Unlike spending for domestic agendas, few have the guts to vote down new weapons systems or to insist on more accountability from the Pentagon. Eight billion can disappear overseas or a hundred thousand weapons, and it gets very little attention from the taxpayers footing the bill.

The very people screaming that helping middle class families afford healthcare for their kids is bringing us a step closer to socialism, are strangely silent when it comes to the hideous amounts we have paid for Blackwater’s mercenaries to ride roughshod over the Iraqis.

Of course Iraq’s bigger, but given the recent trend of declining violence, it’s possible the ethnic cleansing / civil war is moving towards completion. In that case, our troops may just be stimulating violence, by disrupting territories that tribes have won, by injecting guns and money, and by being a target. So while a rapid withdrawal may cause a spike in violence, a larger destabilization of the situation in Iraq is unlikely, and the absence of foreigners may well reduce violence. Of course, there’s no way to test that sort of thing in real life: if we’re there we’re there, and if we leave, we’ve left.

If the reason to stay is geopolitical, screw it. That’s a game rich people play, and it only brings the rest of us misery.

I’m waiting to see what the Iraqis will say about this.
It’s hard to believe that they are no longer unhappy with accepting a permanent occupation. New reason for an insurgency?

I’m waiting to see what our allies will say about this.
If it’s openly a US show,the incentive for European countries to care waht happens has just been lessened, I would think.

I’m waitng to see how this will affect the region now that the US is permanently in Iraq.
An openly US-Iraq partnership is a different entity than Iraq as an independent counry. What will be the reaction be in the Sunni countries?

In an effort to be utterly fair, I’m also waiting to see just how exclusive the awarding of oil contracts will be. Will non-US oil companies be utterly shut out, or will there be something like open bidding?

No matter how much the administration tries to downplay this. The signing of a formal document changes the picture dramatically.
Of course, there are some who will be as happy as clams. Principles other than financial gain are going out of style, anyway.

Nukes of Hazard is a project of the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation. It provides a view from the Hill to Congressional action on nuclear weapons and nonproliferation issues.

http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/iran/

The Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation opposes any potential nuclear weapons program in Iran, but we believe that Iran is not an imminent threat to U.S. national security and is unlikely to be for several years. U.S. policy should focus first on tough, strong-minded diplomacy and negotiation. If we have learned nothing else from Iraq, it is that there are limitations to the use of military force.

Please join our efforts by adding your name to our petition urging Congress to prevent a military attack on Iran. Our goal is to gather at least 1 million signatures before we deliver the petition to Congress. Make your opposition heard in Washington!

“We have fought and bled and died all over the world, but not for conquest; we have liberated lands from empire, not built our own. As Colin Powell and others have noted, the only land we required was enough to bury our dead. That hardly fits with the notion of imperialism in any real sense, and the accusation of empire insults the memory of those who lie in those graves. It’s time we started to make that counterargument.”

Wow, Captain Ed certainly has romanticized recent events. Our Cold War efforts were fought in our own interests-not the natives- and we entered Vietnam to support the French imperialists. Our recent attempts have certainly strayed a bit from liberation—and wandered into the realm of supporting corrupt, dysfunctional governments in both Afghanistan and Iraq. And while we have not acquired territory in any real sense, that was never what we were after. Bush just needed to make his buddies in KBR, Halliburton and Blackwater big profits.

Rudi:

Nuthin’ like my dumb sappery being noted far and wide. (Wink!)

Shaun, don’t get too excited — it’s just Andrew trying to regain his conservative credentials by linking to those right-wing bloggers

The parliament of Iraq has been calling for a timetable from Bush to pull out for months and al-Malaki just swept it under the rug in true Bush style: http://www.deathbymachine.com/archives/212

Nuthin’ like my dumb sappery being noted far and wide. (Wink!)

Shaun, every day that passes, and each bit of info that trickles from ex-Bushies, shows that Bushco had nothing on old Dr. Zaius re: Coverups.

Of course, you’re just a cynical, anti-American, Commie, traitor. Die, Shaun, die!

“As Colin Powell and others have noted, the only land we required was enough to bury our dead”. Oh, that is rich. Priceless! Really, I mean it is very good. For the domestic audience, anyway. they will eat shit spoon fed propaganda up, and plead for more. Ah, the foreign audience? I would not put my money on it.