Obama's speech today

Photo:

Iraqis from the Sadr Movement hold a banner protesting US occupation in Baghdad. US President Barack Obama has met with top lawmakers at the White House to preview his Iraq plan, which would pull out most troops and end combat operations by the end of August 2010 but leave an interim force of about 35,000-50,000 troops before a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.

(AFP/File/Ali Yussef)

This type of protest is a common occurrence in Iraq. It happened every Friday when the SOFA was being talked about and passed by the Iraqi legislators. The Sadr guys were very unhappy that the SOFA said three more years of US occupation. This upcoming summer, the Iraqi people are going to vote on a referendum about the presence of US troops in Iraq.

This is my review of Obama's speech today on the "withdrawal" of US combat troops from Iraq. The US pacifist troops are going to stay forever, it appears - except there are no "pacifist' troops, they are really all combat troops. The quotes below are Obama's words today.

This is funny:

“Not all of Iraq’s neighbors are contributing to its security. Some are working at times to undermine it.”

In light of the clear fact that it was the USA that went into Iraq and destabilized beyond anyone’s worst nightmare, and continues to do so (although a slower rate than before) to this very day, to stand there and accuse other countries of doing what we clearly did MORE THAN ANYONE is beyond hypocrisy.

“As a candidate for President, I made clear my support for a timeline of 16 months to carry out this drawdown, while pledging to consult closely with our military commanders upon taking office to ensure that we preserve the gains we’ve made and protect our troops. Those consultations are now complete, and I have chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months.”

Okay, since you lied during the campaign, that means we should totally believe you now. NOT.

“Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.”

Not if 50,000 troops are still sitting there, it won’t. And didn’t our “combat mission” end with “Mission Accomplished”? I guess not.

“As I have long said, we will retain a transitional force to carry out three distinct functions: training, equipping, and advising Iraqi Security Forces as long as they remain non-sectarian; conducting targeted counter-terrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq. Initially, this force will likely be made up of 35-50,000 U.S. troops.”

This ‘transitional force’ is better known as COMBAT TROOPS, since they will be working in Iraq to insure that the Iraq government follows the multi-national corporations agenda (politicians like to call this “our national interests” but that is pure crap). There is no way a ‘transitional force’ would need 35,000 to 50,000 troops. That is insane.

This is also exactly what the US troops have been doing since Saddam’s government fell.

This particular comment, directed at the Iraqis, is nothing but a slew of lies:

“We Americans have offered our most precious resource – our young men and women – to work with you to rebuild what was destroyed by despotism; to root out our common enemies; and to seek peace and prosperity for our children and grandchildren, and for yours.”

First, the American government does not give a crap about our young men and women (maybe Obama does, but the bushies sure didn’t). And what was destroyed in Iraq was destroyed by the invasion and occupation of our US military. We had no enemies in Iraq, except for the ones we created or the ones we attracted to Iraq. (Speaking of creating – let’s start with Saddam – no, we didn’t create him, but our CIA and DoD helped him out every chance they could back in the 1980’s – because they don’t give a damn about human lives or human rights back then or now, - they care about the oil).

As to ‘seek peace and prosperity’ – that CANNOT be done by wars and occupations and destruction of entire countries. And our country is going to find out really soon just how prosperous we are NOT.

And before that, he says this, to the Iraqi people:

“Our nations have known difficult times together. But ours is a bond forged by shared bloodshed, and countless friendships among our people.”

Iraq has known extremely difficult times, thanks to the US actions. But there is no bond forged by “shared bloodshed” since the people we were killing off over there were Iraqis for the main part. This is not “shared bloodshed” - it is mass murder! This is like a rapist saying that both he and his victim had known ‘difficult times’ because the rapist had some health repercussions from the rape incident. And then claim that the bond between the rapist and the victim is ‘forged by shared blood’. It is just an obscene statement.

Another flat out lie:

“So to the Iraqi people, let me be clear about America’s intentions. The United States pursues no claim on your territory or your resources.”

If we are not pursuing any claims on their resources, then why are we there? The Iraqis don’t want us there, and we have only destroyed the place. And we are not there for the scenery.

“It is time for …..Iraq’s neighbors to establish productive and normalized relations with Iraq.”

That is not going to happen while they are OCCUPIED BY A FOREIGN MILITARY.

And this Obama statement is the same claim made by the bushies:

“This reflects a fundamental truth: we can no longer deal with regional challenges in isolation – we need a smarter, more sustainable and comprehensive approach.”

Of course, the bushies never implemented such a plan, but it does not look like the Obama administration will either.

Obama goes on with a story of two Marines who stopped a suicide truck bomber in Iraq and thereby kept the carnage from being worse:

“America’s time in Iraq is filled with stories of men and women like this. Their names are written into bridges and town squares. They are etched into stones at Arlington, and in quiet places of rest across our land. They are spoken in schools and on city blocks. They live on in the memories of those who wear your uniform, in the hearts of those they loved, and in the freedom of the nation they served.”

So, we have soldiers and Marines who went to fight an illegal war of aggression, continue an illegal occupation, and then helped destroy an entire country. They lose their lives while engaged in hunting down their fellow humans, and then we glorify them. And we do it year in and year out – perpetuating the myth that our military is so AWESOME (with the except of a few bad apples) and that those bombs and bullets we send into innocent civilians were actually done with loving kindness.

Obama also throws this into the speech:

“And so I want to be very clear: We sent our troops to Iraq to do away with Saddam Hussein’s regime – and you got the job done. We kept our troops in Iraq to help establish a sovereign government – and you got the job done. And we will leave the Iraqi people with a hard-earned opportunity to live a better life –“

What a huge pack of lies. We all know the lies that were given for going into Iraq (WMDs, al Qaeda) but we sure as hell were not told that the job was to get rid of Saddam’s regime and establish a “sovereign” government. How the hell do you establish a ‘sovereign’ government under foreign military occupation, anyway? And we did not leave the Iraqi people AT ALL, but they surely don’t have a BETTER LIFE, unless you consider the dead are the real lucky ones on this planet.

That comment is justifying a war of aggression and mass murder.

What a load of dog shit. Okay, scratch that – it is insulting to dogs.