Simple Man Politics

August 31st, 2010 that’s the date to remember. That is the day that President Barack Hussein Obama says we will have all of our combat troops out of Iraq. Wow that is only 18 months to wait before everyone’s loved ones come home from the Iraqi theater of operations. I bet you that so many wives, husbands, and parents are so excited that they are all a quiver with the anticipation of their long overdue reunion of their families.

Oh…..wait a minute did I say all of the combat troops out by August 31st, 2010? I’m sorry that was wrong, it is what the Obama said, but it is still wrong. Actually only 100,000 troops will be out of Iraq by that date. There will still be up to 50,000 troops there when we reach that date, so not everyone will have their long awaited family reunion after all.

By the way did I forget to remind you all that we are getting ready to step up combat operations in Afghanistan with a surge in troop deployments there? With 14 brigade combat teams currently in Iraq and many of those personnel with current combat experience I am sure that some of those fine young men and women will see their duty tours extended for that party, which means even less family reunions for families with their folks in Iraq.

Obama broke the news of his date for withdrawal at Camp Lejeune, NC. Many of the marines currently stationed at Camp Lejeune are getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan. Obama also told these young warriors that most of their brothers in arms in Iraq would remain there through the end of the year to make sure that the national elections there go smoothly but that they would be out by the end of August 2010.

It does appear that the President will keep his promise to start withdrawing troops from Iraq soon. However some of the leadership within his own party does not appear to be happy about the extended timetable for withdrawal or the number of troops left behind. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) said that 50,000 troops left in Iraq was a little higher number than he anticipated. However former Republican Presidential Candidate and Senator John McCain (R) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R) have both supported the plan with cautious optimism.

It seems to me that while President Obama is keeping his promise to withdraw troops from Iraq that he is not really keeping his promise to his supporters about a full withdrawal. I cannot say that this displeases me as I believe that they will do anything to undermine Bush’s Iraq policy in an effort to remove him from our history or to at least portray him as a failure for not leaving Iraq sooner. I also believe that President Obama has learned the hard way that leaving Iraq will not be so easy and I am sure he will learn a few more hard lessons with regard to our foreign policy as his administration continues over the next four years.

I also understand why a lot of people feel that we never should have gone to war in Iraq. We found no WMD’s there, although we know that at one time they had them and used them against their own people under Saddam. We also know that when we invaded Iraq we found no terrorists, but we did find evidence of their camps and Saddam’s cooperation with those groups. There is also a widely held consensus that G.W. Bush was just finishing what his dad started because Saddam tried to assassinate Bush 41, which we have the evidence that the assassination was at least planned and probably attempted.

The truth of the matter is though that Saddam Hussein was a very bad guy and a destabilizing force in the region just as Ahmadinejad of Iran is now. I also believe that since Saddam refused to cooperate with the UN inspectors and his violation of over 14 UN Security Council resolutions that it was time for him to go. Let’s be honest here for a minute we helped to create this monster by supporting his government at one time, so we had to clean up our mess.

Unfortunately I think Iran is our next mess we are going to have to clean up to, because we supported the former Shah of Iran, who was latter ousted in the Islamic revolution that took place while Jimmy (The Peanut Farmer Carter) Carter was president and resulted in US citizens being held hostage by the very monster that now runs the nation of Iran. I know for sure that the last thing we can afford is an Iran with a nuke, so I guess Obama is going to get some more on the job training as Commander in Chief.

That’s all for now I hope you all a fabulous weekend. I will see you all next week, CIAO4NOW!!!!!