Longtime Iraq war critic Dennis Kucinich was not happy with President Barack Obama's Friday announcement about the war.
The Ohio Democratic congressman's statement:
"As one of the first Members of Congress to oppose the war in Iraq, I welcome the President’s announcement that he will withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq at the end of the year. The U.S. has spent over $806 billion on a war that was based on lies. The war in Iraq has cost the lives of over 4,421 U.S. troops and an estimated 1 million innocent Iraqis.
"Yet today’s announcement fails to acknowledge that we will simply be replacing one U.S. occupation with another. Under the State Department’s current plans to take the place of the Department of Defense as the main U.S. force in Iraq post-military withdrawal, we are still maintaining a massive presence there, now with the State Department and its heavily armed private security contractors. And it is the presence of armed U.S. contractors that is the problem. It will continue to foment instability and violence in Iraq and the region. We need to get out now, not just trade uniforms and personnel. It is reasonable to ask whether the people of Iraq will notice any change."

I worry about this sleight of hand too. The enormous fortresses built around Iraq (and on pipeline routes), including the "embassy" lol, are meant to be impenetrable staging areas for whatever economic threats appear to good old Capitalist Empire.
Posted by: bobzimway | October 23, 2011 at 01:30 PM