President Obama announced last week that U.S. troops will be coming back home from Iraq by end of this year. On the onset of this historic statement made by our President, personally speaking, I was totally stoked about this, not only for the troops coming back home to their families, but also for the Iraqi people, for being free from the occupation of a foreign forces on their sovereign land. However, when I started to pay close attention to the messaging by our President and some of the facts presented for the reason behind this withdrawal, it confused me a bit. Hence, I decided to analyze various pieces of stories and facts that caused such decision to come forth after nine years.
Let’s start with how all this started, I mean the withdrawal process. Let me draw your attention to US- Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). According to the sources* in early 2008, US and Iraqi Parliament started the talks to reach a long term plan to ultimately withdraw the US troops from the Iraqi soil. After series of negotiations and revisions for the period of 6 months, US and Iraqi Parliament reached an agreement and consensus around the time line for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq’s soil. Therefore, it’s absolutely misleading when Obama’s administration is taking the credit for getting this done when the SOFA was constructed and sanctioned during the Bush administration under the supervision of U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Quick disclaimer, by no means I am trying to praise the Bush administration but simply stating the facts.
Another fact that we all should be aware of is that the Obama administration tried their very best to undermine the SOFA and to convince the Iraqi government extend the deadline of 2011. I was skimming through on my favorite blogs (Glenn Greenwald) and reading one of his incredible pieces on the wiki leaks and Iraq war, he cited the report put out by CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/21/world/meast/iraq-us-troops/) in which it’s clearly demonstrated how the U.S. tried to convince Iraqi Government to extend the timeline and until next year by ensuring the 40,000 U.S. troops in Iraq remain intact. However, these talks came to halt due to one of the WikiLeak’s cable release which reported that Iraqi civilians including children were killed by U.S. forces during a raid in 2006 instead of airstrike as claimed by U.S. military initially. In the light of this development and other contradicting factors the Iraqi government bluntly refused to entertain any idea of having the extension of the SOFA deadline.
At the end of the day, we deserve to know the honest and uncut version of the story behind the withdrawal, is this truly an attempt to end our unnecessary involvement and occupation in Iraq? Or is this yet another attempt to subvert the will of Iraqi people through a indirect occupation? There is ample evidence presented by sources such as McClatchy and others that regardless of the withdrawal by our troops, U.S. will continue to monitor and manage the forces of private contractors in Iraq, I guess only time will unfold the realities of our political drama.
I would like to end this small piece with a brilliant quote by a very wise man and one of my favorite American authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said: “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself”. Let the Iraqi people self manage and carve the path to peace without the interference by any foreign nation.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.%E2%80%93Iraq_Status_of_Forces_Agreement
Withdrawal from Iraq – A Candid Analysis
by samson on Oct 27, 2011 • 10:16 am No CommentsPresident Obama announced last week that U.S. troops will be coming back home from Iraq by end of this year. On the onset of this historic statement made by our President, personally speaking, I was totally stoked about this, not only for the troops coming back home to their families, but also for the Iraqi people, for being free from the occupation of a foreign forces on their sovereign land. However, when I started to pay close attention to the messaging by our President and some of the facts presented for the reason behind this withdrawal, it confused me a bit. Hence, I decided to analyze various pieces of stories and facts that caused such decision to come forth after nine years.
Let’s start with how all this started, I mean the withdrawal process. Let me draw your attention to US- Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). According to the sources* in early 2008, US and Iraqi Parliament started the talks to reach a long term plan to ultimately withdraw the US troops from the Iraqi soil. After series of negotiations and revisions for the period of 6 months, US and Iraqi Parliament reached an agreement and consensus around the time line for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq’s soil. Therefore, it’s absolutely misleading when Obama’s administration is taking the credit for getting this done when the SOFA was constructed and sanctioned during the Bush administration under the supervision of U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Quick disclaimer, by no means I am trying to praise the Bush administration but simply stating the facts.
Another fact that we all should be aware of is that the Obama administration tried their very best to undermine the SOFA and to convince the Iraqi government extend the deadline of 2011. I was skimming through on my favorite blogs (Glenn Greenwald) and reading one of his incredible pieces on the wiki leaks and Iraq war, he cited the report put out by CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/21/world/meast/iraq-us-troops/) in which it’s clearly demonstrated how the U.S. tried to convince Iraqi Government to extend the timeline and until next year by ensuring the 40,000 U.S. troops in Iraq remain intact. However, these talks came to halt due to one of the WikiLeak’s cable release which reported that Iraqi civilians including children were killed by U.S. forces during a raid in 2006 instead of airstrike as claimed by U.S. military initially. In the light of this development and other contradicting factors the Iraqi government bluntly refused to entertain any idea of having the extension of the SOFA deadline.
At the end of the day, we deserve to know the honest and uncut version of the story behind the withdrawal, is this truly an attempt to end our unnecessary involvement and occupation in Iraq? Or is this yet another attempt to subvert the will of Iraqi people through a indirect occupation? There is ample evidence presented by sources such as McClatchy and others that regardless of the withdrawal by our troops, U.S. will continue to monitor and manage the forces of private contractors in Iraq, I guess only time will unfold the realities of our political drama.
I would like to end this small piece with a brilliant quote by a very wise man and one of my favorite American authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said: “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself”. Let the Iraqi people self manage and carve the path to peace without the interference by any foreign nation.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.%E2%80%93Iraq_Status_of_Forces_Agreement