Hillary Clinton: US has no interest in 'occupying' Afghanistan

By GottaLaff

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Photo: AFP Source: AFP

Hillary speaketh:

"The United States has no interest in occupying Afghanistan. We also have no intention of abandoning Afghanistan," she told the US-Islamic World forum in Doha.

"When international forces leave Afghanistan, our civilian presence will continue, so that we can foster a long-term partnership between Afghanistan, the United States, and other nations, that is based on shared responsibility for our common security," she added.

Whateth exactly doth that meaneth? Mayhaps there will no longer be a military presence when our troops cometh home (good!), but when will that be?

And why am I speaking Eth?

White House Shoe Protest

Thousands rally against U.S.-Iraqi pact

Sigh, can't we talk about the commies amongst us instead? War is sooo messy and hate so easy.

BAGHDAD — Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Saturday called on Iraq's parliament to reject a U.S.-Iraqi security pact as tens of thousands of his followers rallied in Baghdad against the deal.

The mass public show of opposition came as U.S. and Iraqi leaders face a Dec. 31 deadline to reach agreement on the deal, which would replace an expiring United Nations mandate authorizing the U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

So much for the "surge": Satellite images show ethnic cleanout in Iraq

By GottaLaff

Dear Barack,

Please drive this point home repeatedly.

Love,
Laffy

Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday.

The images support the view of international refugee organizations and Iraq experts that a major population shift was a key factor in the decline in sectarian violence, particularly in the Iraqi capital, the epicenter of the bloodletting in which hundreds of thousands were killed. [...]

"By the launch of the surge, many of the targets of conflict had either been killed or fled the country, and they turned off the lights when they left," geography professor John Agnew of the University of California Los Angeles, who led the study, said in a statement.

"Essentially, our interpretation is that violence has declined in Baghdad because of intercommunal violence that reached a climax as the surge was beginning," said Agnew, who studies ethnic conflict.

Some 2 million Iraqis are displaced within Iraq, while 2 million more have sought refuge in neighboring Syria and Jordan. [...]

The study, published in the journal Environment and Planning A, provides more evidence of ethnic conflict in Iraq, which peaked just before U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the deployment of about 30,000 extra U.S. troops. [...]

"Our findings suggest that the surge has had no observable effect, except insofar as it has helped to provide a seal of approval for a process of ethno-sectarian neighborhood homogenization that is now largely achieved," Agnew's team wrote in their report.

Gramm-pa McCain consistently takes credit for something that has had no discernible effect on the decline in the Iraq occupation violence. Not only is he economy-challenged, but his so-called foreign policy calling card just dissolved faster than his Efferdent tablets.

H/t: Chris

Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control

Not sure how secret it is, but the details sure are startling. More at the link.

A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November.


The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country.

But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November.

h/t Fernando