slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

I got'ta agree with that, Padre.

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

It's dated July 2009. Obama had the final decision on the Iraq withdraw. He wanted to actually leave a contingent force in place however, the Iraqi gov wanted our military there subject to their form of Sharia Law. Obama didn't want them subject to Iraqi law and judgement so he made the decision to leave.

Perhaps it was an un-rattified "treaty." I don't know but I DO know it was Obama's decision totally.

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

The media coverage of this is severely simplistic and fails to take so many things into account. It is simply another twisting of reality to paint Trump in a bad light. The MSM was virtually silent when Obama pulled us out of Iraq.

I also find it very disturbing how the hate for Trump on this issue over rides how we should be valuing the lives of our military. I'll not go into details unless some are presented. It's hardly worth discussing with those who would support the sacrifice our military personnel so indiscriminately.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Read it all (again?), my friend...to include the following excerpt..."The agreements with Iraq were negotiated and concluded as executive agreements and entered into force on January 1, 2009*." The negotiations for the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement took place during the Fall of 2008 by the Bush Administration. Also, in 2008 the American and Iraqi governments signed the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement. It included a specific date, 30 June 2009, by which American forces should withdraw from Iraqi cities, and a complete withdrawal date from Iraqi territory by 31 December 2011.

*It should be noted that Barack Obama did not take office 'til January 20th, 2009.

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

Obama was involved in the final decision despite the agreement which our military leaders did not count as binding. Obama, for all practical purposes, could have had them stay but he really didn't try, in the least, to convince Maliki to accept troops staying and NOT being under sharia law. The agreement was just about as binding as Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran. On paper, one could say Obama was not responsible for the withdraw but we all know better. Obama himself made the claim that the troops were coming home as he promised.

permafrost Loc: Minnesota

Oh padre, there you go again... thinking wrong.

I had mixed feeling about pulling out of Iraq, I did not think we should have been there to begin with..

Should have cleaned Afghanistan to the bone.. and also done the Saudis until they were bone white..
but the republicans lied and did a preemptive attack on Saddam, one of the worst dicks in the world..

then George Jr. set a time line and with no cooperation from the new Iraq, President Obama did not change the decision. I wish he had..

A lot of shovel ready jobs came to Minnesota.. it must of been those republicans who hated him so much who did not accept the jobs offered..

Bet you will never accept that fact will you.. the power of self delusion has never been so strong..

We used big shovels even back in 2011

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

That's an interesting answer there permy. I sort of agree, too. So maybe the Kurdsand the Turks could solve one problem; they could kill all the captured Jihadi's. ISIS over, for a while at least.

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

"but we all know better?" Not really.

The U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (official name: Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in Iraq) was a status of forces agreement (SOFA) between Iraq and the United States, signed by President George W. Bush in 2008. It established that U.S. combat forces would withdraw from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, and all U.S. combat forces will be completely out of Iraq by December 31, 2011. The pact required criminal charges for holding prisoners over 24 hours, and required a warrant for searches of homes and buildings that were not related to combat. U.S. contractors working for U.S. forces would have been subject to Iraqi criminal law, while contractors working for the State Department and other U.S. agencies would retain their immunity. If U.S. forces committed still undecided "major premeditated felonies" while off-duty and off-base, they would have been subjected to an undecided procedures laid out by a joint U.S.-Iraq committee if the U.S. certified the forces were off-duty.

The agreement expired at midnight on December 31, 2011, even though the United States completed its final withdrawal of troops from Iraq on December 16, 2011. The symbolic ceremony in Baghdad officially "cased" (retired) the flag of U.S. forces in Iraq, according to army tradition. Wikipedia

permafrost Loc: Minnesota

What i see is an insult to our military who did fighting, to our allies who did most of the dying in Syria, to those who think that this is in anyway something our white house occupier cares about.. it is what Putin wants, it is what the near dictator in turkey wants.

It has no upside at all for the United States..

Terrorists have already escaped some of the detention camps and will be back in full threat mode withing weeks..

Making every thing sacrificed by Americans or anyone in fighting terror a useless but bloody effort..

they did the pain but got no gain..

permafrost Loc: Minnesota

That would not make me feel bad at all.. good thinking..

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

The big insult here, if we are to engage in this simplistic way of thinking, is the willingness of Trump haters to actually want to let the 50 to 100 (actually about 2 dozen) become human shields in the hope that Turkey would not attack as they had so well informed us there were going to do. As for the total withdraw, I am now, even with the Trump announcement, not convinced it will happen.

permafrost Loc: Minnesota

I have been cutting up a tree all day,,(yes, I am a slow old guy), but did hear that the 50 were in a single location, trump has ordered the withdrawal of all american troops in the border area which is about 1000 men..

No one wants human shields that i have heard, and not a single vet I ever knew would take that role..

Looks as if the withdrawal is the real deal.

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

The defense secretary stated is was more like 2 dozen Sunday morning in an interview with Chris Wallace. And, the 1000 are not in the border area. And even if they were, there are 15,000 Turkish soldiers moving in. Think of the scenario: we would have to provide air defense because certainly Turkey would and have been using their air power. So, what so you have in that case? A shooting war with a NATO country. And it wouldn't be a proxy war between the US and Turkey. It would be a WAR between Turkey and the USA. We are no where near close to being able to engage Turkey at that level. And what of our bases in Turkey???

Like I said, the simplistic spin the media is putting on this is ridiculous.

permafrost Loc: Minnesota

I definitely see and agree with you on all the problems with Turkey.. you expressed them well..

Number of troops that are in the border area.....

this is the latest on my news subscription.. it is CNN but it should be only repeated facts not opinion..
I see it is a day old, maybe I need a better subscription..

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/13/politics/us-troops-syria-turkey/index.html

Esper did not initially make it entirely clear whether the withdrawal would mean the US troops would be leaving Syria entirely or relocating elsewhere in the country away from where Turkish forces are operating. The Pentagon did not respond to CNN's request Sunday for clarification on the troop withdrawal.
While the majority of the 1,000 US troops in Syria are in the northern part of the country, the US military also maintains a small presence in southern Syria at a base in At Tanf where the US trains local anti-ISIS fighters that are not affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces.

nwtk2007 Loc: Texas

I was not that impressed with Esper. (Is that the correct spelling?) And killing the ISIS detainees would solve a multitude of issues. By the way, that was Canunculous' (I think that's his name) idea. He said we don't seem to know how to deal with jihadi's! I think he's right!