End of Iraq war = all oil secured? or will need couple people there to make sure?

peoplevsmedia · Dec 18, 2011

Does "the end" of Iraq war mean that all oil is secured for the special interests, or will "we" still need to keep a small group of people there to make sure things go right?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,476464,00.html

Meanwhile back at home.......

waltky · Dec 24, 2011

U.S. Loses Leverage in Iraq Now That Troops Are Out...

U.S. Embraces Low-Key Plan in Iraqi Crisis
December 24, 2011 : WASHINGTON — As Iraq erupted in recent days, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was in constant phone contact with the leaders of the country’s dueling sects. He called the Shiite prime minister and the Sunni speaker of the Parliament on Tuesday, and the Kurdish leader on Thursday, urging them to try to resolve the political crisis.

And for the United States, that is where the American intervention in Iraq officially stops. Sectarian violence and political turmoil in Iraq escalated within days of the United States military’s withdrawal, but officials said in interviews that President Obama had no intention of sending troops back into the country, even if it devolved into civil war. The United States, without troops on the ground or any direct influence over Iraq’s affairs, has lost much of its leverage there. And so the latest crisis, a descent into sectarian distrust and hostility that was punctuated by a bombing in Baghdad on Thursday that killed more than 60 people, is being treated in much the same way that the United States would treat any diplomatic emergency abroad.

Mr. Obama, his aides said, is adamant that the United States will not send troops back to Iraq. At Fort Bragg, N.C., on Dec. 14, he told returning troops that he had left Iraq in the hands of the Iraqi people, and in private conversations at the White House, he has told aides that the United States gave Iraqis an opportunity; what they do with that opportunity is up to them. Though the president has been heralding the end of the Iraq war as a victory, and a fulfillment of his campaign promise to bring American troops home, the sudden crisis could quickly become a political problem for Mr. Obama, foreign policy experts said.

“Right now, Iraq, along with getting Osama bin Laden, succeeding in Libya, and restoring the U.S. reputation in the world, is a clear plus for Obama,” said David Rothkopf, a former official in the administration of Bill Clinton and a national security expert. “He kept his promise and got out. But the story could turn on him very rapidly.” For instance, Mr. Rothkopf and other national security experts said, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq is swiftly adopting policies that are setting off deep divisions among Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites. If Iraq fragments, if Iran starts to assert more visible influence or if a civil war breaks out, “the president could be blamed,” Mr. Rothkopf said. “He would be remembered not for leaving Iraq but for how he left it.”

Already, Mr. Obama is coming under political fire. Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said that Mr. Obama’s decision to pull American troops out had “unraveled.” Appearing on CBS News on Thursday, Mr. McCain said that “we are paying a very heavy price in Baghdad because of our failure to have a residual force there,” adding that while he was disturbed by what had happened in the past week, he was not surprised. Administration officials, for their part, countered that it was hard to see how American troops could have prevented either the political crisis or the coordinated attacks in Iraq.

MORE
Click to expand...

See also:

Iraqi vice president warns of sectarian violence
Sun, Dec 25, 2011 - ONE-MAN SHOW: Minority Sunnis fear that the Shiite majority is depriving them of any say, while the Shiites suspect Sunnis of fomenting terrorism and insurrection

Iraq’s Sunni vice president, wanted for allegedly running a hit squad in Iraq, has accused Shiite Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al--Maliki of waging a campaign against Sunnis and pushing the country toward sectarian war. In an interview on Friday, Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi said al-Maliki wants to get rid of all political rivals and run Iraq like a “one-man show.” The comments by Iraq’s -highest-level Sunni political figure reflect mounting sectarian tensions surrounding the confrontation between him and the prime minister that have hiked fears Iraq could be thrown into new violence following the exit of US troops.

The political crisis taps into the resentments that have remained raw in the country despite years of effort to overcome them, with minority Sunnis fearing the Shiite majority is squeezing them out of any political say, and Shiites suspecting Sunnis of links to -insurgency and terrorism. “He’s pushing the things to a catastrophe. And I’m not sure what’s going to happen after that,” al--Hashemi, who denies the accusations, said of the prime minister. He spoke at a guesthouse of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in the mountains overlooking the northern Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, 260km northeast of Baghdad. Al-Hashemi arrived here last Sunday with a small suitcase and two suits to discuss the growing conflict with al-Maliki’s government.

However, what was supposed to be a two-day trip has stretched nearly a week after the Iraqi government on Monday issued an arrest warrant against him on what he says are trumped-up charges. He has refused to go back to Baghdad, where he says he cannot get a fair trial. The central government’s security forces do not operate in the northern autonomous Kurdish zone, so he is safe from arrest there. The Iraqi government says al-Hashemi orchestrated a campaign of assassinations carried out by his bodyguards. Earlier this week, they aired televised confessions of the bodyguards detailing how al--Hashemi gave them money for the hits. The confessions have aired repeatedly since then, including on state TV, when al-Hashemi earlier this week held a press conference defending himself.

Fears the situation could spiral out of control were heightened by devastating bombings that tore through mostly Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad on Thursday and killed at least 69 people. Many fear Iraq could fall back into the vicious sectarian bloodshed that reached its height in 2006 and 2007 and nearly threw the country into civil war. Al-Hashemi is one of the leaders of the Iraqiya party, a Sunni-backed political bloc that has constantly clashed with al-Maliki’s Shiite coalition and accused him of hoarding power. Al-Maliki is also seeking a vote of no-confidence against the Sunni Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq. Security forces have also launched a wave of arrests against former members of the Sunni-dominated Baath Party, which ruled Iraq under former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. In Sunnis’ eyes, the moves show al-Maliki is out to get them. “Definitely, he is going to concentrate on the Sunni community because they are the society, the community of Tariq al-Hashemi, so they are going to suffer,” the vice president said.

MORE
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

End of Iraq war = all oil secured? or will need couple people there to make sure?

peoplevsmedia Banned

waltky Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

End of Iraq war = all oil secured? or will need couple people there to make sure?

peoplevsmedia Banned

waltky Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches