Bush Commits Troops to Iraq for the Long Term

There are few details on the scale of future U.S. troop levels in Iraq or permanent U.S. bases. The agreement, because it was not a treaty, would not be subject to oversight by Congress. What U.S. troops are doing, how many troops are required to do that, are bases required, which partners will join them – all these things are on the table.

The public unveiling of the proposed arrangement yesterday arrived at a time when the administration has been trying to showcase recent improvements in security in Iraq following the deployment of an additional 30,000 U.S. troops at the beginning of the year. Some of those forces are scheduled to begin leaving Iraq by the end of this year following the drop in violence, although there has been little sign of the political reconciliation which was the main objective of the surge strategy.

The Bush administration formally committed America yesterday to a long-term military presence in Iraq, pledging to protect the government in Baghdad from internal coup plots and foreign enemies.

The cooperation pact, endorsed by George Bush and the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, during a video conference yesterday morning, will set the agenda for a future American relationship with Iraq, the administration’s adviser on Iraq and Afghanistan, General Douglas Lute, told reporters at the White House.

“The two negotiating teams, Iraq and the United States, now have a common sheet of music with which to begin the negotiations,” Lute said.

The military, economic and diplomatic agreement would commit US forces to defending the government of Iraq from internal and external threats as well as fighting al-Qaida and “all other outlaw groups regardless of affiliation”, according to the declaration of principles released by the White House yesterday.

Posted by Dilated_Rebel
Born and raised very humbly in a “small town” in southern California, I was a product of different worlds. Literally, part of my family descends from Mexico the rest from Portugal and Uruguay. This mixture had kept me from supporting any racist psyche found...