Obama Pledges NOT To End Iraq War, Ever

so much for *hope* that a *change* in presidency would put an end to the hostile u.s. imperialism in iraq. i'd like to know obama's definition of "u.s. interests".

Associated Press

President Barack Obama told lawmakers on Thursday he plans to withdraw most American troops from Iraq by August 2010 but leave tens of thousands behind to advise Iraqi forces and protect U.S. interests, congressional officials said.

snip

In a closed-door meeting with Republican and Democratic leaders, Obama and his top advisers estimated that 35,000 to 50,000 troops would remain in Iraq after the bulk of troops are withdrawn.

Obama campaigned on ending the Iraq war and pledged to do so in 16 months.

He said in his speech to the marines in Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, the u.s. will:

"....retain a transitional force to carry out three distinct functions: training, equipping, and advising Iraqi Security Forces as long as they remain non-sectarian; conducting targeted counter-terrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilianand military efforts within Iraq."

I have problems with what Obama is telling us.

Implying that Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are "non-sectarian" stinks. The ISF's main role is to protect Iraq's new government, which was created under U.S. influence, is supported by the U.S., and has been deservedly accused of instituting sectarian policies (eg: http://tinyurl. com/atl4ke ). In my cynical view, Obama's "non-sectarian" remark is another classic example of schizophrenic, Orwellian double-speak from Washington, when translated means, "a function of the U.S. transitional force in Iraq will be to enable the sectarianism that's beneficial to the U.S. in its pursuit of foreign-policy goals."

Another reason to keep up to 50,000 troops in Iraq, in Obama's words, is to conduct "targeted counter- terrorism missions". Could be this was just a slip of the tongue and he meant to say, "targeted counter-counter- terrorism missions." Nah. Obama, like Bush, would never publicly acknowledge the fact that when the U.S. uses violence to coerce people (on a massive scale in Iraq) it's committing acts of terrorism or that victims of U.S. terrorism have a right to defend themselves. In Orwellian double-speak from Washington language, victims can be terrorists and terrorists can be terrorists, victims, and/or liberators.

Lastly, Obama says that a third function of the up to 50,000 troop transitional force is to protect "our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq." If I use examples of past U.S. military efforts as a guide, "ongoing military efforts" means the ongoing murder ( eg: http://tinyurl. com/dabnpg ) , rape (eg: http://tinyurl. com/avswef ), and torture (eg: http://tinyurl. com/bkjm5l ) of innocent Iraqis.

Shameful that is.