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Obama, With Reluctance, Returns to Action in Iraq

Obama, With Reluctance, Returns to Action in Iraq
By PETER BAKERAUG. 7, 2014



http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/a-return-to-action.html?_r=0

So Obama pulled out of Iraq at all costs, and this is the result.

This is what happens when people vote for Democrats.

No, we made the mistake of voting for Republicans that insisted that we go into Iraq in the first place. We are still dealing with the consequences of that dumb idea. Sorry that Barack misplayed the bad hand he was dealt.
 
No, we made the mistake of voting for Republicans that insisted that we go into Iraq in the first place. We are still dealing with the consequences of that dumb idea. Sorry that Barack misplayed the bad hand he was dealt.

9/11 occurred after the elections and both Republicans and Democrats voted for the invasion of Iraq..
 
I'm confused. Are you saying that him pulling out is killing innocents or that he is attacking now is killing innocents? Also, at some point, Iraq has to stand on it's own doesn't?

Its certainly possible you might be confused. Obama pulled out of Iraq before it was militarily advisable to do so. Our military experts all told Obama it was unwise and could very well lead to a terrorist invasion (as the same group of terrorists fled Syria episodically). We left cold turkey-and the terrorists figured out the coast was clear. The Iraqi govt saw the same problem and asked for help again and again. When Fallujah was captured in January, Obama did nothing.

What he DID do, was take the responsibility for pulling out-telling Romney in the 2012 debates that he didn't want to be weighed down, and then contradict himself and blame it on a status of forces agreement (the same one that was magically approved overnight as the terrorists invaded :doh).

Today, I see he is blaming bad intelligence-of course he PULLED our intelligence out of Iraq, and then ignored the news he was getting.
Obama: Bad Intelligence Behind ISIS Underestimation

In the mean time, a throwback to the dark ages known as Islamist terrorists have been raping and pillaging and destroying ancient religious holy sites of great historical and cultural interest. They are committing genocide against entire ethnic and religious enclaves, and they are doing it with smiles on their faces. That would be the face of evil-and we should never have left-our absence is what caused this-Obama has lost the PEACE, and therefore the war to islamist thugs. Even worse, he's about to make the same mistake in Afghanistan.

The innocents killed, not just now but since 2003 have been disrespected because Obama wanted a talking point in the elections. EVERY service member who has fought since 2001 has been spit on by this President, let alone the veterans who died on his watch.

THIS is what incompetence looks like-the democrat party and its demonstrably failed policies.
 
In US Conservatives eyes this will instantly happen when a republican is elected president (if that ever happens again). Then referring to a past president's failure will become his hobby. :lamo

No. Its going to take some time to undo the damage done by this president-on all fronts. But a President who leads, and who has a clear vision he can execute will be a refreshing change. This is what happens with democrats in office.
 
No, we made the mistake of voting for Republicans that insisted that we go into Iraq in the first place. We are still dealing with the consequences of that dumb idea. Sorry that Barack misplayed the bad hand he was dealt.

You are factually incorrect about Iraq, see the included video.

After the video, ponder the fact that Obama is now blaming bad intelligence for the disaster in Iraq-the SAME excuse Bush used, except he was vilified for it.
 
I must admit I never saw / read any of the actual SOFA proposals, but there was alot of controversy over Blackwater's allegedly killing of civillians as well as the Apache mowing down civilians movie that got exposed by wiki leaks. My understanding was that due to (at the time) the current SOFA agreemnt dis-allowed the Iraqi goverment from prosecuting those individuals and our Governments refusal to allow the prosecucution of the "casualties of war" type scenarios was the deal killer in the Iraqi parliments point of view. I can attempt and go dig up the articles if you wish.

No need. There is a huge difference between casualties of war prosecution and prosecution for local crimes. We basically had as you put it immunity from all types of casualties of war in both Vietnam and Laos. But we could still be prosecuted by either country if we broke any of their laws while not on a mission dealing with the prosecution of the war.

Perhaps the word immunity is what threw me off. There is a difference between full immunity such as diplomats have and partial immunity and no immunity at all. Stuff happens in war, I can understand the casualties of war clause which is basically standard although I didn't think of it in my first post as the word immunity had me thinking along another line. We have had plenty of soldiers tried and convicted in Germany of breaking their laws, Thailand also. The same in Vietnam, but what they did, the crimes were not war related.

Total or full immunity is what I was thinking. But I think I now understand.
 
Love how many conservatives are promoting how great life would have been if America had just stayed in a perpetual war forever to score cheap political points.

What's another $trillion or 2? It's not like we are short of money. That's the ugly truth of the Republicans. They talk cheap and spend BIG.
 
Its certainly possible you might be confused. Obama pulled out of Iraq before it was militarily advisable to do so. Our military experts all told Obama it was unwise and could very well lead to a terrorist invasion (as the same group of terrorists fled Syria episodically). We left cold turkey-and the terrorists figured out the coast was clear. The Iraqi govt saw the same problem and asked for help again and again. When Fallujah was captured in January, Obama did nothing.

What he DID do, was take the responsibility for pulling out-telling Romney in the 2012 debates that he didn't want to be weighed down, and then contradict himself and blame it on a status of forces agreement (the same one that was magically approved overnight as the terrorists invaded :doh).

Today, I see he is blaming bad intelligence-of course he PULLED our intelligence out of Iraq, and then ignored the news he was getting.
Obama: Bad Intelligence Behind ISIS Underestimation

In the mean time, a throwback to the dark ages known as Islamist terrorists have been raping and pillaging and destroying ancient religious holy sites of great historical and cultural interest. They are committing genocide against entire ethnic and religious enclaves, and they are doing it with smiles on their faces. That would be the face of evil-and we should never have left-our absence is what caused this-Obama has lost the PEACE, and therefore the war to islamist thugs. Even worse, he's about to make the same mistake in Afghanistan.

The innocents killed, not just now but since 2003 have been disrespected because Obama wanted a talking point in the elections. EVERY service member who has fought since 2001 has been spit on by this President, let alone the veterans who died on his watch.

THIS is what incompetence looks like-the democrat party and its demonstrably failed policies.

I have to be amused by Conservatives who want us to fight alongside Iran's revolutionary guard to defend the Shiites who have been oppressing the Sunnii minority. Why are you allys of Iran now, I thought they were our enemies? We are now suffering the results of the incompetence of the Bush regime and of course so are the Iraqi's. I bet you don't even know that ISIS began and got their battle training in the Iraqi insurgency when our invasion resulted in a huge influx of recruits to Al Qaeda and other Sunni terrorist groups. Actions have consequences.
 
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I see Mr. Obama's rear guard is especially busy trying to cover his fanny at the moment. The disasters we are seeing around the world are the natural result of six years of limp-wristed weakness and dereliction by a person who resents the very country whose interests he is sworn to defend. I can't prove that Obama wishes the U.S. ill--but if he did, he could hardly be doing a better job of harming it in just about every way possible.
 
I have to be amused by Conservatives who want us to fight alongside Iran's revolutionary guard to defend the Shiites who have been oppressing the Sunnii minority. Why are you allys of Iran now, I thought they were our enemies? We are now suffering the results of the incompetence of the Bush regime and of course so are the Iraqi's. I bet you don't even know that ISIS began and got their battle training in the Iraqi insurgency when our invasion resulted in a huge influx of recruits to Al Qaeda and other Sunni terrorist groups. Actions have consequences.

Your amusement betrays your lack of insight. IRAN IS THERE BECAUSE WE AREN'T. They are filling a power vacuum left by Democrat party incompetence. This reality does not mean anyone else likes Iran, it means the world is so twisted under Obama. And as far as training-Islamist groups were around before Bush, and they are greatly increasing now. This is democrat party politics in action.
 
I see Mr. Obama's rear guard is especially busy trying to cover his fanny at the moment. The disasters we are seeing around the world are the natural result of six years of limp-wristed weakness and dereliction by a person who resents the very country whose interests he is sworn to defend. I can't prove that Obama wishes the U.S. ill--but if he did, he could hardly be doing a better job of harming it in just about every way possible.

Absolutely. This is the endgame of democrat policies.
 
Sorry thats untrue-Obama could have obtained the SOFA agreement-its not some insurmountable task-and the Iraqi's and our own military advised him to stay in iraq. Note how fast it came along when we sent in special forces.

Errr, no, he was trying to. I was there when it was going down.
 
Errr, no, he was trying to. I was there when it was going down.

So you must have been working with Maliki when Lindsey Graham and Lieberman were negotiating the new SOFA agreement when Obama promised a follow up force but never gave numbers, thus cancelling the agreement.

You also must have been familiar with both US forces and the Iraqi military saying they needed US boots on the ground.
 
So you must have been working with Maliki when Lindsey Graham and Lieberman were negotiating the new SOFA agreement when Obama promised a follow up force but never gave numbers, thus cancelling the agreement.

You also must have been familiar with both US forces and the Iraqi military saying they needed US boots on the ground.

That's not what cancelled the agreement. That would be Shia politicians bowing to their constituencies, succumbing to populism, when they knew it wasn't in their best interests. Everyone knows (everyone knowledgeable on the situation) the US should've stayed in Iraq. But internal Iraqi politics is what stopped that, not Obama.
 
That's not what cancelled the agreement. That would be Shia politicians bowing to their constituencies, succumbing to populism, when they knew it wasn't in their best interests. Everyone knows (everyone knowledgeable on the situation) the US should've stayed in Iraq. But internal Iraqi politics is what stopped that, not Obama.

You know the internal discussions because you were there, right? Or is that the word on the street?

Why did Obama take credit for pulling out of the Presidential debates? He said he did it because he didn't want to be bogged down-his words.
Why is he now saying bad intelligence is to blame?
 
You know the internal discussions because you were there, right?

Right.

Or is that the word on the street?

That, too.

Why did Obama take credit for pulling out of the Presidential debates? He said he did it because he didn't want to be bogged down-his words.

The same reason those Shia politicians didn't support renewing the SOFA: populism.

Why is he now saying bad intelligence is to blame?

To blame for what? SOFA breaking down?
 
Yeah I already posted that wikipedia like... it back up my point. How could Obama have accomplished the extesion. You said it was easy and the wiki page doesn't go into the detail of alternate realities / how things could have gone under different circumstanses

You would have to read the entire link and you obviously haven't done that.
 
You are factually incorrect about Iraq, see the included video.

After the video, ponder the fact that Obama is now blaming bad intelligence for the disaster in Iraq-the SAME excuse Bush used, except he was vilified for it.


Leftists should be forced to watch this every day and then made to answer questions.
 
What short, selective memories some people have. There was alot of Iraqi public outrage over civilian casualties by both soldiers and us contractors alike. Wikileaks releasing the video of the 2 apache helecopter killing more civilians in april 2010 just threw gasoline on that fire. These situations amongst others were what was fueling alot of the public outrage at the US troops and contractors and since the Iraqi parliment refused to extend US personnell immunity from the Iraqi legal system (political suicide) there was no way to get a SOFA agreement approved. This had absolutely nothing to do with any failure of Obama's and everything to do with the public outrage regarding all the collateral damage that had occurred during the war.
 
This whole situation spawned from the US getting involved there in the first place.

Yeah, we shoulda let Saddam keep Kuwait and possibly invade Saudi Arabia!
 
What short, selective memories some people have. There was alot of Iraqi public outrage over civilian casualties by both soldiers and us contractors alike. Wikileaks releasing the video of the 2 apache helecopter killing more civilians in april 2010 just threw gasoline on that fire. These situations amongst others were what was fueling alot of the public outrage at the US troops and contractors and since the Iraqi parliment refused to extend US personnell immunity from the Iraqi legal system (political suicide) there was no way to get a SOFA agreement approved. This had absolutely nothing to do with any failure of Obama's and everything to do with the public outrage regarding all the collateral damage that had occurred during the war.
You'be been asking questions all the way along, only reading the headlines, and now you think you know what was going on in Iraq before Obama pulled the troops out?
 
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