U.S. and Iraq scale back security deal plans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siad_Barre

I think we should let other countries fester in their own sh!t, then when when they cry out to the 'capitalist/imperialist' world, "help us" we can say no, and you can enjoy your 'sovereignty' as a client state to some communist dictatorship that of course was put in place by the American military industrial complex so we can sell arms to the world and make money off everyone killing each other until there is no one left as we sit back in our 'castle' with the largest mote in the world (the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans) with our own food and oil and we can clean up the mess and then truly rule the world. Muhahaha. How's that grab you Rumpel, realsomeone, et. al.?

al-Rumi

A Rebuke to Bigots

On this wise did the Jew tell his dream. Oh, there is many a Jew whose end was praiseworthy.

Do not spurn any infidel, for it may be hoped that he will die a Moslem.

What knowledge have you of the close of his life, that you should once and for all avert your face from him?

actual presence in Iraq any longer.. They now have bases in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi etc..

They have already said that a token presence will be needed.. his "token" presence will have the ability t call on reinforcements and firepower from nearby stations as and when required.

This is not a security pack, they just want to tight their occupation, who anyway approved them to invade this country.

Now the Iraqi goverment is asking them "When are you leaving our country?" and what are they saying???

they either have to leave now or they will leave like they did in Mogadishu.

Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!

- Jalaluddin al-Rumi

Looks like no one will be able to blame Bush for tying the hands of the next administration:

U.S. and Iraq near a 'bridge' deal on status of U.S. troops

By the end of July, they hope to finalize a deal that would map out the role and "time horizon" for US troops in the country.

By Sam Dagher | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor from the July 14, 2008 edition

BAGHDAD - By the end of July, US and Iraqi officials hope to finalize a deal that would map out the role and length of stay for US troops in the country.

But this is likely to be a temporary "bridge" agreement, including specific goals for terms of US withdrawal from major cities, followed by further talks on a long-term status of forces agreement (SOFA), says a senior US administration official involved in the talks here.

The US shift to a short-term deal follows comments last week by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki suggesting for the first time that a timetable be set for the departure of US troops. On Saturday, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said that "we need a timetable for withdrawal" and that the US should not commit to a long-term occupation of Iraq,

But a key question is whether any deal can be sold to Iraq's political factions in an election year. The Iraqi government is beset by divisions and conflicting agendas with regard to the status of US forces that are playing out both in the media and in private.

There is strong opposition to any deal from the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr as well as from Iran, which exercises large sway over Shiite factions inside and outside the government and objects to any US troop presence in Iraq.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0714/p01s11-wome.html

Once the SOFA is agree and signed, that will put a different spin to the external politics of Iraq.

We will start paying back, the Iraqi Government for those bases.

Our combat representation will be more restricted and under the control of the new Iraq government, they will have a strong voice in determining our movement.

Honestly, I believe, we will never leave Iraq, We might reduce drastically the Allied Forces in numbers, leaving the Government of Iraq to govern their own people and territories as a Federal State or something similar.

Remember Germany?

For I do not want to deny in any way that God’s power is able to make a body be simultaneously in many places, even in a corporeal and circumscribed manner. For who wants to try to prove that God is unable to do that? Who has seen the limits of his power?

US pleased, worried, by newfound Iraqi confidence

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 1 hour, 2 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Wajih Hameed is an Iraqi general with an attitude.

With a satisfied look, he listened as a subordinate officer explained to the deputy commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad how he plans to reposition his troops in the coming weeks.

"Before, they would have asked us to propose a plan" in such a circumstance and then would have accepted it with little argument, said Brig. Gen. Will Grimsley, who led a group of American officers to Hameed's office on Thursday. "Now they are telling us how they will do it," he said in an interview afterward.

Hameed's swagger sometimes grates on American officers. But Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond sees it as a hopeful sign the Iraqi army — generals and soldiers alike — has reached a new level of self-confidence, pointing the way toward truly independent Iraqi forces and, eventually, an exit for U.S. combat troops.

The flip side is that the Americans feel their control slipping away. This feeds a worry that Iraqi security forces either will set themselves up for a catastrophic failure or might even decide — at some point when the Americans largely have departed — that the country would be better off under military rule.

For now, the new assertiveness by generals such as Hameed, who commands all Iraqi soldiers in the western part of the capital, is welcomed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080714/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_new_swagger_6