Infographic: U.S. ends Iraq war chapter

Visa program for Iraqis mired in red tape

The Iraq War Ends

The American soldier dubbed the 'Lawrence of Iraq'

How Travis Patriquin shaped the Iraq War

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb...

Obama affirms US commitment to Iraq: President says US troops will leave behind a self-reliant Iraq, but warns neighbours not to meddle in country's affairs.

As I've said before - New Shiite Alliance Excludes Iraqi Prime Minister - I think the Iraqi Shiite link to Iran has been overblown. We will soon find out who is correct and whether or not Iran truly does want a major role in Iraq and not just an ally in the region.

Defense cuts could lead to military draft, House Armed Services chairman says

I seriously doubt this will happen, but it would end the wars pretty quickly if you ask me. Suddenly people would care a little more because they could have some skin in the game... e.g. their children.

The Dead, the Dollars, the Drones: 9/11 Era by the Numbers

Defense spending must have credit limits

Pace at the hearing put forward a stunning fact we should remember: “Less than 1 percent of the nation has been defending the other 99 percent for 10 years.” McKeon on Monday picked up that thought with a slightly different twist: Since Sept. 11, 2001, he said, “the majority of Americans have lived without being touched by the horrors of conflict. We are at the mall while Marines are in the mud.” Only Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) called the committee’s attention to the fact that Afghanistan and Iraq are “the first wars in American history that we didn’t even try to pay for. There was no war tax. There were no war bonds. . . . Instead, we borrowed the money from China and other foreign nations.” We are still borrowing for our defense and not paying for it. Maybe it’s time for the parent to take back that credit card.

Sikorsky Grew With America's Two Long Wars

At least Blackhawks are used in the current wars... the majority of the R&D money the Air Force hands out surely isn't.

U.S. to drop troop levels to 3,000 in Iraq

It is about time. If we limit our mission there to training only, then I believe they will get the picture: that they are in charge of their own destiny.

In Iraq, a new breed of returning exile

What are we going to do? Turkey is in NATO and hates the Kurds, yet the Kurds have been our most consistent ally in Iraq.

After the U.S. invasion in 2003, Kurds who had been expelled by Hussein and replaced by Arab families returned by the thousands, hoping to reclaim their lost homes. Disputes over land rights are common, and many are still homeless. Soldiers from all three ethnic groups help keep the peace — and sometimes end up in tense standoffs themselves.


Over it all hangs the central question: Should Kirkuk remain part of Iraq proper or be governed by the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan to its north? Plans for a census to determine who lives in Kirkuk and a referendum to decide its governance, promised by the Iraqi constitution, have stalled.

See previous posts:

Support the Kurds

Tensions stoked between Iraqi Kurds and Sunnis

A Turning Point?

Americans live in an era of endless war

War should not be normal. It should be an aberration, a black mark on the world, something that is rare and exemplifies the complete breakdown of how a society should solve problems. However, for Americans, it is not.

The long stretch of war has also isolated the U.S. military from society. Senior Army officials worry that career soldiers have forgotten how to take care of their troops outside the war zones. A 2010 Army study partially blamed the service’s unusually high suicide rate on the “lost art of leadership in garrison.”


Other top military officials fret that the troops are developing a troubling sense that they are better than the society they serve.

Why shouldn't the troops feel that they are better than the society they serve? This nation has been at war for 10 years and less than one percent of Americans have served in those wars. The veterans that do leave the service before military retirement can't even find a job and have to start from scratch in building a new career because corporate America doesn't recognize the skills they have gained through military service. The career servicemembers that retire end up working for defense contractors that keep them in the "military bubble" isolated from society, perpetuating war by building more powerful weapons and equipment with 435 different parts manufactured in each congressional district in the nation. It is a sad state of affairs.

Read the article. Americans shouldn't accept living in an era of endless war.

Iraq's Chalabi, who sought invasion, now wants U.S. out

Thank you, McClatchy, for continuing to cover Iraq. Remember, since combat operations in Iraq have been declared over there have been 36 U.S. servicemembers killed.

Also, thanks for nothing, Mr. Chalabi, for lying to us in 2002-2003 and helping us decide to invade Iraq in 2003.

Here is a quote from the article:

Still, there is, if nothing else, an irony in Chalabi's avowed opposition to asking the Americans to stay longer. It was Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress that provided much of the false information, including allegations that Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction and had ties to al Qaida, that the Bush administration used to justify the 2003 invasion. Nearly all of the information the INC provided turned out to be untrue.

Division in Iraqi Kurdistan

But Kurdistanis between the ages of 15 and 30 -- approximately 40% of the population -- grew up in an already semi-autonomous Kurdistan. Most of them only heard about the struggle against the former regime from their parents and grandparents.

They did, however, witness the armed struggle for power between the KDP and the PUK from 1994 to 1997, and have lived under two-party rule that dominates political representation, resource management and access to employment. They have little or no contact with the rest of Iraq, attend Kurdish universities, speak Kurdish better than Arabic -- and hold Irbil politically accountable before Baghdad.

In the eyes of this youth, the KDP and PUK have spent the past 20 years prioritizing parochial interests over the national good.

Until the protests started, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) ministries remained split between the two parties -- with no access for others -- and little collaboration has existed between them. Peshmerga forces, long the symbol of national resistance to Hussein's regime, are also divided into two uncooperative branches, one loyal to the KDP and the other to the PUK.

Furthermore, although Kurdistan enjoys better security than the rest of Iraq and has seen investments pour in since 2003, between 35% and 45% of Kurdish youth remain unemployed or underemployed. Political affiliation often regulates advancement.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Careful preparation, rather than expensive weapons, took out Osama Bin Laden

Emotionally, the Bush administration—and the country—felt the need for a major military response after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But although Iraq may still come right in the end, was it the best use of our money and resources? Afghanistan may eventually become stable—but haven't we just learned, if we didn't know it already, that the real and more complicated threat now comes from Pakistan? In 2008, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul told me, in effect, that Pakistan was none of his business. Perhaps it should have been.

Are you kidding me William Braucher Wood? Pakistan was none of your business? No wonder it took almost 10 years to get bin Laden. I bet Ronald Neumann, ambassador from 2005 to 2007, felt the same way.

A new national security team

Here are some quick comments on the national security moves:

It appears clear to me that Ryan Crocker will be an upgrade over Karl Eikenberry as ambassador to Afghanistan.

As to the other moves, in my mind, Secretary Gates is the finest Secretary of Defense in our history. Mr. Panetta, although talented, probably won't come close to Secretary Gates. Secretary Gates has been fighting the DoD bureaucracy since the beginning of his tenure asking for budget cuts and to spend money on "stuff" we need now, not 20 years from now; he was a visionary. Mr. Panetta, a Washington insider, is not a visionary.

With regards to the GEN Petraeus move, it seems like a lateral move that just allows him to collect his Army retirement check and a paycheck for being CIA Director, while keeping him in the United States with his family (most of the time). This move also keeps him off the ballot, an added benefit to career politicians that view him as a potential threat.

Finally, Lt. Gen. Allen will do a fine job in Afghanistan if his work in Iraq's MNF-W is any indicator.



Here is an excerpt from the article:

Perhaps the greatest risk of the reshuffle comes in Afghanistan, where the departure of Gen. Petraeus will remove America’s most skilled military commander from a campaign that appears to be teetering between success and failure. Lt. Gen. Allen, however, was a key contributor to the successful turnaround of the war in Iraq; and Mr. Crocker offers a major improvement over his predecessor, Karl Eikenberry, who contributed substantially to the souring of U.S. relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Stigma of PTSD is costing U.S. lives

I couldn't agree with this op-ed more.