breaking news

[the last yatto]

Troops withdrawn from Iraq to kuwait

[Pope Lecherous]

sauce?

[the last yatto]

Watching msnbc

We now have about as many troops in Iraq as we do Germany

[Pope Lecherous]

Watching msnbc

We now have about as many troops in Iraq as we do Germany

i took part in the 'pullout.'  i can tell you there are not that many Marines left. mostly a handful of 10-20 man teams training the military and the police forces.

[the last yatto]

assumed it was mostly spooks and the army that's left

and im sure the numbers dont include military contractors

[Pope Lecherous]

assumed it was mostly spooks and the army that's left

and im sure the numbers dont include military contractors

no doubt.

counterintel will stay in place. they usually operate in 7-13 man teams (as far as the usmc goes).  they plan to make al asad airbase the waystation for ops in the afghan theater, just like ali al salem was in kuwait for iraq

[the last yatto]

dont marines have anything better to do then hang out with the air force

Now replacing the rolling stone general makes a bit more sense

[Pope Lecherous]

dont marines have anything better to do then hang out with the air force

Now replacing the rolling stone general makes a bit more sense

no we don't. we enjoy drinking, hazing, drinking while hazing, and getting in trouble for stupid shit and the group punishment that follows.  i wish i could hang out with the airforce more often though... nice facilities!

ali al salem was/is mostly run by kbr, the army is taking over more and more responsibility though. hearing from the I MEF and II MEF general not too long ago things are still subject to change as the OEF 'progresses.'

[Eater of Clowns]

Watching msnbc

We now have about as many troops in Iraq as we do Germany

i took part in the 'pullout.'  i can tell you there are not that many Marines left. mostly a handful of 10-20 man teams training the military and the police forces.

How well did the pullout work?  Were there many seamen left behind?

[Disco Pickle]

How well did the pullout work?  Were there many seamen left behind?

L O fuckin L..   

[Pope Lecherous]

How well did the pullout work?  Were there many seamen left behind?

L O fuckin L..   

enough seamen left behind to have uncle sam paying child support for an ugly baby for a long time.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

How well did the pullout work?  Were there many seamen left behind?

L O fuckin L..   

enough seamen left behind to have uncle sam paying child support for an ugly baby for a long time.

[Cain]

I'm sure there are plenty more covert special forces soldiers training death squads "self-defence forces" and engaging in the occasional unsanctioned assassination mission, have no fear.

[Cain]

Woop woop

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/21/97915/state-dept-planning-to-field-a.html

WASHINGTON — Can diplomats field their own army? The State Department is laying plans to do precisely that in Iraq, in an unprecedented experiment that U.S. officials and some nervous lawmakers say could be risky.

In little more than a year, State Department contractors in Iraq could be driving armored vehicles, flying aircraft, operating surveillance systems, even retrieving casualties if there are violent incidents and disposing of unexploded ordnance.

Under the terms of a 2008 status of forces agreement, all U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, but they'll leave behind a sizable American civilian presence, including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the largest in the world, and five consulate-like "Enduring Presence Posts" in the Iraqi hinterlands.

Iraq remains a battle zone, and the American diplomats and other civilian government employees will need security. The U.S. military will be gone. Iraq's army and police, despite billions of dollars and years of American training, aren't yet capable of doing the job.

The State Department, better known for negotiating treaties and delivering diplomatic notes, will have to fend for itself in what remains an active danger zone.

Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, flew to Washington this week for a conference with the State Department on how to transition Iraq from soldiers to diplomats.

He and Ambassador Christopher Hill "have built a joint plan to do this transition," Odierno said. "So we are now going to go through this (plan) and brief them on it and tell what they have to do to support this transition."

Odierno said that one of the chief responsibilities of the remaining U.S. troops in Iraq is to help facilitate that transfer.

The arrangement is "one more step in the blurring of the lines between military activities and State Department or diplomatic activities," said Richard Fontaine of the Center for a New American Security, a Washington research center. "This is no longer (just) the foreign service officer standing in the canape line, and the military out in the field."

"The State Department is trying to become increasingly expeditionary," he said.

With public attention riveted on the war in Afghanistan, the coming transition of the U.S. mission in Iraq has gotten relatively little notice by the news media. American troops are pulling out of the country at an accelerating rate to meet President Barack Obama's interim ceiling of 50,000 noncombat troops remaining in Iraq by the end of next month.

The stakes, however, could be enormous. The Obama administration has promised Iraqis that the United States won't abandon their country when American troops leave. If it can't keep that promise, U.S. influence in the unstable region could dissipate, despite a seven-year war that's cost more than $700 billion and the lives of at least 4,400 U.S. troops.

Already, however, the State Department's requests to the Pentagon for Black Hawk helicopters; 50 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles; fuel trucks; high-tech surveillance systems; and other military gear has encountered flak on Capitol Hill.

Contractors are to operate most of the equipment, and past controversies that involved Pentagon and State Department contractors, including the company formerly known as Blackwater, have left some lawmakers leery.

"The fact that we're transitioning from one poorly managed contracting effort to another part of the federal government that has not excelled at this function either is not particularly comforting," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

"It's one thing" for contractors to be "peeling potatoes" and driving trucks, McCaskill told McClatchy. "It's another thing for them to be deploying MRAPs and Black Hawk helicopters."

"I know there's a lot of bad choices here," the senator said, adding that she'd choose using the U.S. military to protect diplomats in Iraq. "That's a resource issue."

A report July 12 by the bipartisan legislative Commission on Wartime Contracting said that the number of State Department security contractors would more than double, from 2,700 to between 6,000 and 7,000, under current plans.

Woop woop

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/politics/03prexy.html?_r=1&ref=us

The remaining "advise and assist" brigades will officially focus on supporting and training Iraqi security forces, protecting American personnel and facilities, and mounting counterterrorism operations.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/18/us-withdrawal-not-end-to-mission-in-iraq/

The Pentagon is officially ending its seven-year combat mission in Iraq on Aug. 31, but the remaining 50,000 U.S. troops will still carry out missions against terrorists and the CIA will continue cooperation with Iraq's now-unified intelligence service.

American F-16s will continue to patrol the skies, the U.S. will establish two new consulates, and the U.S. military and U.S. security contractors will still train and equip Iraq's military and police.

"A third mission will be to continue our support to Iraqi counterterrorism efforts," Colin Kahl, a deputy assistant defense secretary for Middle East affairs, told reporters Monday.

A senior U.S. official told The Washington Times on Wednesday that the United States will maintain a significant intelligence relationship with Iraq after Aug. 31.

"No one should think that the American intelligence presence in Iraq will draw down when the U.S. military starts withdrawing additional troops," this official said. "There's close cooperation with Iraq on intelligence matters, and we expect that solid relationship to continue."

U.S. intelligence cooperation with Iraq — in conjunction with the U.S. military — includes operating armed and surveillance aircraft and electronic spying that allows the U.S. and Iraqi military to collect and quickly sort all intercepted communications within discreet geographic areas, such as a few city blocks.

In a statement Wednesday, President Obama said, "I'm pleased to report that — thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians in Iraq - our combat mission will end this month, and we will complete a substantial drawdown of our troops."

The drawdown of troops, however, does not mean the U.S. presence in Iraq will be diminished.

The State Department is setting up two new consulates in Iraq, one in the southern city of Basra and another in the northern Kurdish regional capital of Irbil. Political interface between the United States and Iraq that occasionally went through military channels now will be conducted through civilian-level diplomats.

[Jenne]

...greaaat.  And how many years till this comes back Al Qaeda-style to rip us a new asshole?



...that's ironic laughter.