I hate to get political, but today I read the headlines “U.S. forces to leave Saudi Arabia this year” and thought to myself “Could that be because they will instead now be stationed in Iraq for the next 20 years?”. Note, I am not talking about occupation or anything silly like that, but it seems to me that this is a token effort to make it look like we are maintaining less of a presence in the Middle East (one of Osama’s biggest gripes was our troops stationed in Saudi Arabia). Even if occupation has been ruled out, it would truly surprise me if there wasn’t a US military presence in Iraq for some time to come.
On a less noteworthy note: $0.99 isn’t too much to pay for a single song…. People used to buy ’45s like they were Pokemon at that same price 20 years ago (and they were forced into that pesky B-side too!).
Actually, we’re moving most of our forces in the region to Qatar.
I read that as well, but I still would be surprised if there wasn’t a sizable presence in Iraq for some time to come.
Most of the troops in Saudi Arabia were their to support Operataion Southern Watch. The operations were maintained throughout the war becuase we used the Joint Air Operations Center at Prince Sultan
Air Base to run the entire air war. As soon as another one is built in Qatar those forces will be moved while a skelaton crew maintains the one in Saudi Arabia, just in case…
No decision has been made for long term deployments in Iraq as per the Pentagon briefing a week ago.
I read that as well, but I still would be surprised if there wasn’t a sizable presence in Iraq for some time to come.
I am also curious to see how this pans out. But I think we have to separate the tactical presence of forces in Iraq during the reconstruction period and a strategic force. I hate to use old examples but we occupied Germany for 5 years while denazification and reconstruction happened. Hell Patton ran Bavaria for over a year! I would not expect this venture to be much quicker if not longer. That aside I would be surprised if their was any significant strategic force structure in Iraq any time soon. The only upside is a place to hold ground troops because the Air Force has the legs to go anywhere else in the Middle East already, with less political baggage. Now I would be surprised if their wasn’t a strategic defense framework of some sort on paper when the new government is formed so we could get access if we needed it. Although all bets are off if we have a Germany/Soviet | South Korea/North Korea | Japan/China situation involving Syria or Iran, but I think that is unlikely given the asymmetry of military capability.
Why do you “hate to get political?”
Because, and this is just my opinion, I get sick of reading political bullshit in other people’s journals…. I hate to get political because I feel like I am just further polluting the well. I’d rather keep my opinions to myself.
Wow. You’re entitled to that, although I’d say there are no opinions more important to share — more worth sharing — than political opinions. I don’t see how meaningful discussion on anything is “polluting the well.”
One aspect of what you’re saying I do agree with – I don’t have the experience with politics that I do with technology, for example. So sometimes I fear I might be talking out my ass. But there’s no better way to change that than to have political discussions, online or in meatspace.
But there’s no better way to change that than to have political discussions, online or in meatspace.
Oh, My aversion to political discussion is pretty much limited to online…. I have political discussions offline all the time…