Thursday, November 29, 2007

In Iraq Forever—Not!

Just received an action alert from MoveOn asking for signatures on a petition to halt the Administration’s scheme to keep a large permanent presence in Iraq.

President Bush is quietly negotiating an agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to keep our troops there indefinitely--an agreement that could include permanent bases and a massive military presence for years! Bush is trying to tie the hands of the next administration to keep us in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

If we let them get away with this it will seriously hamper hopes for future withdrawal by a subsequent administration.

Click here to sign the petition.

5 comments:

Exurban Jon said...

We always garrison troops in a nation after a conflict ends. We have troops in Kosovo, Korea, Japan, Germany, and many, many other locations. Stepping back from the emotion of the issue, why should Iraq be any different? And shouldn't MoveOn be demanding we withdraw our forces from all those other places first?

Anonymous said...

It's just more lefty symbolism over substance. They love to have demonstrations, petitions, etc. but when it comes down to it, few of them actually get of their butts and do something about it.

MoveOn is about to do just that; move on to the trash bin of history.

Art Jacobson said...

Jon...

You raise an interesting point. Perhaps we really should reconsider the levels of garrison forces elsewhere.

I take it that the MoveOn folks believe that the way to stop something is to act before it gets started. The fear is that such a force would not be a passive presence but would be actively and continuously engaged in battle field operations.

Dog...

Actually, peaceful demonstrations and petitioning for the redress of grievances is a form of action.

But if that is not enough for you, what do you suggest? Mercy! You're not suggesting revolution are you?

Exurban Jon said...

Art,

Even a hawk like myself wouldn't want troops being in a continual battle for the next decade or two. We definitely agree on that point.

Best,
Jon

Liza said...

The US would like to be in Iraq until the Mideastern oil is gone, perhaps 35 years. Beyond that, who can tell? The only remaining interest requiring a military presence would be Israel.