Friday
Feb272009
Obama's new strategy will leave Iraq to be responsible
Friday, February 27, 2009 at 1:39PM
by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
By August 31, 2010 the U.S. combat mission in Iraq will end.
Today at a Press Conference held at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, President Obama addressed his new strategy to end the war in Iraq.
President Obama said that his new strategy would end the war by working on transitioning Iraqis to full responsibility. “To achieve that goal, we will work to promote an Iraqi government that is just, representative, and accountable, and that provides neither support nor safe-haven to terrorists...America’s men and women in uniform, so many of you, fought block by block, province by province, year after year, to give the Iraqis this chance to choose a better future. Now, we must ask the Iraqi people to seize it.”
The first part of Obama’s strategy is to responsibly remove our combat brigades from Iraq. “As we carry out this drawdown, my highest priority will be the safety and security of our troops and civilians in Iraq.” Obama said that once the U.S. has removed combat brigades the next mission is to change from combat to supporting the Iraqi government and its security forces. “As I have long said, we will retain a transitional force to carry out three distinct functions: training, equipping, and advising Iraqi security forces as they remain non sectarian; conducting targeted counter-terrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq.”
The second part of the strategy is to sustain diplomacy between U.S. and Iraq but Obama stated that since Iraq is a sovereign country, America cannot, and should not, take their place. “Diplomacy and assistance is also required to help the millions of displaced Iraqis. These men, women and children are a living consequence of this war and a challenge to stability in the region, and they must become a part of Iraq’s reconciliation and recovery.”
The third part of the strategy would be to help establish productive and normalized relationships with the Middle East region. “Going forward, the United States will pursue principled and sustained engagement with all of the nations in the region, and that will include Iran and Syria.”
Obama also spoke about working on the United States’ relationship with Iraq as well. “Our nations have known difficult times together. But ours is a bond forged by shared bloodshed, and countless friendships among our people. We Americans have offered our most precious resource, our young men and women, to work with you to rebuild what was destroyed by despotism...The United States pursues no claim on your territory or your resources...Going forward we can build a lasting relationship founded upon mutual interests and mutual respect as Iraq takes its rightful place in the community of nations.”
Obama went on to honor U.S. soldiers for their sacrifice and talked about implementing a 21st century GI Bill, and identifying and treating wounds of the war like post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury that many soldiers endure after. “Your sacrifice should challenge all of us, every single American, to ask what we can do to be better citizens.”
By August 31, 2010 the U.S. combat mission in Iraq will end.
Today at a Press Conference held at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, President Obama addressed his new strategy to end the war in Iraq.
President Obama said that his new strategy would end the war by working on transitioning Iraqis to full responsibility. “To achieve that goal, we will work to promote an Iraqi government that is just, representative, and accountable, and that provides neither support nor safe-haven to terrorists...America’s men and women in uniform, so many of you, fought block by block, province by province, year after year, to give the Iraqis this chance to choose a better future. Now, we must ask the Iraqi people to seize it.”
The first part of Obama’s strategy is to responsibly remove our combat brigades from Iraq. “As we carry out this drawdown, my highest priority will be the safety and security of our troops and civilians in Iraq.” Obama said that once the U.S. has removed combat brigades the next mission is to change from combat to supporting the Iraqi government and its security forces. “As I have long said, we will retain a transitional force to carry out three distinct functions: training, equipping, and advising Iraqi security forces as they remain non sectarian; conducting targeted counter-terrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq.”
The second part of the strategy is to sustain diplomacy between U.S. and Iraq but Obama stated that since Iraq is a sovereign country, America cannot, and should not, take their place. “Diplomacy and assistance is also required to help the millions of displaced Iraqis. These men, women and children are a living consequence of this war and a challenge to stability in the region, and they must become a part of Iraq’s reconciliation and recovery.”
The third part of the strategy would be to help establish productive and normalized relationships with the Middle East region. “Going forward, the United States will pursue principled and sustained engagement with all of the nations in the region, and that will include Iran and Syria.”
Obama also spoke about working on the United States’ relationship with Iraq as well. “Our nations have known difficult times together. But ours is a bond forged by shared bloodshed, and countless friendships among our people. We Americans have offered our most precious resource, our young men and women, to work with you to rebuild what was destroyed by despotism...The United States pursues no claim on your territory or your resources...Going forward we can build a lasting relationship founded upon mutual interests and mutual respect as Iraq takes its rightful place in the community of nations.”
Obama went on to honor U.S. soldiers for their sacrifice and talked about implementing a 21st century GI Bill, and identifying and treating wounds of the war like post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury that many soldiers endure after. “Your sacrifice should challenge all of us, every single American, to ask what we can do to be better citizens.”
Iraqi Refugees need U.S. help, advocates say
America must invest more time, money, and human resources to help those displaced by the ongoing Iraq War, according to human rights advocates from the Washington, D.C.-based Refugees International.
The presence of 2.6 million displaced Iraqis persons is overwhelming to neighboring Middle East countries and is “undermining” to the social fabric of Iraq, said Ken Bacon, President of Refugees International, at a speech made today at the National Press Club.
President Barack Obama talked about displacement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during his surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday.
Bacon is happy at what is being seen as a distinct change from the “little attention” that the Bush Administration paid to Iraqi displacement.
It is estimated that since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, 2.6 million Iraqi’s have lost their homes and have fled other parts of the country. An additional 2 million have fled to neighboring countries, including Syria, Jordan and Egypt.
Bacon said that greater American and international support in receiving refugees and providing financial-aid can help stop the crisis.
Displacement of that many people “affects the whole region”, said Bacon, which results in educated citizens and specialized workers fleeing the country.
There are only 18,000 practicing doctors in Iraq, down from 32,000 doctors in 2002. There are more Iraqi doctors in Jordan than in Iraq’s capitol city of Baghdad, Bacon said.
Last year Democratic Senators Robert Casey (PA) and Benjamin Cardin (MD) introduced a bill to increase aid to Iraqi refugees and allow more of them to enter the United States. Since the FY2010 Budget has been approved by Congress, any appropriated funds to help Iraqi citizens would have to come through additional legislation, Bacon said.
A spokesman for Senator Cardin said it has not been decided yet if similar legislation would be introduced in this Congress.
Refugee International’s Field Report on the Iraqi refugee situation said that the Iraqi government is trying to keep more of its citizens from fleeing their homeland. It is feared by the Iraqi government that the existence of so many refugees tarnishes the image of overall security within the country.
The report also said Iraq violated international refugee laws in 2007 by asking Syria not to accept any more Iraqi refugees.
Many refugees have fears of returning home, the report says, because many of those that returned already have been killed.
Kristele Younes, an advocate with Refugees International, says that security is a major issue in Iraqi neighborhoods, with each little borough acting as its own walled off “fiefdom”.
Younes said that the United Nations is trying to place a tourniquet on the flow of persons out of the country by the end of the year, but significant challenges remain in Iraq, including budgetary shortcomings due to low oil prices, corruption within the government and sectarianism.
The Refugees International’s report on Iraq can be found here.