Last Combat Brigade to Leave Iraq

[Azure]

The last American combat brigade is leaving Iraq, marking the start of a new phase in America's engagement in the country.


About 50,000 noncombat troops are expected to remain to advise and assist Iraqi forces. The combat forces' exit comes ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline set by President Obama.


Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said combat operations still officially will end Aug. 31, and on that date, the mission will change names from Operation Iraqi Freedom, to Operation New Dawn.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08...e-leaves-iraq/

Great news. Hopefully Iraq can stay a stable country for the foreseeable future.

[PIMking]

Doubt Iraq can stay stable 24 hours let alone in the future.

Welcome home boys and girls! Beer is on me.

[puckluck]

Originally Posted by PIMking

Doubt Iraq can stay stable 24 hours let alone in the future.

Welcome home boys and girls! Beer is on me.

Agreed. I think Iraq was more stable with Sadaam Hussein in charge. He was a coward and a murderer make no mistake about it, but I'd rather Iraq 2000 than Iraq 2010.

Even some Iraqi friends who had family members killed by him wish he was still alive and in charge, and they hate his guts.

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by puckluck

Agreed. I think Iraq was more stable with Sadaam Hussein in charge. He was a coward and a murderer make no mistake about it, but I'd rather Iraq 2000 than Iraq 2010.

Even some Iraqi friends who had family members killed by him wish he was still alive and in charge, and they hate his guts.

I completely agree with you. Yeah he was bad, and sure he hated Shias and Kurds, but he did stabalize the country and the region.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by _Q_

I completely agree with you. Yeah he was bad, and sure he hated Shias and Kurds, but he did stabalize the country and the region.

He gassed the Kurds.

[Draug]

Originally Posted by puckluck

Agreed. I think Iraq was more stable with Sadaam Hussein in charge. He was a coward and a murderer make no mistake about it, but I'd rather Iraq 2000 than Iraq 2010.

Even some Iraqi friends who had family members killed by him wish he was still alive and in charge, and they hate his guts.

Really, is that a fact? Wow.

Have you ever had an in depth discussion with your friends to explore their reasoning?

I dont think I would ever want to keep someone in power that killed my family members, no matter how bad it got with someone else in power. I would think that surely it must get better.

[puckluck]

Originally Posted by Draug

Really, is that a fact? Wow.

Have you ever had an in depth discussion with your friends to explore their reasoning?

I dont think I would ever want to keep someone in power that killed my family members, no matter how bad it got with someone else in power. I would think that surely it must get better.

1 dead relative is better than 10 dead relatives.

[peter12]

I overheard a guy in the line at Orange Julius say that Saddam was way awesomer than America.

[SeeBass]

I think MSNBC has had the best coverage of this

[bcb]

This troop pullout should have happened 6 years ago.

[CrusaderPi]

I can't stand some of the reasoning in this thread.

[MJM]

Originally Posted by Draug

Really, is that a fact? Wow.

Have you ever had an in depth discussion with your friends to explore their reasoning?

I dont think I would ever want to keep someone in power that killed my family members, no matter how bad it got with someone else in power. I would think that surely it must get better.

I actually watched a documentary once that followed a couple of a Iraqis before and after the invasion. Devout haters of Sadam before, wished he was back later. Iraq was turned into a third world country over night. These particular people still didn't have running water one year after he was overthrown. Wish I could remember the name of it. I think it was on CBC.

I don't think what puckluck is saying is that far out there.

[HotHotHeat]

loooong overdue, but spectacularly great news nevertheless.

Now we watch the Iraqis do what teenagers do when their parents leave home.

[mac_82]

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by MJM

I actually watched a documentary once that followed a couple of a Iraqis before and after the invasion. Devout haters of Sadam before, wished he was back later. Iraq was turned into a third world country over night. These particular people still didn't have running water one year after he was overthrown. Wish I could remember the name of it. I think it was on CBC.

I don't think what puckluck is saying is that far out there.

Wow you watched a documentary on CBC, a state-funded news organization in a country that didn’t support the Iraqi war, and you came to this conclusion, eh. Colour me shocked.

Unless someone here has first hand or family experience of life in Iraq, which, incidentally, is radically different for different segments of the Iraqi people, I don’t think anyone’s opinion of whether the previous regime was better or worse is even worth speculating on.

I’m amazed that anyone would claim Saddam was good for stablity in the region though - when he wasn’t using poison gas on his country’s citizens, what about launching ballistic missiles at their nuclear capable neighbors? How did that enhance security in the middle east?

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by peter12

I overheard a guy in the line at Orange Jihad say that Saddam was way awesomer than America.

fyp

The Iraqis never knew how much they loved S.Hussein until he was dead. Much like Soviets with L.I. Brezhnev...

[worth]

Now lets all sit back and watch the country fall apart live on CNN.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by MJM

I actually watched a documentary once that followed a couple of a Iraqis before and after the invasion. Devout haters of Sadam before, wished he was back later. Iraq was turned into a third world country over night. These particular people still didn't have running water one year after he was overthrown. Wish I could remember the name of it. I think it was on CBC.

I don't think what puckluck is saying is that far out there.

"Iraq: 4 Years On"

[valo403]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Wow you watched a documentary on CBC, a state-funded news organization in a country that didn’t support the Iraqi war, and you came to this conclusion, eh. Colour me shocked.

Unless someone here has first hand or family experience of life in Iraq, which, incidentally, is radically different for different segments of the Iraqi people, I don’t think anyone’s opinion of whether the previous regime was better or worse is even worth speculating on.

I’m amazed that anyone would claim Saddam was good for stablity in the region though - when he wasn’t using poison gas on his country’s citizens, what about launching ballistic missiles at their nuclear capable neighbors? How did that enhance security in the middle east?

So unless we have first hand or family experience discussion is off the table? That seems like it might make places like this a little sparse on the posting side, no?

I haven't seen the documentary, but slanted or not it gives more insight than any of us apparently have. But dismiss it based solely upon the network that aired it, that seems reasoned.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

I’m amazed that anyone would claim Saddam was good for stablity in the region though - when he wasn’t using poison gas on his country’s citizens, what about launching ballistic missiles at their nuclear capable neighbors? How did that enhance security in the middle east?

Everyone is welcome to their perspective/viewpoint, sure.

I don't want facts to get in the way, but I just want to point out that....

The guy gassed the Kurds in 1988. (25 years before Iraqi Freedom)
The last war Iraq fought was in 1993. (22 years before Iraqi Freedom)
The last missiles fired into Israel was in 1993. (22 years before Iraqi Freedom)

Post Gulf War, the guy was a regional nuisance at best. Yes, he was torturing enemies and doing all the things that dictators/autocrats tend to do, but in doing so had alienated himself from the region and had very little influence at all.

As for whether removing Hussein has been beneficial......

Over the course of his reign (1979-2003), about 300,000 people are known/suspected to have been killed. That's half the number attributed to the Iraqi War by the Lancet Survery 2006 (650,000) and nowhere near the number of 1,000,000+ (look at all those zeros!) suggested by ORB in 2008. And that 100%-350% increase only took 5 years!

So now that the death toll has risen, the country has minimal infrastructure, and at least one generation of civilians is fervently anti-west, we're in a much better shape for regional and worldwide stability than if that madman Hussein had stayed in power.