Quote:
Originally posted by Rodeo
U.S. Obeys Order to Abandon Checkpoints
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 31, 2006; 11:35 AM
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. troops on Tuesday abandoned checkpoints around the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City on orders from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the latest in a series of moves by the Iraqi leader to assert his authority with the U.S. administration.
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You know Rodeo, I don't get you. I understand that there is nothing that you would like more then to have the US out of Iraq. You honestly believe that the US should never have even been there. I hear you.
So now that the US has made the first small step to initiating what will ultimately be it's pull-out strategy, namely to gradually yield authority and control to the elected government of Iraq -- you're all over Bush and the administration for doing that!
Maliki was elected by the Iraqis. He represents the closest thing that Iraq has had to a fully democratic government in at least decades. He was far more democratically elected then almost any other Arab leader. Sure he has his "special interests", some of whom we don't like, but the same can be said for every American President regardless of their party.
Maliki has chosen to adopt a strategy which includes pulling back from the confrontation at Sadr city. If you think that he sent a proclamation to the US Generals and they jumped -- get real. This was discussed at different levels prior to the actual announcement. Would any US General ever respond to a foreign order that was not approved within the US chain of command? Never -- which is why US troops do not serve under UN control, and most likely never will.
I'm sure that the US adminstration had the same concerns about Maliki's strategy as you have voiced. But at the end of the day, it's going to be the Iraqi's who are going to be living and potentially dieing with the consiquences. Remember that the Iraqi deaths from "enemy" actions dwarf the number of US casualties. Part of disengaging is -- letting go. This means letting the Iraqi government make the hard decisions.
You maybe haven't noticed, but the US is starting -- ever so subtely -- to initiate disengament from Iraq. I suspect that you will have a hard time with that thought since it will be contrary to your view of the US as an oil-grabbing, imperialist oppresser. I'm not waiting for you to have an epipheny though, so don't knock yourself out.