21 August 2008
I seems that the U.S. and the Iraqi government are close to signing a treaty that will keep our troops in Iraq until at least the end of 2010 possibly 2011 depending on conditions on the ground. We are waiting for the Iraqis to return from their summer recess before any voting can take place. Why are continuing to use our military to help in a civil war when that is really a job for police? In my opinion we need to remove our combat troops and go all out to train Iraqi police to handle their sectarian problems.
The Kurdish militia, has left its bases in northern Iraq and is occupying Kirkuk, a city of 900,000 that Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens all claim as their own. This is a big political problem for Iraq as there is fighting among those groups. Even though there has been a decline in violence, the ethnic and regional problems could destabilize large sections of the country, escalating the ongoing civil war. Since that would change conditions on the ground, we could be in Iraq forever according to the current terms of the treaty which says our stay there depends on conditions on the ground.
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