yota691

Hopefully its about Ch 7 an the visit 2 Wh with Mr O, well Mr O has avoid all framework that been laid out before he enter office. He wants his campaign promise, but hopefully he listen to his Chain of Command advice. Imo just don't see abandond all the sacarfice that been given, an the accomplished made. Why throw in the towel. On a campaign promise.

May the Truth set you FREE

Whats up with you, ever heard the saying freedom of speech!! Our you one of those Mr O. supporters? The O stands for zero. In what he done to Make America Great. So if you don't like what one says about Mr O i suggest you hit the road. Thanks the Good Lord we have a elections coming up, cause the way i see it, Hit the road jack don't come back no more no more, hit the road Jack or what ever your name is Mr O!!

It just how much they truly investigate prior to printing a article

Iraqi dinars: Smart investment or smoke and mirrors? By Connie Thompson Published: Nov 10, 2011 at 7:57 PM PST Some people looking to cushion their retirement savings are getting tips about potential profits in foreign currency investments. One of the hottest currencies right now is the Iraqi dinar. Before the Iran-Iraq war broke out in 1980, one Iraqi dinar was worth more than $3 in U.S. currency. Today, one dinar is worth mere pennies. The investment theory is that once Iraq is stable, the dinar value will skyrocket, turning some people into instant millionaires. Type in the word "dinar" into an Internet search, and you'll find endless websites jumping at the chance to sell you any quantity of uncirculated dinar notes. Many brokers who sell the notes promote the huge profit you can make when the value of the dinar is eventually increased by as much as a thousand percent, or much more. But state and federal regulators warn dinar investment scams are pervasive. Many of the sellers are not registered as required. There's no official dinar value, so sellers set the price. Counterfeit dinars are a common problem. And you can only redeem dinars in Iraq. Then, there's the fact that revaluation may never happen. The state Department of Financial Institutions and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission say they get complaints from investors who lost their money. In some case, scam victims have discovered the real looking notes they paid for are fake. Brokers, financial advisors and economists warn that despite all protests to the contrary, investing in foreign currency - in this case devalued dinars - is highly speculative and extremely risky. If anyone promotes an Iraqi dinar investment (or any investment for that matter), as a having a guaranteed high return, you must accept the fact that there's a high probability you will never see your money again. There is no guarantee. And in the case of fraud or loss, you have no recourse. Bottom line: if you can't afford to lose it all, don't do it. http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/133668093.html

A Central Bank official reveals a growth in the cash reserves of the Iraqi currency dinar to about 60B USD November 10, 2011 Al-Suaegh said that the increase in pro cover currency will increase the confidence of global economies in Iraqi currency. The collapse of the Iraqi dinar mid-nineties the past caused by the former regime withdrawing large amounts of cash to cover the currency for the purpose of bridging the expenses of the State after stopping the export of oil due to the economic blockade.(Source) CBI http://www.edinarfinancial.net/news/?quer=&nm=&ny=&nn=646

Al-Tai said in a statement to the Agency (news) on Saturday: The coming years will see a large movement in the country of the age, investment and construction investment projects and significant economic growth across different sectors and be different from previous years which were years of political and military, showing that the government began to focus on strategic investment plans for the purpose for the advancement of the Iraqi economy. Al-Tai added that the Central Bank reserves is today considered one of the largest financial reserves in the history of Iraq, where the rate of more than (60) billion dollars, and this is reflected positively on the exchange rate of the Iraqi dinar and strengthening in international transactions, as well as it will attract investors to Iraq and this is evidence that the coming years will be economic. Al-Tai called for the need for economic integration between the different sectors through activated such as industry, agriculture, tourism, etc., because it will ensure the success of the economic development of the country. A member of the parliamentary Economic Committee said that Iraq has a great economic and natural wealth and human resources are exploited, even if true it would be a serious and Iraq, one of the richest countries in the world, it needs a thorough study and plans for an integrated strategy for advancement. Amer Al-Fayez ,member of the economy and investment in the parliament and MP / National Alliance , had stressed that the need to activate the private sector through the provision of infrastructure and support needed for the purpose of opening large investment projects, through which to provide jobs for large numbers of unemployed, which will contribute to reducing the rate of unemployment in Iraq. Fayez said in an earlier statement (of the Agency news): There are many laws related to activate the private sector provide it with all the necessary support and facilities, stressing it will be approved by the House of Parliament in order to take his role in the investment and operation of the labor of many for the purpose of absorbing unemployment.(Source)Azzaman http://www.edinarfinancial.net/news/?quer=&nm=&ny=&nn=648

First Lt. Daniel Riesenberger used to patrol the streets of Iraqi towns and speak to civilians to find out if there was any trouble. The Iraqi citizens sometimes talked and other times, if they shied away, it became an obvious sign that there was suspicious activity in the area. Riesenberger, a professor of military science since Aug. 2010, patrolled in West Karmah, Iraq, only a few months after he had graduated from JMU in May 2005. It was the beginning of a day he’d never forget. As an overhead surveillance helicopter buzzed over, a marine attached to Risenberger’s unit relayed information about a sighting he’d made. In a nearby town, the helicopter reported that there were 15-20 men in black outfits running what looked like a checkpoint on a bridge. Members of Al-Qaeda were known for wearing black outfits, and the area they were sighted in was infested with the enemy. Riesenberger’s platoon of 38 men moved quickly to get into their truck and drive to a point close to where the potential Al-Qaeda group men was sighted. The unit then clambered out of the truck and proceeded on foot to a palm grove near the bridge. The truck stayed behind them. As enemy shots rang out, Riesenberger’s unit hit the ground as one, using a dirt mound for cover. Bullets hit the other side, making a sharp snapping noise, like people snapping their fingers, Riesenberger said. The only thing between his unit and the bullets was a wall of dirt about a foot and a half across. Then, everything went quiet. “It was like in the movies,” Riesenberger said. It was about 110 degrees, and he was sweating. He wasn’t wearing earplugs, and the sound of his own weapon was deafening. “In that moment, everything gets silent, and you can only hear your heartbeat,” Riesenberger said. “It’s impossible to explain. It sounds like shooting a cap gun. When they fly by, it’s like there’s a snap to it. You don’t have to have heard it before, to be aware of what it is and the dangers.” After a three-minute firefight, one of the men in black on the bridge was shot and killed. The rest of the men fled. The dead man was clutching a trash bag filled with millions of Iraqi dinar — the equivalent of several thousand dollars — and an assortment of weapons. Riesenberger and his unit searched a nearby village for the rest of the men, but couldn’t find anyone. The helicopter surveying the unit told them the group on the bridge was beyond reach, and they wouldn’t be caught. On the way back, exhaustion drove Riesenberger to tell the driver to pull over. He then vomited all over the desert sand. Troops will no longer have to go through situations like that in Iraq as Obama recently made an announcement on Oct. 21 saying all troops will be removed from Iraq by the end of this year, according to the BBC. Riesenberger fully supports the president’s decision to take the troops out of Iraq. “It is time for the Iraqis to be able to defend for themselves. They are in a better place than they were before,” Riesenberger said. “Now we can focus on Afghanistan and eventually bringing home everyone. That’s the goal.” Riesenberger was a freshman at JMU when the World Trade Center fell. He immediately wanted to drop out and enlist, but he stayed in school upon his friends’ and family’s insistence. In high school, he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do and had thought about getting a law degree. “Once I came to JMU, I tried out the ROTC program and thought it was a lot of fun,” Riesenberger said. “You get the best of both worlds by going to college here and doing ROTC. It’s not just military; it’s also the typical college experience.” Riesenberger has no family military tradition, never planned to enlist, and attended JMU as an out-of-state student from Newark, Delaware. He graduated in 2005 with a BS in public administration. Three months later, Riesenberger was commissioned as a first lieutenant and deployed to Iraq on Oct. 5, 2006, for his first battle experience. He always expected to go into infantry, which he did during his first turn in Iraq with the very men he graduated with. After spending almost a year in Iraq, the first taste of home Riesenberger received was in Alaska, when he landed there at the end of his deployment right before Thanksgiving 2007. The base was plastered with banners that family and friends had made as a welcome home. The men and women stood in formation to hear a few words from the commander, and then there was a swell of civilians and troops rushing toward one another with arms outstretched. Riesenberger’s mother, Heidi, was one of them. “When the brigade marched into the gymnasium, and we laid eyes upon him, it was an overwhelming rush of pride, love and relief,” she said. After a joyous reunion, they went out to eat at a restaurant named Moose’s Tooth, and Riesenberger immediately ordered a pizza and a 16 oz. beer. “It was a large beer. I won’t lie, it got to me. That’s what not drinking for 13 months does to a man,” Riesenberger said with a laugh. “It tasted wonderful; it tasted good to be home.” As he adjusted to life stateside, there were some changes he had to make. Riesenberger said that everyday tasks took on an extra meaning. “A lady behind me dropped a box she was carrying, and I immediately jumped and turned around because my senses were still on high,” Riesenberger said. Riesenberger said these days, he pays more attention to his surroundings. “Driving at home I find myself scanning the sides of the road, being more cautious,” Riesenberger said. On his second deployment from August 2009 to July 2010, he worked with members of his military translation team on an advisory team as a captain and intelligence officer that worked hand-in-hand with the Department of Border Enforcement for Iraq. Riesenberger has been working at JMU as a professor of military science since August 2010. “Since his return from the second deployment, I know he had been looking forward to establishing some permanent roots here at home,” Heidi said. Terry Hoover, a senior international affairs major, said Riesenberger is a good trainer and relatable because of his past roots. “He is a former cadet of the same program,” Hoover said. “He speaks to us like a teacher and doesn’t look down on us or yell at us.” Riesenberger is the instructor in charge of training juniors and the overall planning of ROTC training. Riesenberger doesn’t plan on deploying again because he’ll be leaving the army next summer. Instead, Riesenberger will be getting married to fiancée, Heather Vazquez, a 2010 JMU graduate, whom he met at Dave’s Downtown Taverna. Life has come full circle for this JMU alumnus. First Lt. Daniel Riesenberger used to patrol the streets of Iraqi towns and speak to civilians to find out if there was any trouble. The Iraqi citizens sometimes talked and other times, if they shied away, it became an obvious sign that there was suspicious activity in the area. Riesenberger, a professor of military science since Aug. 2010, patrolled in West Karmah, Iraq, only a few months after he had graduated from JMU in May 2005. It was the beginning of a day he’d never forget. As an overhead surveillance helicopter buzzed over, a marine attached to Risenberger’s unit relayed information about a sighting he’d made. In a nearby town, the helicopter reported that there were 15-20 men in black outfits running what looked like a checkpoint on a bridge. Members of Al-Qaeda were known for wearing black outfits, and the area they were sighted in was infested with the enemy. Riesenberger’s platoon of 38 men moved quickly to get into their truck and drive to a point close to where the potential Al-Qaeda group men was sighted. The unit then clambered out of the truck and proceeded on foot to a palm grove near the bridge. The truck stayed behind them. As enemy shots rang out, Riesenberger’s unit hit the ground as one, using a dirt mound for cover. Bullets hit the other side, making a sharp snapping noise, like people snapping their fingers, Riesenberger said. The only thing between his unit and the bullets was a wall of dirt about a foot and a half across. Then, everything went quiet. “It was like in the movies,” Riesenberger said. It was about 110 degrees, and he was sweating. He wasn’t wearing earplugs, and the sound of his own weapon was deafening. “In that moment, everything gets silent, and you can only hear your heartbeat,” Riesenberger said. “It’s impossible to explain. It sounds like shooting a cap gun. When they fly by, it’s like there’s a snap to it. You don’t have to have heard it before, to be aware of what it is and the dangers.” After a three-minute firefight, one of the men in black on the bridge was shot and killed. The rest of the men fled. The dead man was clutching a trash bag filled with millions of Iraqi dinar — the equivalent of several thousand dollars — and an assortment of weapons. Riesenberger and his unit searched a nearby village for the rest of the men, but couldn’t find anyone. The helicopter surveying the unit told them the group on the bridge was beyond reach, and they wouldn’t be caught. On the way back, exhaustion drove Riesenberger to tell the driver to pull over. He then vomited all over the desert sand. Troops will no longer have to go through situations like that in Iraq as Obama recently made an announcement on Oct. 21 saying all troops will be removed from Iraq by the end of this year, according to the BBC. Riesenberger fully supports the president’s decision to take the troops out of Iraq. “It is time for the Iraqis to be able to defend for themselves. They are in a better place than they were before,” Riesenberger said. “Now we can focus on Afghanistan and eventually bringing home everyone. That’s the goal.” Riesenberger was a freshman at JMU when the World Trade Center fell. He immediately wanted to drop out and enlist, but he stayed in school upon his friends’ and family’s insistence. In high school, he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do and had thought about getting a law degree. “Once I came to JMU, I tried out the ROTC program and thought it was a lot of fun,” Riesenberger said. “You get the best of both worlds by going to college here and doing ROTC. It’s not just military; it’s also the typical college experience.” Riesenberger has no family military tradition, never planned to enlist, and attended JMU as an out-of-state student from Newark, Delaware. He graduated in 2005 with a BS in public administration. Three months later, Riesenberger was commissioned as a first lieutenant and deployed to Iraq on Oct. 5, 2006, for his first battle experience. He always expected to go into infantry, which he did during his first turn in Iraq with the very men he graduated with. After spending almost a year in Iraq, the first taste of home Riesenberger received was in Alaska, when he landed there at the end of his deployment right before Thanksgiving 2007. The base was plastered with banners that family and friends had made as a welcome home. The men and women stood in formation to hear a few words from the commander, and then there was a swell of civilians and troops rushing toward one another with arms outstretched. Riesenberger’s mother, Heidi, was one of them. “When the brigade marched into the gymnasium, and we laid eyes upon him, it was an overwhelming rush of pride, love and relief,” she said. After a joyous reunion, they went out to eat at a restaurant named Moose’s Tooth, and Riesenberger immediately ordered a pizza and a 16 oz. beer. “It was a large beer. I won’t lie, it got to me. That’s what not drinking for 13 months does to a man,” Riesenberger said with a laugh. “It tasted wonderful; it tasted good to be home.” As he adjusted to life stateside, there were some changes he had to make. Riesenberger said that everyday tasks took on an extra meaning. “A lady behind me dropped a box she was carrying, and I immediately jumped and turned around because my senses were still on high,” Riesenberger said. Riesenberger said these days, he pays more attention to his surroundings. “Driving at home I find myself scanning the sides of the road, being more cautious,” Riesenberger said. On his second deployment from August 2009 to July 2010, he worked with members of his military translation team on an advisory team as a captain and intelligence officer that worked hand-in-hand with the Department of Border Enforcement for Iraq. Riesenberger has been working at JMU as a professor of military science since August 2010. “Since his return from the second deployment, I know he had been looking forward to establishing some permanent roots here at home,” Heidi said. Terry Hoover, a senior international affairs major, said Riesenberger is a good trainer and relatable because of his past roots. “He is a former cadet of the same program,” Hoover said. “He speaks to us like a teacher and doesn’t look down on us or yell at us.” Riesenberger is the instructor in charge of training juniors and the overall planning of ROTC training. Riesenberger doesn’t plan on deploying again because he’ll be leaving the army next summer. Instead, Riesenberger will be getting married to fiancée, Heather Vazquez, a 2010 JMU graduate, whom he met at Dave’s Downtown Taverna. Life has come full circle for this JMU alumnus. http://www.breezejmu.org/news/article_aa492b14-0b66-11e1-bc8f-0019bb30f31a.html

ok if these accustation are false lets cut out these ladies tongues.

Jmo but all the facts are not out, I guess Herman Cain guilty on just the fact that these accuser say so. What happen to innocence until proven guilty. Don't get me wrong I don't aprove of any these accusations, but I want as Paul Harveys says, the rest of the story.

I take it live sc he doesnt take it

If one was to read up on Mr. O capaigns he has always (muddie the opponet). Never had any kind of a record to stand on.

Ty u can ckose this out. I didnt see that

Mr. or Ms or Mrs, Admin, I often read this site from my phone. Can ya'll put a Homepage button down on the bottom of the page? I have to slide all the way back up to the top to acess, updated to the min. I no I can hit the back button but that create a older page. I was just wondering I've try everything, also would help others. Ty 4 ya time

interview with senior kurdish politician: kurds will stay in iraq ‘but only if article 140 is acted upon’ | عربي | کوردی niqash | Adel Kamal | Mosul | 03.11.2011 The state of Ninawa is a troubled one, with Kurdish and Arab residents in conflict over politics, power and land ownership. NIQASH spoke to a senior Kurdish politician about Kurdish military presence there and whether the Kurdish will push for their own nation. The local government of the Iraqi state of Ninawa is one of the most troubled in Iraq. Ninawa’s council first convened on April 12, 2009, after local elections that saw the political balance of power tip in favour of the Hadba list, comprised of parties with an Arab majority. Hadba’s main rival, the Kurdish-dominated Ninawa Brotherly List, had previously dominated the council although this was mainly because when the first round of provincial elections was held, the local Sunni Arab population boycotted them. At the time al-Qaeda were in control of the area. All of which meant that the Kurdish parties – the Kurdish population is in the minority in the province - were elected to take charge after the first provincial elections with a significant majority. However after the second round of elections in 2009, when the Sunni Arab majority did vote, the Arab dominated bloc took control of the council. The 37 seats of Ninawa’s council are now distributed like this: the Hadba list has 19 seats, the Islamic party and the Shabak and Yazidi minorities have three seats each and the single Christian representative, one seat. Kurdish politicians still managed to gain 12 seats, around a quarter of the votes, but after the Arab parties took all of the major positions of power on the council, the Kurdish walked out. They said they would boycott the council operations indefinitely due to the unfair imbalance in leadership positions. Mohammed Amin Daloyee is the head of the Mosul branch of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the party led by the president of the semi autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan region. The Christian member of the council has also been refusing to attend council meetings because, internal sources say, of pressure from the Kurdish politicians. Additionally a number of Ninawa’s districts, the ones which have a Kurdish majority living in them, including Shikhan, Makhmour and Shunnar, also made it clear that they would not be governed by the new Arab-dominated council. They also asked that their districts be made part of the neighbouring semi-autonomous state of Iraqi Kurdistan. But problems in the area do not just revolve around the distribution of ministerial positions. Politicians on the Hadba list have also said that they will not tolerate the annexation of any of Ninawa’s districts in favour of Iraqi Kurdistan. And that is even if Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution is implemented and finds this to be a fair solution to former policies of Arabisation. Article 140 was formulated in 2003 to remedy the expulsions, the ethnic cleansing and Arabisation led by former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein, through three steps. These are, firstly, normalization - a return of Kurds and other residents displaced by Arabisation – followed by a census taken to determine the demographic makeup of the province's population and then finally, a referendum to determine the status of disputed territories. Obviously whether a territory is home to mainly Kurds or mainly Arabs will have an effect on who can lay claim to the area. The Hadba list also considers illegal the presence of Kurdish military forces, who say they are there to protect the lives of Kurdish citizens living in the area. NIQASH: Some politicians from within the state’s government have said that Article 140 is “dead” and that there is no way it can ever be acted upon. Your reaction to those kinds of comments? Mohammed Amin Daloyee: To those who say that Article 140 is dead or impossible to implement, we say that this is nonsense. It is one of the current articles of the Iraqi Constitution, which was approved by 80 percent of the Iraqi people. By saying that this Article is insignificant, they’re insinuating that the whole Iraqi Constitution is insignificant too. And those who think this way obviously do not want a united Iraq. They’re also expressing hostility toward the Kurdish people. For eight decades we have been fighting for our rights and Article 140 is part of a reinstatement of some of those rights. We insist that this Article is correct because we have chosen to live in Iraq as a united country. NIQASH: Some have also said that Article 140 does not apply to the whole of Ninawa, rather, that it only applies to the city of Kirkuk. Daloyee: It is as clear as daylight which areas are being disputed. There are 16 administrative districts in the state of Ninawa that have a Kurdish majority. Article 140 tackles three issues: normalization, a census and a referendum. All of which will allow the people living in these areas to determine the future of the district they live in. Those who say that Article 140 only applies to Kirkuk are wrong. NIQASH: Despite the fact that you were voted into power, your political coalition has boycotted the state government for the past two and a half years. How much does your boycott have to do with how your opposition, the Arab-majority Hadba list, has taken up most of the significant posts in the local government - and when do you think the boycott might end? Daloyee: Mainly we demand a part in decision making in Ninawa. We’re not as concerned about the governmental posts. Having said that, because we have 12 seats – that is one third of the seats in the state government - we believe we have a right to some of them. We accepted the results of the election but there are those who do not want us to participate in decision making. And this is why we have decided to boycott the provincial government. NIQASH: The governor of Ninawa, Atheel al-Nujaifi, appears to have attempted to bring your party and the Hadba party closer together in order to resolve this dispute. But your party doesn’t seem to be responding well to these attempts. Daloyee: If the Hadba makes one move, then we will be happy to make two. But words should be followed by deeds – and unfortunately this has not happened. Negotiations between the two lists are taking place at the highest levels but as I said earlier, the biggest obstacle to any resolution is the way in which our members have been marginalized and excluded from the decision making process. NIQASH: Apparently there’s been deterioration in state services in the 16 administrative districts under Kurdish control. So who is responsible for that deterioration: the Kurdish politicians or the state government? Daloyee: These areas are still the responsibility of Ninawa's provincial authority. And they’re suffering because of the unfair way in which the state’s budget for development was distributed, both this year and last year. For example, the Sinjar district – which is one of the poorest in Iraq with a per capita income of one Iraqi dinar a day [uS$0.80 cents] – has suffered injustice and deprivation for decades. Saddam Hussein did not allow the Kurdish people in this area to earn a living and they are still suffering today. The provincial council continues to neglect this area – despite the fact that floods destroyed property and displaced hundreds of people in April 2011. NIQASH: There are politicians who have called for the removal of Kurdish security and military forces in the region, the Peshmerga and the Asayish. They consider them an illegal vanguard of a greater military force sponsored by the semi-autonomous state of Iraqi Kurdistan. Daloyee: The members of the Peshmerga did not come from another planet. They’re often residents of the areas in which they work. And generally, they have intervened because they were asked to do so by Iraq’s former prime minister Ayed Allawi. If the Peshmerga had not been deployed in places like Sinjar, Tal Afar, Bartella and Zamar, then terrorists would have claimed the lives of many more innocent people. People have absolute confidence in the Peshmerga – we don’t attack anyone and we do not accept to be attacked. Terrorism doesn’t care whether you are Arab or Kurdish. NIQASH: What is your assessment of the security situation in Ninawa? Daloyee: So far, it’s stable but let’s be honest: the city of Mosul will not be safe or secure unless there is proper cooperation between all parties, especially the true representatives of the Ninawa province. Terrorists are continuously targeting the Kurds and official statistics indicate that more than 2,000 Kurds have been killed in the city of Mosul. Tens of thousands have left the city and many of them have lost their homes. Politicians deliberately overlook this, or even twist the truth. NIQASH: Recently a National Reconciliation Conference was held in Mosul – the purpose of these conferences is to try and heal ethnic and religious divisions in the Iraqi community. What are your thoughts on these kinds of events? Daloyee: As a party, and as a political bloc, we are for national reconciliation. We always extend our hand to the Arabs and we care about Basra and Baghdad as much as we care about Erbil [the capital of the semi-autonomous state of Iraqi Kurdistan]. We want to build up all the cities of Iraq in the same way that we want to build up Kurdistan. President Massoud al-Barzani has confirmed this on many occasions. But it should also be acknowledged that we have rights, we have a heritage and a history and our own language – and we have decided to live in Iraq. Those who say that Article 140 of the Constitution is no longer relevant are pushing the Kurdish people to demand secession. We, the Kurdish people, have chosen to live in Iraq but only if Article 140 is acted upon. http://www.niqash.org/articles/?id=2932

Oh I get it all neg is from the Mr. O suporters

I don't accept BOA Bank of Amigo checks, this company is bad business

why the neg I just posted an article. Can't help the outcome

already posted

http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/11/04/2481600/who-lost-iraq.html Barack Obama was a principled opponent of the Iraq War from its beginning. But when he became president in January 2009, he was handed a war that was won. The surge had succeeded. Al-Qaida in Iraq had been routed, driven to humiliating defeat by an Anbar Awakening of Sunnis fighting side-by-side with the infidel Americans. Even more remarkably, the Shiite militias had been taken down, with American backing, by the forces of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. They crushed the Sadr militias from Basra to Sadr City. Al-Qaida decimated. A Shiite prime minister taking a decisively nationalist line. Iraqi Sunnis ready to integrate into a new national government. U.S. casualties at their lowest ebb in the entire war. Elections approaching. Obama was left with but a single task: Negotiate a new status-of-forces agreement (SOFA) to reinforce these gains and create a strategic partnership with the Arab world’s only democracy. He blew it. Negotiations, such as they were, finally collapsed last month. There is no agreement, no partnership. As of Dec. 31, the American military presence in Iraq will be liquidated. Similar stories: Kirkuk is a 'land mine' where all sides want U.S. to stay US military: American service member dies in Iraq Iraq agrees to start talks on keeping some U.S. forces In Iraq, Panetta fails to break impasse on U.S. forces Clinton to Iran: Don't misread departure from Iraq And it’s not as if that deadline snuck up on Obama. He had three years to prepare for it. Everyone involved, Iraqi and American, knew that the 2008 SOFA calling for full U.S. withdrawal was meant to be renegotiated. And all major parties but one (the Sadr faction) had an interest in some residual stabilizing U.S. force, like the postwar deployments in Japan, Germany and Korea. Three years, two abject failures. The first was the administration’s inability, at the height of American post-surge power, to broker a centrist nationalist coalition governed by the major blocs – one predominantly Shiite (Maliki’s), one predominantly Sunni (Ayad Allawi’s), one Kurdish – that among them won a large majority (69 percent) of seats in the 2010 election. Vice President Joe Biden was given the job. He failed utterly. The government ended up effectively being run by a narrow sectarian coalition where the balance of power is held by the relatively small (12 percent) Iranian-client Sadr faction. The second failure was the SOFA itself. The military recommended nearly 20,000 troops, considerably fewer than our 28,500 in Korea, 40,000 in Japan and 54,000 in Germany. The president rejected those proposals, choosing instead a level of 3,000 to 5,000 troops. A deployment so risibly small would have to expend all its energies simply protecting itself – the fate of our tragic, missionless 1982 Lebanon deployment – with no real capability to train the Iraqis, build their U.S.-equipped air force, mediate ethnic disputes (as we have successfully done, for example, between local Arabs and Kurds), operate surveillance and special-ops bases, and establish the kind of close military-to-military relations that undergird our strongest alliances. It didn’t have to be this way. Our friends did not have to be left out in the cold to seek Iranian protection. Three years and a won war had given Obama the opportunity to establish a lasting strategic alliance with the Arab world’s second most important power. He failed, though he hardly tried very hard. The excuse is Iraqi refusal to grant legal immunity to U.S. forces. But the Bush administration encountered the same problem, and overcame it. Obama had little desire to. Obama opposed the war, but when he became commander in chief the terrible price had already been paid in blood and treasure. His obligation was to make something of that sacrifice, to secure the strategic gains that sacrifice had already achieved. He did not, failing at precisely what this administration so flatters itself for doing so well: diplomacy. Years from now we will be asking not “Who lost Iraq?” – that already is clear – but “Why?” Contact Krauthammer, a syndicated columnist, at letters@charleskrauthammer.com.

I think 2nd paragraph were it states a postive impact for Iraqi people says more then everything else thst been repeated an repeatly. on my cell sorry I paste it JMO

One of Mr. O campaign promise know matter the outcome. Just words!! We built the largest US embassy in the world in Iraq just to abandoned it. When are folks gonna wake up an realize this man is not doing what best for this country. He a divider not a U NITER!!

lots of nice piece of puzzle coming together here my+ Go Rv

Boy we got a accustation flying everywhere on Mr.Cain, I guess he starting 2 put the pressure on some folks. I guess this is not suppose to happen. Well I like Mr. Cain an can expect 2 hear more news 2 destroy this man reputation. with the amount money talk about in this article is pennys, compare 2 what this adminstrations, lobbist deals who getting this an that. We need CHANGE so please register to VOTE an get your friends, neighbors, coworkers to register an lets have the biggest land slide in history an send this adminstration packing their bags.

Tom Broke off knows when it will Rv lol