreement between Baghdad and Washington.

But continued violence across Iraq, coupled with growing influence by the Shiite power Iran over the government in Baghdad, prompted the Obama administration earlier this year to push to keep thousands of U.S. troops here for years to come. The two nations negotiated for months over whether U.S. forces should stay — a politically delicate issue for Obama and al-Maliki, both of whom faced widespread opposition from their respective publics to continue a war that was never popular in either nation.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
________________________________________

[BlueHen86]

BHO should get full credit for this.

Reminds me of Clinton fighting the welfare reform until it was passed and was successful he then became a big fan''

It's called spin, every politician does it, many have paid staffers to help them.

[bluehenbillk]

Obama flunks foreign policy based on one four-letter word: I-R-A-N.

I'm curious, what do you propose we do differently with them? Engage them?

[kalm]

Obama flunks foreign policy based on one four-letter word: I-R-A-N.

I'm curious, what do you propose we do differently with them? Engage them?

Create a fake Iranian sponsored terrorist plot on US soil, then invade. Oh wait...

[CID1990]

I'm curious, what do you propose we do differently with them? Engage them?

Create a fake Iranian sponsored terrorist plot on US soil, then invade. Oh wait...

Welcome back, Spanos.

[kalm]

Create a fake Iranian sponsored terrorist plot on US soil, then invade. Oh wait...

Welcome back, Spanos.

Yeah, Jack Daniels was a super spy.

[Ibanez]

Republicans are saying the US should remain in Iraq and also saying Obama deserves no credit for this withdrawal since the timeline was agreed to by Bush in November 2008.

Yet, it was an Obama type timeline that Bush ultimately agreed to as opposed to the conditions based withdrawal Bush and McCain wanted, so Obama does deserve credit here.

You're a fucking idiot for that last sentence. I think you need to be banned. An "Obama Type Timeline"? Really, so Bush agrees to something BEFORE Obama, but b/c it's something you think Obama would've done, Bush's actions mean nothing? You're such a dipshit. SHouldn't you be occupying Wall Street with the rest of the cry babies?

[kalm]

Republicans are saying the US should remain in Iraq and also saying Obama deserves no credit for this withdrawal since the timeline was agreed to by Bush in November 2008.

Yet, it was an Obama type timeline that Bush ultimately agreed to as opposed to the conditions based withdrawal Bush and McCain wanted, so Obama does deserve credit here.

You're a fucking idiot for that last sentence. I think you need to be banned. An "Obama Type Timeline"? Really, so Bush agrees to something BEFORE Obama, but b/c it's something you think Obama would've done, Bush's actions mean nothing? You're such a dipshit. SHouldn't you be occupying Wall Street with the rest of the cry babies?

Obama didn't have a policy stance on Iraq before the election?

[CID1990]

Republicans are saying the US should remain in Iraq and also saying Obama deserves no credit for this withdrawal since the timeline was agreed to by Bush in November 2008.

Yet, it was an Obama type timeline that Bush ultimately agreed to as opposed to the conditions based withdrawal Bush and McCain wanted, so Obama does deserve credit here.

You're a **** idiot for that last sentence. I think you need to be banned. An "Obama Type Timeline"? Really, so Bush agrees to something BEFORE Obama, but b/c it's something you think Obama would've done, Bush's actions mean nothing? You're such a dipshit. SHouldn't you be occupying Wall Street with the rest of the cry babies?

No, he should be occupying a stinky urinal stall in a Japanese rest stop along with his bff, Hideko.

[Wedgebuster]

[CID1990]

I hope the Iranians like that nice big gazillion dollar emabssy we built for them.

It's in turnkey condition!