Britain leaves Iraq in shame.

The US won't go so quietly?.

The Guardian

Obama was elected on the back of revulsion at Bush's war, but greater pressure will be needed to force a full withdrawal

If British troops are indeed withdrawn from Iraq by next June, it will signal the end of the most shameful and disastrous episode in modern British history. Branded only last month by Lord Bingham, until recently Britain's most senior law lord, as a "serious violation of international law", the aggression against Iraq has not only devastated an entire country and left hundreds of thousands dead - it has also been a political and military humiliation for the invading powers.

In the case of Britain, which marched into a sovereign state at the bidding of an extreme and reckless US administration, the war has been a national disgrace which has damaged the country's international standing. Britain's armed forces will withdraw from Iraq with dishonour. Not only were they driven from Basra city last summer under cover of darkness by determined resistance, just as British colonial troops were forced out of Aden 40 years ago - and Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places, before that. But they leave behind them an accumulation of evidence of prisoner beatings, torture and killings, for which only one low-ranking soldier, Corporal Payne, has so far been singled out for punishment.

It's necessary to spell out this brutal reality as a corrective to the official tendency to minimise or normalise the horror of what has evidently been a criminal enterprise - enthusiastically supported by David Cameron and William Hague, it should be remembered, as well as Tony Blair and his government - and a reminder of the dangers of escalating the war that can't be won in Afghanistan. It was probably just as well that the timetable for British withdrawal from Iraq was given in a background military briefing, after Gordon Brown's earlier schedule for troop reductions was vetoed by George Bush.

But in any case, in the wake of Barack Obama's election on a partial withdrawal ticket, the latest plans look a good deal more credible. They are also welcome, of course, even if several hundred troops are to stay behind to train Iraqis. It would be far better both for Britain and Iraq if there were a clean break and a full withdrawal of all British forces in preparation for a comprehensive public inquiry into the Iraq catastrophe. Instead, and in a pointer to the shape of things to come, British troops at Basra airport are being replaced by US forces.

Meanwhile, the real meaning of last month's security agreement between the US and Iraqi governments is becoming clearer, as Obama's administration-in-waiting briefs the press and officials highlight the small print. This "status of forces agreement", which replaces the UN's shotgun mandate for the occupation forces at the end of this month, had been hailed by some as an unequivocal deal to end the occupation within three years.

There's no doubt that Iraq's Green Zone government, under heavy pressure from its own people and neighbours such as Iran, extracted significant concessions from US negotiators to the blanket occupation licence in the original text. The final agreement does indeed stipulate that US forces will withdraw by the end of 2011, that combat troops will leave urban areas by July next year, contractors and off-duty US soldiers will be subject to Iraqi law and that Iraqi territory cannot be used to attack other countries.

The fact that the US was forced to make such commitments reflects the intensity of both Iraqi and American public opposition to the occupation, the continuing Iraqi resistance war of attrition against US forces, and Obama's tumultuous election on a commitment to pull out all combat troops in 16 months. Even so, the deal was denounced as treason - for legitimising foreign occupation and bases - by the supporters of the popular Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, resistance groups and the influential Association of Muslim Scholars.

And since his November triumph, Obama has gone out of his way to emphasise his commitment to maintaining a "residual force" for fighting "terrorism", training and protection of US civilians - which his security adviser Richard Danzig estimated could amount to between 30,000 and 55,000 troops.

Briefings by Pentagon officials have also made clear this residual force could remain long after 2011. It turns out that the new security agreement can be ditched by either side, while the Iraqi government is fully entitled to invite US troops to remain, as explained in the accompanying "strategic framework agreement", so long as its bases or presence are not defined as "permanent". And given that the current Iraqi government would be unlikely to survive a week without US protection, such a request is a fair bet. Combat troops can also be "re-missioned" as "support units", it transpires, and even the last-minute concession of a referendum on the agreement next year will not, the Iraqi government now says, be binding.

None of this means there won't be a substantial withdrawal of troops from Iraq after Obama takes over the White House next month. But how far that withdrawal goes will depend on the kind of pressure he faces both at home and in Iraq. The US establishment clearly remains committed to a long-term stewardship of Iraq. The Iraqi government is at this moment negotiating secret 20-year contracts with US and British oil majors to manage 90% of the country's oil production. The struggle to end US occupation and control of the country is far from won.

The same goes for the wider shadow of the war on terror, of which Iraq has been the grisly centrepiece. Its legacy has been strategic overreach and failure for the US: from the rise of Iran as a regional power, the deepening imbroglio of the Afghan war, the advance of Hamas and Hizbullah and threat of implosion in Pakistan - quite apart from the advance of the nationalist left in Latin America and the growing challenge from Russia and China. But at its heart has been the demonstration of American weakness in Iraq, the three trillion-dollar war that helped drive the US economy into crisis.

No wonder the US elite has wanted a complete change of direction and Bush was last week reduced to mumbling his regrets about the "intelligence failure in Iraq". For Obama, the immediate foreign policy tests are clear: if he delivers on Iraq, negotiates in Afghanistan and engages with Iran, he will start to justify the global hopes that have been invested in him. If not, he will lay the ground for a new phase of conflict with the rest of the world.

There is NOTHING shameful about Britain being in Iraq or not
It's GOVERNMENTS that put troops there, not the general public
Most Brits couldnt give a F**K about Iraq, or its people
sorry if that hurts, but the truth often does!
And the only reason most brits support a widthdrawal of troops is because
no Iraqi is worth the blood of a British Soldier, Or American come to that.

Perhaps all those "Bleeding Hearts" should have gone to live under Saddam Hussein's regime, then come back and say how "Evil" George Bush is !!!!

dogsbody

Perhaps all those "Bleeding Hearts" should have gone to live under Saddam Hussein's regime,

You think so..??

Are you on drug or something..??

You ignorant idiot..

Saddam Hussein is a character in which the stupid media in the west wants you to believe.

What Saddam Hussein..??

Ain't that a cool guy supported by US official during the 8 years of war with Iran..??

Fuck you ignorant..

Put in you fucking mind..

Saddam Hussein in NOT the IRAQ

Jeeezz... Do I have to make conversations with the retarded..??

Ehh..

You are an idiot.. admit it?!

Of course it is? read the real history..
To much to ask..??

And for you info asshole? I don't hate America or Americans.

I hate when people or nations means something to me.. Americans means NOTHIN!

I've said it long time ago.. do I have to repeat myself again..??

Yeah.. right...

Say if the god damn Kuwait produced nothing more than cotton, will the fucking US still in the position to defend it..??

Wake up dude...

And then? releasing 600 tons of DU in the area (Iraq) making the whole M.E. unbelieveling inhabitant for alomst 4,5 mill years is the greatest advancement of the US and your fucking kind of democracy!

Do you know what fucking DU is..—... BOY..??

treetrunk you Q I don't give a butter what you think about America.

Then shut the FUCK up and let people have their meaning..OK:..?

44..?? lol..
4 more years to go PUNK!

The age means nothing; the knowledge means something are we on it..??

I know what the butter is, I also know what war is

You have absolutely no fucking Idea what the WAR is shut the hell up dude..

Like I said.. you have no fucking idea..!

Shut the fuck up..!

NONE??_.Read the history..

We owe you nothing!

if you want to know how I feel about the war...ask me when it is over.

Really..?? (Your daughter is there by her choice including yours) No one asks you to be there murdering the locals in the name of fighting terrorism, who do you kidding..??

Sixty-six thousand Americans lost their lives in Vietnam

Fifty seven thousands! Why do you over dramatise the thing.. Beside why don't you start counting 2, 3 millions of Vietnamese civilians lost..? like their lives means noting!

I told you before jerk. Knowledge is the key your colonial power destroys everything.

Why do you brought up Vietnam in this,,??

One question.. in fact the ONLY question.. Who do you kidding..??

I supposed that rancid apartheid regime the Dutch set up in South Africa is more to your liking?

What's that suppose to mean..??

Dutch is not Norway you asshole, beside I am talking about colonial powers??_ name a region which is colonised by NORWAY..!

NONE??_!! While British and north American are good at this shit??_

Self righteous fucking powers??_

If we weren't in god damn NATO we wouldn't be in Bosnia or Afghanistan in the first place I told you before.. READ THE GODDAMN HISTORY you ignorant bitch.

England colonized by Viking raiding parties,

That was happened 1000 years ago.. and they were PIRATES??_we are talking about NOW times??_

Now shit head...name one..??

Iraq is the US colony because of their oil..OIL.....!

Terrorists fighting... my ass...

Again.. who do you kidding..??

CNN may not have given extensive coverage to the facts but Russia admitted to selling Saddam nukes.

Yeah right??_

7 years of wars.. 2 million death and still looking for WMD??s..!
Who do you kidding asshole..??

You see, the Vikings has nothing to do with this, it is pure American /coalitions murdering act out for bloods.. any bloods will do the business..

You are responsible and you are going to pay for this!

You people been killing for thousands of years in europe, including Norway, so treetrunk off.

Lmao..

You are an idiot??_!

I hate when people or nations means something to me.. Americans means NOTHIN!

And what significant contribution stamping out terrorism has NORWAY made?

In fact, what percentage of people actually know there NORWAY is??

I dont normaly rave on like this but some people's attitudes make my blood boil.
I for one, am thankful we live in the society we do.
If people (and i use that term loosely) like Qbone are so "Pro-Middle East" let them go and live there.
No , its easier to sit in your nice little house in NORWAY (remind me where that is again) surrounded by western creature comforts and criticise those that are actually doing something to make the world a safer place.
Qbone - were you one of those dancing in the streets when Sept 11th happened?
You are a disgrace to the very society that you come from.

?? All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

?? Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person (Article 3)

You ignorant son of a bitch

You tell me that its only applicable to American/ British life western for that matter??_

dogsbody

What terrorism..??

You are deluding yourself..??

like Qbone are so "Pro-Middle East" let them go and live there.

I am not pro middle east boy.. I am pro life, live and let live who the fuck the western powers they think they are to control the planet and its resources..?

Qbone - were you one of those dancing in the streets when Sept 11th happened?

It was jews.. I am not a jew??_

I would be rather dead..!

Now if Mexico attacked us , I bet you would mot be screaming about the poor lost souls in California, now would you.

You are right.. I give a FUCK??_!

I think Qbone is angry coz Britain never votes for Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 🙂

You have fucking ways to divert the subject from the reality para history will never change and you, your country men, and the Americans will be judged, hope the god (if he exist) will forgive you.

I don't.

Me ran away..??

Lmao...
I believe I've said enough... you are the one bitching around??_

I don't hate Jews... Zionists I hate, not Jews... My best friends are Jews asshole... go wash your mouth sucker..

Goddamn punk..

You hate communism but you love jews??_ American double standards... lmao.

Your Nation has proved . I mean really if you people are so keen on civil rights why have you not been willing to sacrifice for their benefit?

OSLO declaration asshole??_. Oslo declaration??_

The one you sabotage it??_

Hell .. have I said that I hate Jews..?? you are the only one who are bitching around this subject . mind your own fucking opinions.

Race..??

Since when to be Jewish becomes a race factor..?? to be Jewish is a matter of faith, not Race..!

The Oslo declaration sent your vaunted soldiers to....the ice cream parlor?...tattoo shop?

Yeah lot better than murdering civilians..