"I can see a reason to maintain a strong presence in the region because of how Bush has made Iran stronger that it should be, but is this how the new administration is approaching Iran, with or without Iraq's support?"
Yep.
This is how we've operated for decades. Be grateful Obama doesn't have an agenda beyond pulling us out in the most careful manner possible.
But Iraq and Iran don't call the shots we do. We just need to do this in a manner that allows Iraq to keep up appearances and portray our withdrawal in a victorious light.
You must understand this.
Posted by midwestdem at December 21, 2008 07:39 PMQuite a while ago it occurred to me that Gen. Odierno is running things and it didn't really matter who was elected president.
Posted by LizDexic at December 21, 2008 08:12 PMSome people never learn......the US is there for good. No matter how you slice or dice it.
Posted by Parallax at December 22, 2008 07:39 AMBe grateful Obama doesn't have an agenda beyond pulling us out in the most careful manner possible.
The Strategic Framework Agreement portion of the US/Iraq pact, that part that set the term limits for the US military occupation, should have been considered a treaty and as such should have received the advice and consent of the Senate as required by the Constitution.
The SFA was not considered by the (Democratic) Senate. While there were hearings in the House there were none in the Senate. This is curious since Senator Obama had made a campaign issue of the subject.
Senators Obama and Biden, the current Democratic leaders, obviously conspired with Senator Reid to keep the SFA/SOFA off the Senate calendar. Why? Because this way the pact is not a law but is only an executive agreement subject to the whims of the US president.
And who is the next US president, the new Decider? PE Obama, who obviously kept the pact as a non-treaty, a non-law 'subject to his discussions with his military leaders and actual conditions on the ground.' Now where have we heard that before? Oh, Rumsfeld was saying that five years ago. Nothing's changed.
So Obama doesn't have an agenda?
Posted by Don Bacon at December 23, 2008 08:00 AM