Am I the only one here who's confused that this thread is not one big celebration? We're finally coming home, for god's sake! One pointless war down, one to go!
Exactly!
Let me help those who are still confused or resentful to understand...
President Obama was just on the Tonight Show and stated the cost of both the Iraq War and our involvement in Libya's civil war:
Iraq = upwards of $1 trillion; 4,000 American servicemen killed; thousands more wounded.
Libya = under $1 billion; 0 American servicemen killed; none injured
We already know from news articles linked in this thread that former President GW Bush arranged to have our troops withdraw from Iraq this year. We acknowledge that President Obama was merely following through on policies as set by his predecessor. If you're pissed off at President Obama for bringing our troops home as scheduled, why then aren't you pissed off at former President Bush for setting the deadline? After all, weren't we suppose to be spreading domacracy, helping to establish a government that was strong enough to lead it's people and do the will of its people, as well as what they believe is in the best interest of their country? Let's get back to this one...
For those who think it should matter that President Obama publisized the date for withdraw, I ask you why should it? After all, if we're helping to establish a government that believes in democracy, does not democracy involve honoring freedom of speech as well as freedom of the press? And if so, should not our withdraw date already be established information in Iraq since it's information the heads of state from both nations already know? In other words, don't you think Iraq's President informed his countrymen about our eventual withdrawl long ago?
Getting back to the cost of the war, Tea Partiers are complaining about out of control federal spending. Why then would you be upset about keeping our Armed Forces in Iraq knowing how much it cost? Remember: We had to borrow that money! You bitched about raising the debt limit; you should be jumping for joy - dancing a jig!! - because we're leaving and we won't have to lose...er, um...spend any more money in a war that was declared "Mission Accomplished" SEVEN YEARS AGO!!!
$1,000,000,000,000 (TRILLION) U.S. DOLLARS OF B-O-R-R-O-W-E-D M-O-N-E-Y!!! Let that sink in for a minute...
No...it's not quite there yet...imbedded in your cerebelum. You need a reminder of how much more cost effective a Z-E-R-O CASUALTY RATE war really costs our government using the most sophisticated weaponry and the most highly trained Special Operations Force can be: $1,000,000,000 (BILLION).
One more time...
$1,000,000,000,000 (Trillion)
$1,000,000,000 (Billion)
We claim to want to spread democracy, but when the country we claim to have "liberated" from dictatorship actually exercises its maturity and shows its ability to self-govern, suddenly we don't like that?
YOU FREAKING HYPERCRITES!!!
This is why President Obama will get my vote. Because he completed the mission! We meet our ultimate objective: to remove Saddam Hussein from power. We overstayed our welcome because Bush did not have an effective exit strategy. He failed to follow the advice of his former Secretary of Defense, Collen Powell to "security the [population] people". Because of this, the insurgency insued and we've spent the last seven years fighting against that instead of leaving when Bush proclaimed the job was over. Not only that, but we never did find those weapons of mass destruction Bush said Saddam was hidding.
To those who are so concerned about more insurgency or Iraq being influenced by another Muslim/Islamist nation, let me ask you this: What does that say about the part of the war on terror in general? One of the underlying reasons we went to Iraq was to keep terrorist from working with Saddam's government. If you really think that little of the newly elected government Bush helped to usher in, what does that say about his ability to "spread domacracy"? Should Iraq rapidly fall into alliance with an unfriendly nation to the U.S., wouldn't that mean former President Bush failed us? Who then is more a failure at being President?
THINK PEOPLE!!!
It's beyond time for our men and women to come home. You should be applauding this President for completing the job, not critizing him. And if Iraq doesn't want the continued protection of our military, if it has determined that part of demostrating a show of democracy in action is to obey the wishes of the democratic government you helped set in place, then you leave. To his credit, President Obama tried to negotiate keeping our troops there longer, but Iraq said no deal. So, why should we stay?