Bush, US Military Pressure Iraqis on Withdrawal

[babylonsister]

Bush, US Military Pressure Iraqis on Withdrawal
by Gareth Porter


WASHINGTON - Instead of moving toward accommodating the demand of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a timetable for U.S. military withdrawal, the George W. Bush administration and the U.S. military leadership are continuing to pressure their erstwhile client regime to bow to the U.S. demand for a long-term military presence in the country.

The emergence of this defiant U.S. posture toward the Iraqi withdrawal demand underlines just how important long-term access to military bases in Iraq has become to the U.S. military and national security bureaucracy in general.

From the beginning, the Bush administration’s response to the al-Maliki withdrawal demand has been to treat it as a mere aspiration that the United States need not accept.

The counter-message that has been conveyed to Iraq from a multiplicity of U.S. sources, including former CENTCOM commander William Fallon, is that the security objectives of Iraq must include continued dependence on U.S. troops for an indefinite period. The larger, implicit message, however, is that the United States is still in control, and that it — not the Iraqi government — will make the final decision.


more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/25/10591/

[jimshoes]

1. Don't let that sovereignty thing

go to your head Nuri.

[G_j]

3. what part of "occupation" don't they understand? n/t

[indepat]

2. It was always about oil, empire, and hegemony: once trillions of dollars of Iraqi oil have been

harvested for the almost exclusive benefit of five big oil companies, then withdrawal might be on the table. :P

[stillcool]

4. Silly Iraqi's..

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/KillingHope_page.html

The American Empire: 1992 to present
from the book
Killing Hope
by William Blum
2004 edition


Following its bombing of Iraq in 1991, the United States wound up with military bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Following its bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the United States wound up with military bases in Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Hungary, Bosnia and Croatia.
Following its bombing of Afghanistan in 2001-2, the United States wound up with military bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Yemen and Djibouti.
Following its bombing and invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States wound up with Iraq.
This is not very subtle foreign policy. Certainly not covert. The men who run the American Empire are not easily embarrassed.
And that is the way the empire grows-a base in every neighborhood, ready to be mobilized to put down any threat to imperial rule, real or imagined. Fifty-eight years after world War II ended, the United States still has major bases in Germany and Japan; fifty ears after the end of the Korean War, tens of thousands of American armed forces continue to be stationed in South Korea.
"America will have a continuing interest and presence in Central Asia of a kind that we could not have dreamed of before," US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared in February 2002. Later that year, the US Defense Department announced: "The United States Military is currently deployed to more locations then it has been throughout history."

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. I guess the Iraqis are tired of expending all their money on roses to fling at their "liberators".

From a 35 year old, mother of 3, Iraqi's blog.

http://youngmammy.blogspot.com/

Saturday, July 19, 2008
Amnesia

Summer started; the hot weather is back again, with no electricity all night long and most of the day. It's very hard to sleep sweated with difficult breathing. two weeks ago and after a sizzling night I woke up with bad spasm in my neck, and pain in all my body. I went to work very tired and found it difficult to concentrate,I had to re-write the patient prescription many times and ask the patient to repeat his complains and symptoms .then at the end of the day I had hypotention,and took the next day off.
I dislike laziness and like to be active, but I can’t bear the hot weather. Now and after two weeks in July I feel even worse ,I forget things ,can’t give attention ,and very much feel anomalous in managing things. I started to wonder what’s happening ,and looking in the internet about amnesia ‘s causes. I found that it happen in young people if they are worried, going through fearful life or situation, need to sleep well, if they have depression. and in anemic patients. I now know the causes and I have them all.
I believe those who are behind depriving the Iraqis from electricity very much know it ‘s effect on people, and want them to be tired and dizzy, without thinking about what’s happening around, and so America and our government can steal the Iraqis ‘ wealth and quibble with their future.
Take care and Sleep well
Mama

[babylonsister]

6. Thank you for that website; my heart does bleed for what we've

done in Iraq to the Iraqis.