books.foreignpolicy.com - 2/23/2009
—
by Marc Lynch The Gamble is perhaps the best of the rapidly proliferating crop of "Iraq
surge" books. While it shares the generally admiring tone for the architects of
the surge common in such books, it maintains the critical vantage point which
characterized Fiasco . It ...
news.yahoo.com - 2/24/2009
—
news.yahoo.com —
AP - The United States will withdraw most
of its troops from Iraq by August 2010, 19...
months after President Barack Obama's inauguration day, according to administration officials who expect Obama to make the announcement this week.
(more)
Officials: US out of Iraq in 19 months
(AP)
ricks.foreignpolicy.com - 2/24/2009
—
ricks.foreignpolicy.com —
It seems to me that by vowing to
get out of Iraq in 16 months, President Obama...
is not departing from the mistakes of George Bush, but repeating them. That is, Bush was persistently overoptimistic about Iraq. His original war plan assumed that the ...
(more)
Will Obama repeat Bush's big mistake in Iraq?
Comments
Blog Reactions
FP Feb 23
Abu Aardvark —
... Today's post for email subscribers:
My review of Tom Ricks, The Gamble. And here's a direct link to the review, as part of weeklong "virtual book club." ...
Tell Me Now if You Want Me to Stay, It Don't Matter, 'Cause I'd Stay Here Anyway
Obsidian Wings —
... We also agree that the vested interests of empire will resist efforts made by Obama to disentangle our involvement in Iraq, yet Sullivan is remiss by failing to point out that Tom Ricks - whose words he excerpts to make his point - recently penned a book that is effusive in its praise of a couple of empire's champions (at least in this context:) General Odierno and General Petraeus. ...
Tell Me Now if You Want Me to Stay, It Don't Matter, 'Cause I'd Stay Here Anyway
Newshoggers.com —
... We also agree that the vested interests of empire will resist efforts made by Obama to disentangle our involvement in Iraq, yet Sullivan is remiss by failing to point out that Tom Ricks - whose words he excerpts to make his point - recently penned a book that is effusive in its praise of a couple of empire's champions (at least in this context:) General Odierno and General Petraeus. ...
The Gamble Continues
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
... Iraqi politicians are suspected of plotting murder and
mayhem, and someone is protecting them.
Well: just look at what the Brits had to deal with in the 1920s and
1930s. But at least they got the Iraqis to shoulder some of the
financial burdens. If the British analogy holds, the US will be in Iraq
until 2016 at the earliest. Or until economic collapse makes withdrawal
not a matter of choice.
FP is hosting a book-club discussion of Tom Ricks's new book. Here's Lynch: Ricks
has been coming under withering criticism from some on the Left ...
Ricks Asserts That Obama Will Ignore SOFA
Wonk Room —
... So who is Ricks talking to in Baghdad who is so confident the United States will act in bad faith and abrogate an intergovernmental agreement approved by the Iraqi parliament? It certainly isn’t Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, which negotiated hard to extract a 2011 end date in the “withdrawal agreement.” This inattention to Iraqi opinions was first noticed by Marc Lynch in his review of Ricks’ latest book. Ricks’ argument is almost entirely based upon the views of his sources, which are in the U.S. military establishment in Iraq. It’s not a coincidence that Ricks’ ...
Related Content
The Next Steps To Get Out Of Iraq
wonkroom.thinkprogress.org 2/27/2009 — Our guest blogger is Peter Juul , Research Associate at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
Today, the New York Times reports that President Obama plans to withdraw only two combat brigades from Iraq prior to that country’s next national ...
The Beginning of the End? Obama, Gates Outline Iraq Drawdown
attackerman.firedoglake.com 2/27/2009 — Update : In a conference call with reporters immediately after President Obama's Iraq-withdrawal speech , Defense Secretary Bob Gates said that the withdrawal plan has the support of key military leaders.
"I'm obviously very supportive of ...
Anbar Rising
mudvillegazette.com 3/12/2009 — Continuing our sixth anniversary review - this post from early October, 2006 was a compilation and examination of events largely ignored (or simply reported as discrete acts of more or less random violence) at the time in Western media. Many would ultimately come to regard the "Awakening" ...
The Gamble Continues
andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com 2/26/2009 —
Surprise! There's an ominous detail in the 19-month Iraq withdrawal plan that the president is apparently signing off on this week. Withdrawal will barely happen at all this year, as US troops become a kind of last-resort guarantor of order ...
Iraq 2009 Elections Updates
mudvillegazette.com 2/1/2009 — Peace, high turnout reported at Iraq polls -(CNN) Half of Iraq's eligible voters turned out for peaceful provincial elections this weekend, the election commission said Sunday.
An Iraqi man whose finger has been ink stained after voting makes a ...
The Anniversary Party
attackerman.firedoglake.com 3/19/2009 —
photo by jamesdale10
It's eerie and uncomfortable and inappropriate that there isn't much notice that six years ago today the U.S. invaded Iraq. Maybe that's natural now that the Obama administration is ending the war. Maybe it's an indication ...
Sons and Guns and Money
mudvillegazette.com 4/1/2009 — The New York Times, March 31 : BAGHDAD — Iraqi and American soldiers have completely disarmed a rebellious Awakening Council that staged a brief uprising after its leader was arrested in a Baghdad neighborhood, and they are not going to allow it to re-form, both Iraqi and United States ...
Iraq
whitehouse.gov 1/20/2009 — IRAQ President Obama and Vice President Biden will responsibly end the war in Iraq so that we can renew our military strength, dedicate more resources to the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, and invest in our economy at home. The ...
Odierno Certain That All US Troops Will Be Out Of Iraq By 2011
huffingtonpost.com 4/13/2009 — The top general in Iraq, Ray Odierno, appeared on CNN's "State of the Nation" with John King, and sounded a very upbeat note regarding the timeline to withdraw from Iraq. King asked General Odierno "on a scale of 1 to 10, sir, how confident are you, ...
Obama gets it right on Iraq
lynch.foreignpolicy.com 2/27/2009 — I thought Obama's speech on Iraq this afternoon was outstanding.It laid out a powerful rationale for the new policy, sent a very clear signal to Iraqis about American intentions, placed American policy firmly within the context of the Status of ...
Follow BeltwayBlips on Twitter
