In a series of Orwellian twists, the United States is pulling out (prematurely some say) “all” “combat” troops from Iraq but doubling down (for starters) on mercenaries.
The Obama Administration gets away with “fulfilling” Obama’s promise to end US combat operations in Iraq by removing the last (officially-labeled) combat brigade from the country, yet 50,000 troops will remain until (supposedly) 2011. These 50,000 troops make up 7 “Advise and Assist” Brigades, which are brigade combat teams like the one that just left but with special training, and 2 combat aviation brigades. “The troops are officially there to assist and advise the Iraqi government, but will carry weapons to defend themselves and will join Iraqi troops on missions if requested.”
After 2011, the “military” presence in Iraq is supposed to be “limited to several dozen to several hundred officers in an embassy office who would help the Iraqis purchase and field new American military equipment,” but military officers are saying that “5,000 to 10,000 troops might [still] be needed.”
Meanwhile, “the State Department is planning to more than double its private security guards, up to as many as 7,000.” Can we really still call security personnel ‘civilians’ or ‘private security’ anymore when they’re working for the state in foreign lands, particularly in a combat zone? They’re mercenaries, troops that are conveniently not part of the official US military. The NYT reporter couldn’t help calling them “a small army of contractors.”
The US is building military bases, fortified compounds, outposts, and the largest “embassy” in the world in Iraq. Iraqi politicians still haven’t been able to come to an agreement and form a government after the last elections, making Iraq vulnerable to a coup if the Iraqi military leadership get too frustrated by the ineffectual, in-fighting politicians. The US empire will not be completely out of there anytime soon.
But hey, “we” won…right?
~*~
Update: Less than a week after the official end of combat operations in Iraq, US troops were involved in a combat operation in Iraq. Go figure. 12 people died and dozens were wounded in an assault by heavily-armed militants against an Iraqi military headquarters, in the center of Baghdad no less.
~*~
Cross-posted at Is-Ought GAP.
Pro-Tax = Pro-War + Pro-Prison
First things first: Happy Tax Day to all my friends still living in the United States! And for those of you upset or angry about paying “your fair share” (which, incidentally, is only 43% of you), I’d like to remind you that thousands of Wall Street bankers, UAW “workers”, mortgage defaulters, and other welfare recipients are relying on you to pay their way. If that’s not enough to put a smile on your face, remember that you’re also financing the American Empire’s military adventures in the Middle East which make you safer and could not possible result in blowback (according to Sean Hannity and Rudy Giuliani). So, there’s that.
Speaking of taxes, here’s a left-wing career tax leech (public “school” teacher) demonstrating how tolerant liberals are of varying view points:
[Jason] Levin, the media teacher at Conestoga Middle School in Beaverton, is the leader of a group that says it wants to infiltrate and bring down the loosely organized anti-big-government Tea Party movement.
He has said he would seek to embarrass Tea Partiers by attending their rallies dressed as Adolf Hitler, carrying signs bearing racist, sexist and anti-gay epithets, and acting as offensively as possible — anything short of throwing punches.
In a now deleted post on his “Crash the Tea Party” Web site, Levin called on his supporters to collect the Social Security numbers — among other personal identifying information — about as many Tea Party supporters as possible at the numerous rallies scheduled to take place on Thursday – Tax Day.
“Some other thoughts are to ask people at the rally to sign a petition renouncing socialism. See just how much info you can get from these folks (name address, DOB, Social Security #). The more data we can mine from the Tea Partiers, the more mayhem we can cause with it!!!!” he wrote.
If you want smaller government and lower taxes, you are this avowed statist’s archnemesis — he really hates you. Shouldn’t liberals oppose the Empire’s wars in the Middle East, the bailouts and wealth transfers to Wall Street, the domestic spying programs, and the world’s largest prison system (population measured either way: in total and per capita), all of which are funded by taxes (either current or “borrowed” against future generations)? Sure, it’s possible this guy just lacks discernment, but that doesn’t justify his slimy scheme.
The silver lining here is that the Tea Party contingent can use this as evidence that their ranks are being infiltrated by pro-tax, pro-war, pro-prison leftists as the media continue to paint them as racists, bigots, and homophobes.
