Bomb In Northern Iraq Kills 5 US Soldiers, Kills and Injures Dozens Of Iraqis

By Big Tent Democrat, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 09:48:47 AM EST
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What will Iraq be like when the US disengages next year? I predict it will be a mess. But I think it would be a mess if we stayed. Today, a suicide bomber in Mosul killed 5 US soldiers:

Five American soldiers and two members of the Iraqi security forces were killed in a massive suicide truck bombing Friday near the headquarters of the Iraqi national police in the northern city of Mosul, a United States military spokesman said. . . . At least 60 people, many of them residents of the area, were wounded in the Friday attack and a number of homes and businesses were severely damaged . . .

Make no mistake, withdrawal from Iraq by the US will not solves Iraq's problems. But neither will staying in Iraq.

Speaking for me only

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Bomb In Northern Iraq Kills 5 US Soldiers, Kills and Injures Dozens Of Iraqis | 12 comments (12 topical)

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But in Afghanistan...victory? (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by Dadler on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 10:39:13 AM EST

While they are two different places, with wildly different populations, the same paradigm exists as in Iraq, and probably worse, since Iraq was a modern state at one time. Leave we lose, stay we lose worse, either way the Afghans lose almost assuredly the most. People must fight their own battles for their own history and destiny, when we stop our sociopathic need to think and act otherwise, maybe something will change. We are in these wars for us and no one else, not the Iraqis, not the Afghans, no one but our selfish own. Ain't gonna work.

Afghanistan (5.00 / 1) (#10)
by Demi Moaned on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 05:17:00 PM EST

Frankly, I think a similar argument can be made about Afghanistan:

withdrawal from Afghanistan by the US will not solves Iraq's problems. But neither will escalating our presence there.

There was a window of opportunity for us to do something really constructive in Afghanistan immediately after we put the Taliban to flight. But we didn't. I don't see that we can compensate now for what we failed to do seven years ago.

Similarly inn Iraq, it was clear even before the invasion that the Bush Administration's 'plans' had no serious chance of improving conditions in Iraq. But what might have been possible then is far beyond retrieval now.

Too bad... (none / 0) (#1)
by kdog on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 09:54:41 AM EST

we're not really disengaging next year, just planning on reducing the number of occupying boots to the long-term level.

There will be no complete disengagement until we got totally busto and soldiers paychecks start bouncing...in which case they will all have to stick their thumbs out for a lift back across the Atlantic, or settle permanently in the desert.

Loophole (none / 0) (#3)
by lentinel on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 11:17:33 AM EST

The truck-sized loophole that Obama left open with respect to a date for withdrawal from Iraq - he'd listen to the generals "in the field" - is being exercised according to the London Times (London) online:

General Ray Odierno: we may miss Iraq deadline to halt al-Qaeda terror

"The activities of al-Qaeda in two of Iraq's most troubled cities could keep US combat troops engaged beyond the June 30 deadline for their withdrawal, the top US commander in the country has warned."

The full article

We seem to have plenty of funds - last I read 500,000 dollars a minute - for this fiasco. Bin Laden doesn't have to worry about our economy recovering.

It's time for the comatose anti-war movement to revive itself.
We thought we have made a statement in 2006. Nothing has happened. The best we can hope for is 2011 - and the groundwork is already being laid for that date to be scrapped.

I don't really care about anything until the US stops actions that kill the innocent. I'm sick of it. Obama can close torture hell-holes - but continue to drop bombs from drones.

Happy Easter.

Young man who left Baghad (none / 0) (#4)
by oculus on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 12:07:46 PM EST

five years ago, and whose family remains there, recently opined from the vantage point of his bar stool in NYC: there will be civil war in Iraq when U.S. leaves. He also stated U.S. never should have gone into Iraq. Maybe he was a Baathist?

: More likely... (none / 0) (#5)
by kdog on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 12:27:07 PM EST

he doesn't like the sight of blood and kids with no arms.

Biggest mistake of the century (none / 0) (#6)
by Saul on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 02:18:50 PM EST

I wonder how the Iraqis views us today?

What if a poll was taken today on the Iraq people to find out the following:

Now that you look back was our invasion a positive thing for the Iraq people or a negative thing?

Do you think the Iraq people were better off with Saddam than they are now?

If the poll was done legitimately I would be curious to see the results.

Not So Fond of US (none / 0) (#7)
by squeaky on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 02:35:57 PM EST

Tens of thousands of followers of anti-US Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are protesting in Baghdad against the presence of US troops in Iraq.
The demonstration is being held to mark the sixth anniversary of the city's fall to US troops.

We neen to airlift (none / 0) (#8)
by jondee on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 03:02:52 PM EST

and drop Wolfie, Chalabi and Christopher Hitchens over there and let them sort this out. They've had all the answers right along.


: Yes (none / 0) (#9)
by squeaky on Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 03:18:41 PM EST

They should get the same type of trial that they gave Saddam, after a few years of thinking about what they did, in abu ghraib, that is.

Disagree (none / 0) (#12)
by cal1942 on Sat Apr 11, 2009 at 02:15:43 AM EST

Biggest mistake of the century

Our biggest foreign policy blunder EVER.

And millions at home and around the world knew it when the promotion campaign began.


Admitting that I don't know (none / 0) (#11)
by Green26 on Sat Apr 11, 2009 at 12:18:32 AM EST

the answers for Afghanistan, I think BTD is correct.

I just don't see how the US can abandon Afghan to the Taliban, nor allow Pakistan, a nuclear power, to come more under the influence of radicals.

This is a tough world. The US needs to protect the interests of itself and the western world.

On Iraq, I don't agree with most of you. I believe the US needs to continue its commitment there. Whether it was right or wrong to go there, the US did. The situation has evolved. The US should not leave Iraq prematurely.

Huge strides have been made in Iraq since the Surge. In my view, it is only because of this progress that Obama and the US can even consider withdrawing from Iraq in the near term. In my view, the US should not withdraw from or abandond Iraq too soon.

The news of these 5 deaths breaks my heart. However, my guess is that most of the families, and their sons, support the mission. It would be nice if more of you could also do that. My son, a Ranger, has recently returned from his second deployment to Iraq. Because he's back on US soil, our family didn't have to hold their breath this time upon seeing the headlines of this news.