November, 2008, Iraq ratifies withdrawal of forces agreement with the Bush administration, all troops out by the end of 2011. Obama inaugurated 2 months later....the media are total idiots.

And Obama was rejected by Iraq in a request to keep 10,000 troops because......well, need we add it all up all the simple math for the freaky media for them.

The people screaming about the withdrawal aren't exactly big on honoring agreements or contracts or treaties with those they regard as their lessers.

Do you really think that Obama couldn't have twisted the Iraqi government's arm into supporting a continuing American military presence if he had wanted to?

I'm not saying he should have done, but I think that presenting the decision as being beyond his control is probably deceptive.

They wanted the deal to be sweeter, to save face.

The President had campaigned on being out. There wasn't a large push for keeping people on the ground there, and he wasn't about to be embarrassed by making it seem like he wasn't doing them a favor.

Bigger factor wasn't Iraq. Bigger factor was Syria. The walls between Syria and Iraq aren't 200 feet tall and 300 feet thick. They're not even a line in the sand. Let one fester and you create problems for the other. Assad had problems because of the unrest in Anbar during the Iraq War. Kingly--al-Maliki--has problems now because Assad couldn't exert control over the east of Syria, a lack of control that we positively exulted in.

to abide by the law, we stood firm on them remaining above Iraqi law if they stayed there.

Our military has it's own laws and I feel that may have possibly been enough to reach an agreement, but as I recall the main objection was to the lawless and often drunken murderous shenanigans of the mercenaries, er I mean "private contractors" that were not held to military justice as were our troops and who were also immune from the laws of the country, I would have found that untenable as well if I were the Iraqi government and would also have refused the extension under such terms.

And our media gleefully aids and abets the collective amnesia on this point.

I never understood why it was so important for us to feel we should demand mercs continue to be above all laws, surely we could have compromised in favor of law and order. We are supposed to be "the good guys" are we not?

I still contend even tho such was never specified that our troops under military justice (which is rather strict) could have been negotiated in if staying was important as long as we got rid of the mercenaries, but we will never know as they were sold as a set.

I personally believe that no matter how long we stayed the end would be the same after we left, it would only have prolonged the inevitable if we stayed another ten, thirty, even fifty years IMO.

Once we messed with the power balance in a region we did not and apparently never will understand Sunni v Shia was inevitable (and predicted by those that do understand the region.)

They have proven that. And bold? They will get right on TV and argue their position (when they should be in prison).

Those fuckers scare me. Modern day Nazis.

As if we had enough satisfying wargasms and can't get it up any more despite McCain's expertise at using his mouth.

Get it right!

I know, this is no laughing matter.