While I'm certainly glad to hear the troops are coming home from Iraq, I questioned the President's claim about our operations being over from the moment I heard about it.
And I was right to.
Via The Daily Beast:
But the end of the war does not mean the end of the U.S. presence in Iraq. Indeed, speaking after the president’s brief announcement, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough acknowledged that the United States would continue to train Iraq’s military in the new weaponry that Obama has agreed to sell the government that emerged after U.S. troops toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Just this year, the Pentagon approved a sale of F-16s to Iraq’s air force.
Also remaining in Iraq will be military contractors who currently protect American diplomatic missions in Iraq, such as the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the consulate in Irbil.
“As part of a new agreement there will be Americans in Iraq training and assisting the Iraqi armed forces,” Qubad Talabani, the Kurdistan regional government representative in Washington and the son of Iraq’s president, told The Daily Beast. “These Americans will not be combat troops but they will be U.S. soldiers.”
Rhetoric aside, our presence there isn't coming to an end.
Also, keep in mind, that as much as President Obama will cite this as his doing, it's actually in accordance with the Status of Forces agreement signed three years ago. And the Iraqis refused to allow the Obama administration to keep combat troops in the country any longer.
Nice try, Mr. President.
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