Numbskull

I caught half of the announcement on the radio news and I was discussing it with an ex-marine who works with me. I had heard "by Christmas" and "year" but not the full sentence about the planned timeline. We agreed that President Obama must have meant we'll leave Iraq by next Christmas, because there is almost no way to move out that many men and all their equipment in a month and a half. The orders would have had to go out several months ago, and no word of that happening has emerged (yet). To just up and decide to airlift out this many men would require large numbers of airliners constantly coming and going at all hours, from today until Christmas. Then there is the equipment. There are only so many planes that can haul HMMWV and Tactical Vehicles. The logistics of today's announced withdrawl timeline are very challenging to say the least.

Either the President is a fool, or he plans to work a miracle, or he plans to leave billions of YOUR tax dollars in Iraq in the form of a full corps worth of military equipment. I think the most likely scenario is that his teleprompter he decided to pull this stunt on a whim, and very many fighting men's families will be sad because Daddy will NOT be home by Christmas. Of course, most of the men won't hold it against him that he broke his word AGAIN - they will be happy to be home. They will be UNhappy to be leaving without finishing their mission.

Speaking of . . . what was the mission in Iraq anyway? How's that western-style democratic reform coming along? Don't you just love all that sweet, sweet low priced oil coming to us from Iraqi fields? Howabout all that peace and stability over there, eh?

Of course, it is entirely possible that President Obama wants to leave all our equipment behind on the bases we built on our own credit card, for the Iraqis to take over when we leave free of charge. Then we would have yet another islamist nation in the near vicinity of Israel with modern armaments. What could possibly go wrong?

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There is also a more-disturbing possibility. Encouraged by the recent murders of a religious leader and the head of a foreign nation, President Obama may have decided to pull out of Iraq so he can pursue his latest strategy: Do whatever small acts of illegal war you like, as long as it gets the less-favored thug out of power.