Gimme+Some!+(Keeping+Troops+in+Iraq)

Shakir, Fazir. "Think Progress". Center For American Progress Fund. 4/23/09 [] .:
====1. In 2006, 72% of troops said they wanted out of Iraq within a year. Of those 72%, 29% said they wanted to withdraw immediately. It never happened. If that many troops want out of there, how would we justify keeping them somewhere they don't want to be? (JH)====

====SOP newswire, Keeping Troops in Iraq through 2018 Pushes War Cost Over One Trillion Dollars. January 16, 2008. April 23, 2009 [] .====

4. As of April 25, 2008, the total cost of the War in Iraq was $3 trillion. With our economic recession, we can't handle this cost. (JH and SS)
====5. Before the war on Iraq started, a three economists at the University of Chicago began examining projected costs of the war against the alternative — UN sanctions or "containment". The analysts calculated that containment would have cost $297 billion while military action would cost $414 billion. (JH)====

8. Five years of war, 3,200 Americans killed, over 22,000 wounded, over $400 billion spent, and still no end in sight. (SS).
====9. In the Army's fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report says that, according to an anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, about 12% of combat troops in Iraq and 17% of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope.(JH)==== 10. Clinton previously visited Iraq three times as a senator and campaigned for the US presidency on a platform of withdrawing American troops as soon as possible.(SS)

16. The following day, 84 people were killed in Baghdad and Baquba. (SS)
====17. In Baghdad, two female suicide bombers slipped past multiple security checkpoints to blow themselves up outside one of the main Shiite shrines, killing some 70 people, many of them again Iranians. (SS)====

20. President Obama’s Iraq “withdrawal” plan will leave up to 50,000 troops in a warzone engaging in combat missions. (SS)
21. He added that he intends to remove the up to 50,000 others by the end of 2011. In between those two dates, however, the troops will continue to conduct “targeted counter-terrorism missions." (SS)

32. An additional 4,000 British troops will also be transferred from Iraq without replacement (JH)
==== 33. Currently, there are 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. During his presidential campaign, Obama pledged to withdraw those troops within 16 months of taking office -- May of 2010. (JH) ( [] ) ==== ==== 34. In March 2003, the U.S. led a full-scale invasion of Iraq to remove that nation's leader, Saddam Hussein, from power. Although Bush announced an end to major combat operations about two months later, the war continued throughout his presidency, resulting in more than 4,000 U.S. fatalities by the beginning of 2009. (JH) ==== ==== 35. In late 2008, during a press conference touting U.S. military successes in Iraq, a frustrated Iraqi journalist hurled both of his shoes at Bush--one of the grossest insults in Arab culture. The incident and was seen as a culmination of the frustration of many Iraqis at the violence that had gripped their country since the U.S.-led invasion. (JH) ==== ==== 36. January 2008: the Center for American Integrity, a non profit group that promotes investigative journalism, published a list of false statements made by Bush administration officials in the run-up to the war. (JH) ====

43. Obama was quoted as saying: "Because of a war in Iraq that should never have been authorized and should never have been waged, we are now less safe than we were before 9/11." (JH)
==== 44. We are pouring billions of dollars into Iraq still, which isn’t good for the economy. (JH) ( [] ) ====

46. From 2006-2008, 20366 Iraqi civilians have died, as compared to about 10 in Afghanistan (JH)
==== 47. Less troops are dying, because more are being pulled from Iraq. (JH) ( [] ) ==== ==== 48. the relationship between the U.S. and the European Union was strained by the  Iraq war and the U.S. Defense Department made plans to move U.S.  troops  from Europe to the U.S (JH)  ( [] )   ==== ==== 49. Iraq Veterans against the War: "My hope is that he (Obama) starts bringing home the troops from Iraq immediately, but I think those of us in the anti-war movement could find ourselves disappointed." (JH) ==== ==== 50. Thomas Donnelly, a resident fellow on defense and national security issues at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI): “…Afghanistan was the good war, the more important war, and that Iraq was a dead end strategically." (JH) ====

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51. McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that a "failing situation in Iraq has been arrested and reversed" due to the "dramatic success of the surge strategy."(SS)======

Malveaux, Suzanne. __Obama: U.S. to withdraw most Iraq troops by August 2010__. Feb. 27, 2009. April 29,2009 .
 * ======52. There are 142,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. During the presidential campaign, Obama pledged to pull out all those troops within 16 months. This plan exceeds that promise by three months.(SS)======

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58. President Barack Obama told Americans a substantial number of the 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq would be home within a year, saying Iraqis were now ready to take more responsibility for their own security. (SS)======

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59. The Obama administration has launched a comprehensive review of America's strategy in Afghanistan, where NATO-led forces are struggling to cope with spiraling violence and a resurgent Taliban militancy. (SS)====== 60. "Continuing this would be costly" Clinton explained. (SS) 61. Iraq war has lasted longer than World War I, World War II, and the Civil War. More than 4,000 Americans have died. More than 60,000 have been injured and wounded. (SS).

__Sixth Anniversary of the Fall of Baghdad__. 4/9/09. April 29, 2009 <(http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/992375.html)>. 62. 6th anniversary to Baghdad’s fall, several protesters expressed displeasure with the American occupation and protesters burned an effigy featuring the face of ex Pres. Bush, who ordered the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and also the face of Saddam. (JH) 63. "I would like to register for history that America should be held accountable for the terrorism in our country," said one demonstrator. "The Americans said they want to spread democracy and freedom, but we have seen neither," he continued. (JH) 64. Another protester declared "anyone would reject a situation of occupation upon his land and people". (JH)

__Iraq War__. March 20, 2003. April 29, 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_war#2009>. 65. Casualty counts in the military by country: 4,136 members of the U.S. military__. __The AP count is one fewer than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EDT. The British military has reported 176 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each. (JH) 66. Clearly, the US has the most military deaths by far, so we need to pull out of Iraq (JH)

__War in Iraq__. April 29, 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/marketing/iht/search/?iht>. 67. Iraq’s Health Minister said in November 2006 that since the March 2003 invasion between 100,000-150,000 Iraqis have been killed. (JH) __Iraq Body Count__. 16 April 2009. April 29, 2009 <http://www.iraqbodycount.org/>. 68. The Iraq Body Count Project (IBC) has documented 86,663 - 94,560 violent, non-combatant civilian deaths since the beginning of the war as of August 24, 2008 (JH) 69. The body count project counts the deaths of Iraqi civilians by military or paramilitary actions in non combatant situations (JH) 70. Because of the military a lot of Iraqis have died so we need to pull out. (JH) 4/29/09 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-11-16-pact-us_N.htm>. 71. All troops will be out by August 2011 (CJA) 72. In august 31st of 2010 the combat mission will stop in Iraq, there will be only around 35,000-50,000 troops (CJA) 73. Obama promised that we will engage with Iraq’s neighbors, Iran and Syria (CJA) 74. Diplomatic efforts will be strengthen so there’s not so much stress on the military (CJA) 75. By removing the troops from Iraq in the next 18 months it will relieve stress on the Army and Military that have been repeatedly deployed (CJA) ===76.===  by an agreement with the Iraqi government all U.S troops will be out of Iraq by 2011 (CJA) 77. Senator McCain agreed to the plan on Friday (CJA) = =

8 1. About two brigades per month can be removed from Iraq, brigades consist of about 3,500 troops (CJA)
=== 8 2.      Rep. Dennis Kucinich says he supports the president for "taking a step in the right direction in Iraq, but I do not think that his plan goes far enough." (CJA) 4/28/09 [].===

85. Violence is down, and the Iraqi forces are rapidly growing in size and ability. (CJA)
=== 86. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that officials are looking for ways to send additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year (CJA) 4/28/09 [].===

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