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2020-01-08 at 8:28 PM UTC
Originally posted by iam_asiam68 Barack Obama - Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan | Britannica
www.britannica.com/.../Wars-in-Iraq-and-Afghanistan
Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan For all of Obama’s efforts at rapprochement with much of the world, he was a wartime president . With the situation in Iraq continuing to improve and the target date for ending U.S. combat operations there approaching, in February 2009 Obama increased the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan to 68,000 troops.
this states iraq was good and we were closing in on ending iraq until obama began afghanistan hahahahaha
We're sorry! This content is not available.
Seriously if your going to post links please make sure they work and are availableThe following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire! -
2020-01-08 at 8:28 PM UTC
Originally posted by itybit Wrong see my previous posts, damn your thru nd thru Republican with your spinn
The Obama administration originally "wanted 10,000 troops to remain in Iraq -- not combat troops, but military advisers, special operations forces, to watch the counterterrorism effort."
— Martha Raddatz on Sunday, August 24th, 2014 in comments on ABC's "This Week"
Obama wanted to keep 10,000 troops in Iraq, ABC's Raddatz claims
By Katie Sanders on Sunday, August 24th, 2014 at 4:50 p.m.
Martha Raddatz on "This Week" on Aug. 24, 2014.
Sunday show pundits weighed provocations by the Islamic State this week after the public beheading of American journalist James Foley, with some military analysts arguing for a stronger military response from President Barack Obama.
On ABC This Week, retired Marine Gen. John Allen said ending the threat from the Islamic State will require a coalition approach that targets the extreme militant groups across the larger region of Iraq and Syria.
Martha Raddatz, ABC’s chief global affairs correspondent, was wearing her TV pundit hat when she said Allen’s idea for a strategy "makes me think back about what the Obama administration originally wanted."
"They wanted 10,000 troops to remain in Iraq -- not combat troops, but military advisers, special operations forces, to watch the counterterrorism effort," she said. "So perhaps they'd go that way, but it would be a tough one."
The number sounded interesting to PunditFact given Obama’s 2008 campaign pledge to pull out of Iraq entirely (which PolitiFact monitors here) and his repeated 2012 campaign proclamations that the war was over.
So we decided to check it out.
The plan
Shortly before Obama took office in January 2009, his predecessor, George W. Bush, finalized an important agreement after about a year of negotiations with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Called the Status of Forces Agreement, it spelled out the withdrawal of all American troops by the end of 2011.
Obama, who won office in 2008 partly for his pledge to end the war in Iraq, announced his own draw-down plans a month after taking office. "Let me say this as plainly as I can: by Aug. 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," he said Feb. 27, 2009.
His speech revealed more details: He would keep between 35,000 to 50,000 military personnel there through the end of 2011 to train and advise Iraqi military and for counterterrorism purposes.
What would happen after Jan. 1, 2012, -- a central point in our fact-check -- was not settled until the fall of 2011. Obama and the Iraqi government had been open to leaving more troops behind to help the country remain stable.
But it didn’t happen.
The result
On Oct. 21, 2011, Obama announced the pullout of the vast majority of American troops in Iraq by Christmas. Staying behind were a couple hundred Marines to train the Iraqi army and provide security for diplomatic personnel.
Essentially, he implemented the phase-out plan laid out by Bush.
Facing a re-election challenge, Obama held the drawdown of all troops as the fulfillment of a campaign pledge. He did not harp on what some, namely Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, would see as a failure: failure to reach an agreement regarding how many American troops would remain in the country beyond Jan. 1, 2012.
This was something Obama and his defense advisers had pushed for as they wrangled in negotiations with the al-Maliki-led government in the summer of 2011. The administration feared a virtually complete pullout would allow for big attacks from militant groups.
Here’s what they wanted, and why it failed.
Behind the numbers
Military commanders in Washington and in Baghdad pushed for a residual force between 16,000 and 24,000 to conduct counterrorism work and train Iraqi security forces.
The White House, reports show, was not open to a force that size.
The Obama administration was initially open to leaving up to 10,000 troops in Iraq after the scheduled pullout at the end of 2011, a controversial pitch that would have required approval from Iraq’s divided government to change the 2008 agreement, the Los Angeles Times reported. The troops were to be placed in Baghdad and other "strategic" locations around the country.
It did not stay there. The New York Times detailed how the one-time goal of a 10,000-person force shrank before negotiations failed altogether.
Obama ruled out the 10,000-troop option in an Aug. 13, 2011, conference call, according to the New York Times, and "the new goal would be a continuous presence of about 3,500 troops, a rotating force of up to 1,500 and half a dozen F-16’s."
What killed the deal
The agreement failed over a demand that American troops be given immunity from prosecution by Iraqis, a very touchy political issue within the Iraqi Parliament. Some experts said Iraqi leaders may not have been willing to take great political risk with their citizens in exchange for a relatively small American force.
But no immunity meant no sizable residual troop presence.
"When the Americans asked for immunity, the Iraqi side answered that it was not possible," al-Maliki said in an October 2011 news conference. "The discussions over the number of trainers and the place of training stopped. Now that the issue of immunity was decided and that no immunity to be given, the withdrawal has started."
Three years later, as the Islamic State advanced in the country and shocked the world, a CNN reporter asked Obama if he regretted the decision not to leave a residual force in Iraq. Obama said, "Keep in mind, that wasn't a decision made by me. That was a decision made by the Iraqi government."
The political overtones have ratcheted up with international headlines about Islamic State, which also is called ISIS. Conservatives blame Obama for pulling out too soon, for leaving Iraq vulnerable, and liberals argue the pullout deadline was prescribed by Bush.
"You pick your poison there," said Lance Janda, chairman of Cameron University’s Department of History and Government. "It’s fair to say no one saw this ISIS stuff coming."
An ABC spokesman said Raddatz was unavailable for comment. The White House did not respond to emails.
Our ruling
Raddatz said the Obama administration originally "wanted 10,000 troops to remain in Iraq -- not combat troops, but military advisers, special operations forces, to watch the counterterrorism effort."
For a period, at least, the Obama administration did envision leaving 10,000 troops in Iraq past the Dec. 31, 2011, pullout of forces. That number went down to about 5,000 before negotiations stalled amid a legal snare over immunity of American forces in Iraqi courts.
Her claim is accurate but needs additional information. We rate her claim Mostly True. -
2020-01-08 at 8:30 PM UTC
Originally posted by itybit We're sorry! This content is not available.
Seriously if your going to post links please make sure they work and are available
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Barack Obama
PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES
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Introduction & Quick Facts
Early life
Politics and ascent to the presidency
Presidency
The Nobel Peace Prize and partisanship
Passage of health care reform
Economic challenges
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
The midterm congressional election and its aftermath
Upheaval in the Middle East
Budget battles
The 2012 election
The gun-control debate and sequestration
Spring scandals and summer challenges
Taking heat and taking the lead
Executive action and the 2014 midterm election
Baltimore riot, Charleston shooting, Supreme Court approval of same-sex marriage, and agreement with Iran
More executive action
Historic trips and more shootings
Life after the presidency
President Obama’s cabinet
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Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
For all of Obama’s efforts at rapprochement with much of the world, he—like George W. Bush—was a wartime president. With the situation in Iraq continuing to improve and the target date for ending U.S. combat operations there approaching, in February 2009 Obama increased the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan to 68,000 troops. Throughout his presidential campaign he had argued that the focus of U.S. military efforts should be in Afghanistan rather than Iraq, and, with the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the military requested that Obama deploy an additional 40,000 troops there. After carefully weighing the situation for three months, Obama choose to send an additional 30,000 troops, a decision that was criticized by many in his party.
Barack Obama speaking to military personnel at Camp Victory in Baghdad, April 7, 2009.
Barack Obama speaking to military personnel at Camp Victory in Baghdad, April 7, 2009.
Charles Dharapak/AP
In June 2010, as the Afghanistan War rivaled the Vietnam War as the longest in U.S. history and as American war deaths there topped the 1,000 mark, the president was faced with another challenge when Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of NATO-U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and members of his staff made derisive comments about top Obama administration officials to a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine. Obama relieved McChrystal of command, replacing him with Gen. David Petraeus, who had been responsible for the surge strategy in Iraq. In August, on schedule, the U.S. combat mission in Iraq came to a close; though 50,000 American troops remained, the majority of U.S. forces had been withdrawn. In a televised national address marking the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Obama stressed the importance of American and NATO efforts in Afghanistan even as corruption continued to undermine the faith of the Afghan people in their government.
Stanley McChrystal (right) and U.S. Pres. Barack Obama, 2009.
Stanley McChrystal (right) and U.S. Pres. Barack Obama, 2009.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
Many columnists and political cartoonists were quick to see parallels between the potential pitfalls prolonged involvement in Afghanistan held for Obama’s ambitious plans for social legislation and the way in which the Vietnam War had undermined Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson’s efforts to build the Great Society. With the prospect of double-dip recession looming in summer 2010, some said Obama had been too preoccupied with the wars to give the economy the needed attention.
In the run-up to the fall’s midterm congressional election, Obama found himself snagged in controversy over whether an Islamic centre and mosque should be built in New York City near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Initially the president reacted by strongly supporting the constitutional right of Muslim Americans to freedom of religious expression, but then he seemed to waffle regarding the location of the mosque. All this came at a time when polling showed that nearly one-fifth of Americans incorrectly believed that Obama was Muslim, up from about one-tenth a year earlier.
The midterm congressional election and its aftermath
As Americans headed into the midterm election of 2010, much of the electorate was characterized as angry and pessimistic. The struggling economy and a persistent high level of unemployment were the central issues in an election that was widely viewed as a referendum on the first two years of Obama’s presidency. In the weeks before the election, Obama campaigned hard for Democratic candidates and sought to convince voters of the importance of his administration’s accomplishments, including staving off what some economists believed was a potential economic depression. He also emphasized that the change he had promised as a presidential candidate, as well as the Democratic Congress’s efforts to stimulate the economy, would take time. In the event, many of the independents who had supported Obama and other Democrats in the 2008 election swung back to the Republicans, and voters returned control of the House to the Republicans, who gained some 60 seats (the biggest swing since 1948). Although the Democrats held on to control of the Senate, their majority was severely reduced. Chastened but unbowed by the election results, Obama approached the second half of his term and the challenges of divided government with a renewed call for bipartisanship.
U.S. Pres. Barack Obama
U.S. Pres. Barack Obama
Introduced by Vice Pres. Joe Biden, U.S. Pres. Barack Obama speaking before signing into law the repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” December 22, 2010.
Official White House Video
With only weeks remaining in the congressional term, Obama and the administration aggressively courted Republicans with compromise proposals that resulted in a flurry of significant legislation that marked the lame-duck Congress as one of the most productive bodies in recent memory and that brought a rebound to the president’s popularity. Breaking a campaign pledge, Obama agreed to extend to all Americans (including the wealthiest) for another two years the tax cuts that had been enacted under the Bush administration. In return Republicans voted to extend unemployment benefits. In addition Congress rescinded the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the armed forces (fulfilling one of Obama’s campaign promises). Congress passed legislation that increased the number of children served by the school lunch program and improved the quality of food to be provided. And Congress extended medical benefits and compensation for the rescue workers who had responded to the September 11 attacks. Moreover, the Senate ratified a new Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) treaty with Russia—one of the administration’s top foreign policy goals. On the other hand, a Republican filibuster in the Senate stalled the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would have granted eventual citizenship to aliens brought to the United States when they were age 16 or younger.
U.S. President Barack Obama signing the repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” December 22, 2010.
U.S. President Barack Obama signing the repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” December 22, 2010.
Chuck Kennedy—Official White House Photo
Tucson shooting: Obama speaking at memorial for victims of Tucson shooting, 2011
Tucson shooting: Obama speaking at memorial for victims of Tucson shooting, 2011
U.S. Pres. Barack Obama speaking at the memorial for the victims of the shooting in which Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was wounded, Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 12, 2011.
Official White House Video
But even as gridlock was at least temporarily dislodged and partisanship eased during the season of legislative success, the debate over the vehemence of political polarization was quickly again at the centre of the national conversation when, on January 8, 2011, a gunman killed six people and critically wounded Gabrielle Giffords, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, as she met with constituents in Tucson, Arizona. Giffords, a moderate Democrat who had voted to support the health care bill, had already had her office vandalized and had experienced an aggressive challenge to her seat from a Republican candidate who was backed by Tea Party supporters. She survived the gunman’s attack. In a well-received speech at a memorial for the victims in Tucson, Obama called for civility in American politics and public discourse and for discussions that heal instead of harm. “Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame,” he said, “let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.”
Upheaval in the Middle East
The year 2011 brought a series of world-shaking changes to the Middle East, where popular political uprisings resulted in abrupt ends to longtime authoritarian regimes in Tunisia (see Jasmine Revolution) and Egypt (see Egypt Uprising of 2011) and widespread demonstrations and conflict in other countries in the region. The Obama administration sought to carefully articulate its support for the demonstrators’ democratic aspirations, balancing past commitments to some of the threatened regimes with the U.S. advocacy of free representative government. Moreover, Obama attempted to take a role in world leadership without direct intervention in the affairs of other countries.
In Libya, where the political revolt against the four-decade rule of Muammar al-Qaddafi transformed effectively into a civil war (see Libya Revolt of 2011), however, Obama felt U.S. intervention was necessary to prevent a humanitarian disaster as Qaddafi employed his overwhelming military advantage in a brutal attempt to expunge opposition. On March 19, U.S. and European forces with warplanes and cruise missiles began attacking targets in Libya in an effort to disable Libya’s air force and air defense systems. After initially taking a leading role in these operations, the Obama administration relinquished command to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on March 27.
Obama, Barack: Obama announcing that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden, May 2011
Obama, Barack: Obama announcing that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden, May 2011
Pres. Barack Obama announcing that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden, May 2011.
Official White House Video
On April 4, Obama officially announced that he would seek reelection. Less than a month later, on May 1, the president made a dramatic late-night Sunday television address to inform the world that U.S. special forces had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a firefight in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, not far from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. (U.S. forces took custody of the body, which they buried at sea, and confirmed bin Laden’s identity through DNA testing.) “Justice has been done,” Obama said. “Americans understand the costs of war. Yet as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies.” -
2020-01-08 at 8:34 PM UTC
Originally posted by itybit Your first link is not available and your quote from the page is open ended and incomplete to spin it to favor your narrative smh
When Obama took office in January 2009, he inherited a plan that President George W. Bush forged in 2008 with then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. That Status of Forces Agreement called for the withdrawal of all American troops by the end of 2011….
….[Obama}said in October 2011 almost all troops would be home by Christmas. About 200 Marines would stay to train the Iraqi army and act as security for diplomatic personnel. In short, he kept the 2011 timeline Bush and al-Maliki had chosen.
..Obama reportedly did consider leaving up to 10,000 troops in strategic locations after the exit, but that plan faced opposition both in the United States and in Iraq. Obama ruled out a force that size during an August 2011 conference call.
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/may/18/jeb-bush/obama-refused-sign-plan-place-leave-10000-troops-i/
i have the first article but washington post won't let me copy/paste -
2020-01-08 at 8:36 PM UTCfinally
8:45 PM
September 26 by Missy Ryan
Who made the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq?
Donald Trump laid blame for the Islamic State’s rise at Hillary Clinton’s feet, repeating his argument that the 2011 troop withdrawal from Iraq – when she was secretary of state – set the conditions for the extremist group’s rise. Clinton countered tonight by saying the decision to make a military exit from Iraq was made by President George W. Bush.
So who’s right about the U.S. exit from Iraq?
They each are in certain ways. In 2008, after extensive negotiations, President Bush and Iraqi leaders finalized a comprehensive Status of Forces Agreement, which set a path for curtailing the long U.S. military presence and gradually handing the Iraqi government more responsibility for its own security. As part of the agreement, the Bush administration agreed to remove all combat troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.
After Obama took over in 2009, many U.S. officials, like many in Baghdad, wanted to strike a new arrangement that would leave a residual force to help Iraq face ongoing security challenges. Both sides abandoned efforts to strike a deal in October 2011, when it became clear that the Iraqi political leaders would not accept the Obama administration’s conditions regarding legal protections for remaining U.S. soldiers. At the time, many political observers believed that outcome suited the White House, where many leaders were eager to leave the messy conflict started by Obama’s predecessor in the past.
Several months later, on Dec. 15, 2011, Obama’s then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited Baghdad to officially lower the flag on the U.S. mission there -
2020-01-08 at 8:37 PM UTCnow, come again?
if you can't open these links, i suggest upgrading your pc. -
2020-01-08 at 8:41 PM UTCRimmer is not a bright bulb for sure. It was the 2 Bushes that got us into Iraq and Afghan mess. Lived thru those years and seen the twin towers go down.
Rimmer you should go and tend your sheep. -
2020-01-08 at 8:41 PM UTCI'm not reading all that. As far as your links how can you get to them and no one else as for the troops withdrawal...…….note from Brtitanica
In July 2011, U.S. military officials announced that Iraq and the United States had begun negotiations to keep several thousand U.S. soldiers in Iraq past December 31, 2011, the date for withdrawal set in negotiations in 2008. However, a possible extension of the U.S. presence in Iraq remained unpopular with the Iraq public and with several Iraqi political factions. Negotiations failed when the two sides were unable to reach an agreement over the continuation for U.S. troops of legal immunity from Iraqi law. In October, President Obama announced that the remaining 39,000 soldiers would leave the country at the end of 2011. The U.S. military formally declared the end of its mission in Iraq in a ceremony in Baghdad on December 15, as the final U.S. troops prepared to withdraw from the country.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Iraq-War/The-surge
Just admit you were wrong about Obama breaking the agreement Iam, he didn't. Also please if your going to post something as fact and post a link, make sure it works for everyone in the debate or it's just dribble -
2020-01-08 at 8:42 PM UTC
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2020-01-08 at 8:42 PM UTCThe US invasion of Afghanistan became the first phase of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present). US President George W. Bush demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden and expel al-Qaeda; bin Laden had already been wanted by the FBI since 1998.
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2020-01-08 at 8:42 PM UTC^ or it's just another democratic ploy that republicans are trying to pull a fast one
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2020-01-08 at 8:42 PM UTC
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2020-01-08 at 8:44 PM UTC
Originally posted by itybit I'm not reading all that. As far as your links how can you get to them and no one else as for the troops withdrawal……….note from Brtitanica
In July 2011, U.S. military officials announced that Iraq and the United States had begun negotiations to keep several thousand U.S. soldiers in Iraq past December 31, 2011, the date for withdrawal set in negotiations in 2008. However, a possible extension of the U.S. presence in Iraq remained unpopular with the Iraq public and with several Iraqi political factions. Negotiations failed when the two sides were unable to reach an agreement over the continuation for U.S. troops of legal immunity from Iraqi law. In October, President Obama announced that the remaining 39,000 soldiers would leave the country at the end of 2011. The U.S. military formally declared the end of its mission in Iraq in a ceremony in Baghdad on December 15, as the final U.S. troops prepared to withdraw from the country.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Iraq-War/The-surge
Just admit you were wrong about Obama breaking the agreement Iam, he didn't. Also please if your going to post something as fact and post a link, make sure it works for everyone in the debate or it's just dribble
how am i wrong if obama did not end the 2011 agreement and then went into afghanistan like britannica claims?
do you not deal well with britannica facts?
of course not, you're a democrat.
facts are the last thing you want to deal with. -
2020-01-08 at 8:52 PM UTCdid i not say, bush made agreement in 2011 to evacuate all troops from iraq?
and yet, in 2020, we have troops there to which iran fired upon.
so clearly, obama did not go along with the bush' agreement concerning 2011. -
2020-01-08 at 8:52 PM UTChow am i wrong?
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2020-01-08 at 9:24 PM UTC
Originally posted by iam_asiam68 if you don't desire to deal in facts, i wouldn't want you on my side to begin with.
The facts are if you support Bush you are just as big of a dumb ass as those who supported Obama or Hillary and those who are currently against Trump. Wake the fuck up man. You are being played. The Bush family is on the same team as the Clinton and Obama families are. -
2020-01-08 at 9:26 PM UTCi will say this much, when DH was coming to its end, whatever i wrong over, i tried to make sure it was known and that i was sorry.
so, if i am wrong here, i will admit to it.
but show me specifically where i am wrong in this general statement:
bush made agreement in 2011 to evacuate all troops from iraq.
and yet, in 2020, we have troops there to which iran fired upon.
so clearly, obama did not go along with the bush' agreement concerning 2011.
you can say obama did not break the agreement or that it was voted to remain or whatever.
i will say i am wrong for stating that incorrectly.
but, who did iran bomb just a day ago?
where were those troops located at?
it seems to me, somewhere in 2011, a decision was made to not end the agreement bush had in place.
and we kept troops in iraq.
in my comprehension, the one who chose to not follow bush' agreement to evacuate troops in iraq, but to leave them, is now responsible for us having troops in iraq after 2011. -
2020-01-08 at 9:27 PM UTC
Originally posted by iam_asiam68 how am i wrong if obama did not end the 2011 agreement and then went into afghanistan like britannica claims?
do you not deal well with britannica facts?
of course not, you're a democrat.
facts are the last thing you want to deal with.
First off I'm NOT Democrat, I am dealing completely with facts and not spinning them to meet my narrative.
Secondly, a small amount of troops remained in Iraq to help stabilize, train and rebuild the country. As you know that happens after every military intervention. Obama upheld Bush's agreement all combat troops were gone by Dec. 2011.
Troops were sent back in in 2014 when ISIL attacked Kurdish-held territory in northern Iraq.
Sending troops back in a completely different offensive is not breaking the agreement, Obama upheld it. -
2020-01-08 at 9:27 PM UTC
Originally posted by Speedy Parker The facts are if you support Bush you are just as big of a dumb ass as those who supported Obama or Hillary and those who are currently against Trump. Wake the fuck up man. You are being played. The Bush family is on the same team as the Clinton and Obama families are.
that is not the argument here though.
it's who kept troops in iraq after 2011. -
2020-01-08 at 9:30 PM UTC
Originally posted by itybit First off I'm NOT Democrat, I am dealing completely with facts and not spinning them to meet my narrative.
Secondly, a small amount of troops remained in Iraq to help stabilize, train and rebuild the country. As you know that happens after every military intervention. Obama upheld Bush's agreement all combat troops were gone by Dec. 2011.
Troops were sent back in in 2014 when ISIL attacked Kurdish-held territory in northern Iraq.
Sending troops back in a completely different offensive is not breaking the agreement, Obama upheld it.
all combat troops?
hahahahaha
we left them with special forces.
they can do more damage in 3 man teams than a 1,000 man squadron can without blowing shit to oblivion.
