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Breaking News - US will Never Leave Iraq


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DinarBot sees many here panic. No need.

WASHINGTON -- American combat troops in Iraq may be heading to the exits -- or not -- but the U.S. government's enormously expensive intervention there is hardly coming to an end.

In a telling sign of how dangerous and chaotic Iraq remains more than eight years after President George W. Bush launched the war against Saddam Hussein, U.S. diplomats, military advisers and other officials are planning to fall back to the gargantuan embassy in Baghdad -- a heavily fortified, self-contained compound the size of Vatican City.

The embassy compound is by far the largest the world has ever seen, at one and a half square miles, big enough for 94 football fields. It cost three quarters of a billion dollars to build (coming in about $150 million over budget). Inside its high walls, guard towers and machine-gun emplacements lie not just the embassy itself, but more than 20 other buildings, including residential quarters, a gym and swimming pool, commercial facilities, a power station and a water-treatment plant.

Yet the embassy is turning out to be too small for the swelling retinue of gunmen, gardeners and other workers the State Department considers necessary to provide security and "life support" for the sizable group of diplomats, military advisers and other executive branch officials who will be taking shelter there once the troops withdraw from the country.

The number of personnel under the authority of the U.S. ambassador to Iraq will swell from 8,000 to about 16,000 as the troop presence is drawn down, a State Department official told The Huffington Post. "About 10 percent would be core programmatic staff, 10 percent management and aviation, 30 percent life support contractors -- and 50 percent security," he said.

As part of that increase, the State Department will double its complement of security contractors -- fielding a private army of over 5,000 to guard the embassy and other diplomatic outposts and protect personnel as they travel beyond the fortifications, the official said. Another 3,000 armed guards will protect Office of Security Cooperation personnel, who are responsible for sales and training related to an estimated $13 billion in pending U.S. arms sales, including tanks, squadrons of attack helicopters and 36 F-16s.

Under the Status of Forces Agreement negotiated between Iraq and former President Bush in 2008 -- and, at least thus far, still in effect -- all U.S. troops are supposed to leave the country by the end of this year.

As of now, there are about 45,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq. Obama administration officials had been hoping the Iraqi government would allow at least 10,000 to remain past the end-of-the-year deadline. Earlier this month, however, they floated the idea of keeping only 3,000. But given the unpredictable nature of the fractured Iraqi leadership, nothing is certain.

As the Department of Defense pulls out and its spending drops, the State Department is expecting its costs to skyrocket. State asked Congress for $2.7 billion for its Iraqi operations in fiscal year 2011, and got $2.1 billion. It wants $6.2 billion for next year. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee estimates that State's plans will cost $25 to $30 billion over the next five years.

Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management, told the Commission on Wartime Contracting in June that State intends to pay $3 billion in the next five years on its major private security contracts alone.

While $6 billion a year might not seem like much compared to the estimated $806 billion in direct appropriations spent on the Iraq war and reconstruction thus far, that is still an enormous amount of money. Consider, for instance, that the State Department's total operating budget this year is about $14 billion.

Money isn't the only resource being drained by Iraq. The toll on the diplomatic corps is substantial.

In addition to staffing the embassy in Baghdad, the department intends to have more than 1,000 people on staff at each of its two consulates, making them far larger than all but the most important U.S. embassies around the world. Given the de facto partitioning of Iraq, one consulate, in Erbil, will essentially be an embassy to the Kurds; the other, in Basra, an embassy to the Shia -- and to the country's biggest oil fields.

Steve Kashkett, then the head of the American Foreign Service Association, complained at Hillarious Clinton's very first town hall meeting as secretary of State that the cost of creating the largest diplomatic mission in U.S. history "has been to take people away from all of our other diplomatic missions around the world, which have been left understaffed and with staffing gaps." A Government Accountability Office report in 2009 concluded that filling the numerous positions in Iraq and Afghanistan meant that "key positions at other hardship posts remain vacant or are filled by officers who may lack the necessary experience to effectively perform their duties, potentially compromising State’s ability to advance U.S. international interests."

IS IT WORTH IT?

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey testified on Capitol Hill in February that the State Department's plan is absolutely necessary to achieve key goals when it comes to diplomacy, economics, energy, security and rule of law. "To not finish the job now creates substantial risks of what some people call a Charlie Wilson's war moment in Iraq, with both the resurgence of al Qaeda and the empowering of other problematic regional players," he said.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who fought the expansion of the embassy in the first place, told The Huffington Post he's been hearing similar arguments for eight years now -- and thinks Iraq isn't worth all this trouble.

"I don't know why that has to be one of our highest priorities," he said. "I think we've reached the point in Iraq where whatever we're spending money on, we're throwing good money after bad."

"I've been to that embassy," Leahy continued, "and I understand security concerns and all. But this is a small country. They can't even get their act together. A lot of people there see us as occupiers and wish we'd leave."

More:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/16/us-embassy-iraq-state-department-plan_n_965945.html

Edited by DinarBot
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All the big oil companies have dumped 200 Billion into Iraq in the last two months, ISX gearing up to go live, Forex is getting ready to move into Arbil!! This would NOT be happening if there was a civil war brewing. Follow the money, not the politics in Iraq... these clowns will bicker till the end of time, but they are still puppets in the grand scheme, just like our leaders are here-they want their piece of the pie. The Iraqis did not originate this plan, we did. Do you really think the folks who implemented this would leave TRILLIONS of dollars in the hands of bickering tribal idiots? NOPE-

thx Dinarbot!!

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D i c k and Jane are Spot on.

You are showing you age....and so am I.......Now prove it: What TV couple slept in twin beds and wore pajamas?

Thank you very much for this great article. The knot in my stomach is almost gone. Problem is, in the meantime, I took a match to my dinar. Oh, well.

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You are showing you age....and so am I.......Now prove it: What TV couple slept in twin beds and wore pajamas?

Thank you very much for this great article. The knot in my stomach is almost gone. Problem is, in the meantime, I took a match to my dinar. Oh, well.

DinarBot has many moons archived. D i c k Van Dyke & Mary Tyler Moore Love you. Ozzie and Harriet too.

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You are showing you age....and so am I.......Now prove it: What TV couple slept in twin beds and wore pajamas?

Thank you very much for this great article. The knot in my stomach is almost gone. Problem is, in the meantime, I took a match to my dinar. Oh, well.

The Brady's slept in a Queen or King...

Lucy and Desi?

George and Ethel?

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All the big oil companies have dumped 200 Billion into Iraq in the last two months, ISX gearing up to go live, Forex is getting ready to move into Arbil!! This would NOT be happening if there was a civil war brewing. Follow the money, not the politics in Iraq... these clowns will bicker till the end of time, but they are still puppets in the grand scheme, just like our leaders are here-they want their piece of the pie. The Iraqis did not originate this plan, we did. Do you really think the folks who implemented this would leave TRILLIONS of dollars in the hands of bickering tribal idiots? NOPE-

thx Dinarbot!!

Thank you for your comments, which I believe to be so true. Billions are pouring into Iraq. Nothing will stop others from making money in Iraq.

And it would not have mattered how long our troops stayed in Iraq, it would not change their culture. If they have a civil war, it has nothing to do with us. It would have happened eventually. I am glad our guys won't be in the middle of it.

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+1 dinarbot notice how your article and especially this portion

"Yet the embassy is turning out to be too small for the swelling retinue of gunmen, gardeners and other workers the State Department considers necessary to provide security and "life support" for the sizable group of diplomats, military advisers and other executive branch officials who will be taking shelter there once the troops withdraw from the country."

coincides with the one i just posted(most likely a repost) and especially this portion

The source believes that “is a compromise between Baghdad and Washington, particularly the strategic framework agreement, which expires in 2020 gives the U.S. the right to enter Almadrbeyen thousands of diplomats and civilians and the military.”

apparently there is an agreement in place for diplomacy that reaches out to 2020.

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+1 dinarbot notice how your article and especially this portion

"Yet the embassy is turning out to be too small for the swelling retinue of gunmen, gardeners and other workers the State Department considers necessary to provide security and "life support" for the sizable group of diplomats, military advisers and other executive branch officials who will be taking shelter there once the troops withdraw from the country."

coincides with the one i just posted(most likely a repost) and especially this portion

The source believes that “is a compromise between Baghdad and Washington, particularly the strategic framework agreement, which expires in 2020 gives the U.S. the right to enter Almadrbeyen thousands of diplomats and civilians and the military.”

apparently there is an agreement in place for diplomacy that reaches out to 2020.

More Excellent News. Thank you.

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You are showing you age....and so am I.......Now prove it: What TV couple slept in twin beds and wore pajamas?

Thank you very much for this great article. The knot in my stomach is almost gone. Problem is, in the meantime, I took a match to my dinar. Oh, well.

No, Carrello, no! PUT the matches AWAY. Am I too late?

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I would be surprised that after all these years of war and lives lost, we would just pack up and leave, you know we get half of the real truth of what really is going on, jmo.

Thanks for the post

Plus Kuwait and Israel are right around the corner. I don't remember seeing a copy of the SOFA. Details.

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Oh, Dana. You caught me just in time. Thank you. I owe you a fil or two, whenever they are available, that is.

Thanks goodness. Don't give up hope. This news is just posturing / appearances as one of the members stated. I actually see this as a positive move (zzzzzzzzz) Next move -

If you have to... use the Dinar as wallpaper, just in case - you can always buy a steamer.

is check mate a bad word? why did it make zzzzz's?

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No wait! I got it! The Jetsons and Flintstones!

-

Actually, the program I was thinking of was Leave It To Beaver with the Mr. and Mr. Cleaver. They had starched pajamas and slept in twin beds. No wonder they only had two kids.

Excuse me, I am going to get an Abba Zabba and watch Johnny Carson. Root Beer Float anyone?

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Watch this "rare" video here.

http://www.huffingto...945.html?page=2

My pleasure human known as "design interrupted". DinarBot suggests you watch the "rare" video on page 2 of the article link"

2.14 and three and 1/2 weeks - ???? What are you thoughts this week. I do pay attention you know. smile.gif Great video and thanks for the great information +1

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Thanks goodness. Don't give up hope. This news is just posturing / appearances as one of the members stated. I actually see this as a positive move (zzzzzzzzz) Next move -

If you have to... use the Dinar as wallpaper, just in case - you can always buy a steamer.

is check mate a bad word? why did it make zzzzz's?

Wallpaper - I have two bathrooms wallpapered in Greek Drachmas. I am working on the Rumpus Room this weekend.

Check mates don't make zzzzz's unless they are snoring. Nudge him, he'll roll over.

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