Obama announces total Iraq troop withdrawal

Friday, October 21, 2011

By BEN FELLER

AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Friday declared an end to the Iraq war, one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in U.S. history, announcing that all American troops would be withdrawn from the country by year’s end.

Obama’s statement put an end to months of wrangling over whether the U.S. would maintain a force in Iraq beyond 2011. He never mentioned the tense and ultimately fruitless negotiations with Iraq over whether to keep several thousand U.S. forces in Iraq as a training force and a hedge against meddling from Iran or other outside forces.

Instead, Obama spoke of a promise kept, a new day for a self-reliant Iraq and a focus on building up the economy at home.

“I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year,” Obama said. “After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over.”

Obama spoke after a private video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and he offered assurances that the two leaders agreed on the decision.

The U.S. military presence in Iraq stands at just under 40,000. All U.S. troops are to exit the country in accordance with a deal struck between the countries in 2008 when George W. Bush was president.

Obama, an opponent of the war from the start, took office and accelerated the end of the conflict. In August 2010, he declared the U.S. combat mission over.

“Over the next two months our troops in Iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home,” Obama said. “The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops.”

More than 4,400 American military members have been killed since the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq in March 2003.

The Associated Press first reported last week that the United States would not keep troops in Iraq past the year-end withdrawal deadline, except for some soldiers attached to the U.S. Embassy.

In recent months, Washington had been discussing with Iraqi leaders the possibility of several thousand American troops remaining to continue training Iraqi security forces.

Throughout the discussions, Iraqi leaders refused to give U.S. troops immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, and the Americans refused to stay without that guarantee.

Moreover, Iraq’s leadership has been split on whether it wanted American forces to stay.

When the 2008 agreement requiring all U.S. forces to leave Iraq was passed, many U.S. officials assumed it would inevitably be renegotiated so that Americans could stay longer.

The U.S. said repeatedly this year it would entertain an offer from the Iraqis to have a small force stay behind, and the Iraqis said they would like American military help. But as the year wore on and the number of American troops that Washington was suggesting could stay behind dropped, it became increasingly clear that a U.S. troop presence was not a sure thing.

The issue of legal protection for the Americans was the deal-breaker.

Pulling troops out by the end of this year allows both al-Maliki and Obama to claim victory.

Obama kept a campaign promise to end the war, and al-Maliki will have ended the American presence and restored Iraqi sovereignty.

The president used the war statement to once again turn attention back to the economy, the domestic concern that is expected to determine whether he wins re-election next year.

“After a decade of war the nation that we need to build and the nation that we will build is our own, an America that sees its economic strength restored just as we’ve restored our leadership around the globe.”

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wow 1 year, 7 months ago

Cool...now get out of Afghanistan and close Gitmo and we're really into it. Oof course there's this thing about job creation, reduced taxes, health care, etc,....but I'm on your side.

These past few years have been rough but I'm still being positive. As far as I'm concerned....if the other sides don't come up with somebody else besides what they got...I'm cool for giving you another four years on Penn Ave. The way I see it is like this...Mr. President you have not gotten an A...but you have done enough to earn a passing grade; however I know you can do better. So make it do what it...SOMOTEITBE

wow 1 year, 7 months ago

I guess it's Ethiopia then....cause the man is gonna win again if for no other reason than currently there is nobody else that WILL/CAN do a better job. Besides there have been 40 some odd others before him and many of them have done a far worse job than he. We've had drug addicts, racist, slave owner's, you name it...these type of people have occupied the American White House.... and yet America has survived with that type of &&^$%$@%$(*)&&^ wipe President...I'm sure the nation will survive with Obama. I also like that the next best guy for the job is Herman Cain...... Either way is fine with me...I'm loving that the fate of America is resting in the hands of the ancestors of the people who were brought to America in chains and considered ignorant, lazy, inferior, unable to adapt to things like thinking or dealing with complicated situations in a rational manor. I still think Obama is the better choice for obvious reasons...but I also don't think Mr. Cain would do to bad of a job either...he would not be/is not my 1st choice, but he certainly would do no worse than anyone else.

JMO 1 year, 7 months ago

He did all those things in three years, all by himself? Wow! He really is something.

All those things have been coming for YEARS. It never ceases to amaze me how people blame the current president for whatever is wrong, no matter that they walk into a mess. If a president fixes everything, the other party says it was because their president started the progress, but if things get worse, then it's because the current one messed it up. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the man's done a sterling job, but that doesn't make the state of the whole world his fault. It's not like he started with a great situation to begin with.

newone 1 year, 7 months ago

To people like Graceful everything is Obama's fault no matter what happend the 8 years before him, to people like Graceful he came into this "perfect" country that wasn't in a downward spiral already just came in and messed it all up in 3 short years. I am like you, Obama is far from perfect but he did NOT do this all on his own, 8 years of Bush started it and he has just kept it going.

spelchek 1 year, 7 months ago

"It's not like he started with a great situation to begin with." Neither did Lincoln or Reagan. Tell me, if Mr. Obama wins again, who will he blame then? The previous administration?

JCLifer 1 year, 7 months ago

Hispanic voters put Obama in the whitehouse. They are not so sure this time.

news.yahoo.com/hispanic-voters-stick-obama-gop-134659417.html

JMO 1 year, 7 months ago

My point is that every president gets blamed for what's wrong by his opponents, regardless of what he started with. Take the national debt. People go on about how, under Obama, it's the highest it's ever been. But that could be said about every single president since Roosevelt. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but it hasn’t gone down once since then. So it’s always the highest it’s ever been. And if something goes right, the opponents give the prior president the credit. He's going to withdraw the troops, but of course his opponents scream that it's a campaign stunt or that he's just doing what Bush agreed to do. (Never mind that Bush put them there in the first place.) He's darned if he does and darned if he doesn't. The man isn’t the best president we've ever had, but he’s hardly some evil despot intent upon destroying the world.

spelchek 1 year, 7 months ago

I don't think he's evil, I think he's incompetent. Who screams we're in the worst recession ever thanks to his predecessor then turns around and forces one of the biggest spending/entitlements ever on his country and continues the same underfunded war(s)? Who claims to be pro-business but openly speaks about the days of going to Vegas are over? Who promised the first so-called stimulus would keep unemployment at 8% or lower and now is threatening to usurp congress to pass another "jobs" bill? All these questions are rhetorical I know, but this man is terrible.

JMO 1 year, 7 months ago

There you go again, using lables without any facts to support them. I voted for Reagan and still think he was a good choice. I voted for Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. (ONCE!) I voted for Ashcroft. Some left-winger I am, huh? Yes, the debt has increased more under Obama - but Bush Jr. added over three trillion to it his second term, not an insignificant increase. As for "Obamacare" - are you aware that virtually all western countries and industrialized countries have some form of universal health care system? His plan may not be perfect, but wanting every citizen to have access to proper health care and insurance is hardly the definition of despot. I love how you constantly throw out accusations that liberals try to demonize people, but you are usually the only one on these threads to actually call a person you dislike "evil".

JMO 1 year, 7 months ago

Not only am I a left-winger, I'm a liar and socialist? Look at you conservative demonizing me because I don't agree with you. YOU DON'T KNOW ME! And I pray, really, that we never meet because it's pretty sure that if I knew you, I wouldn't like you. Bush added 3 trillion in one term as has Obama. At the moment, they're pretty much neck and neck. Did I ever say that Obama's spending was a GOOD thing? No. I just said they ALL do it. Frankly, it's time to reverse that trend, but we've needed that for decades. It's a complete exaggeration to say all countries with universal healthcare are being bankrupted. Yes, I support every person having access to adequate health care at a cost they can afford. If an ideal that kind-spirited irks you...well, I guess I can only assume it's because you are just the opposite.

And I think I've had my fill of this thread. I've certainly had enough hate-filled rhetoric to last a while.

JMO 1 year, 7 months ago

I need not agree with every policy of a president to think he did a good job. You seem to think the whole world must be either black or white. Life isn't like that.

3bunnies 1 year, 7 months ago

Here is a link for all regarding the debt between Bush and Obama

theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/07/the-chart-that-should-accompany-all-discussions-of-the-debt-ceiling/242484/

JMO 1 year, 7 months ago

Thanks. Hadn't seen that one. It's very interesting.

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

Short memory, Graceful? The "urgent need" for regime change in the mideast was a PNAC project, remember? William Kristol, Robert Kagan, Bruce P. Jackson, and Randy Scheunemann. A sterling collection of neocon thinkers. The PNAC website has not been updated since 2006 but if you go there you can still read all about the importance of regime change in the mideast.

You just called the mideast "completely destabilized, which is an exaggeration, and attempted to blame it on Obama, which is just wrong. Regime change is messy in most countries. The western democracies like the US, Britain, and France have it figured out - when someone's term of office is over they leave. It's not that way in the rest of the world.

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

There's the biggest failure in the PNAC vision. They had dreamed that western-style democracy would somehow spring up in a part of the world where it had never existed before. The rise of a Muslim brotherhood and the implementation of sharia by a few countries in an ultraconservative theocracy ought to have been obvious to any realistic observer.

Help me out here - what do you see in Libya that could be worse than Quadhafi? Do you honestly believe that Iraq is worse off without Saddam Hussein? Like I wrote before, regime change is messy in most places.

asb 1 year, 7 months ago

And Bush promised we'd be out by the end of this year. Brilliant! Iran has been the dominant force in that region for 3,000 years and nothing sane we could do will ever change that. As long as The Nut Ostensibly In Charge and the theocrats are fighting for power, Iran will wallow. The theocracy will give way to a modern system (with national health care BTW) and fundamentalism will again lose, as always.

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

I don't think those polls of all the Gracefuls in your household have much value for predicting election results a year in advance. You could be right, but I wouldn't bet the house on it.

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

Jimmuh had the great misfortune to run against Ronald Regan, a practical moderate. Everyone loved Reagan even when they disagreed with him.

The GOP does not currently have a candidate with a tenth of Reagan's charisma. Instead, the GOP is stuck with a bunch of bickering mental midgets, two ooooh-scary Mormons, the teabaggers, and a movie line: "what to be afraid of, and who to blame for it".

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

The rest of your comment contradicts the first sentence. I was there during Reagan's 1980 run. Reagan was and remains a great figurehead but little more than that. You are correct that Reagan and his crew had been looking for the right opportunity to emerge from the field and win the nomination. At that point, Carter's incumbency was not a factor.

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

There have been plenty of books written about the Reagan era by people who were up close and involved. You don't seem to have read any of them. Reagan fell asleep right after his first inauguration. They woke him up whenever they had written a speech so he could read it in front of a camera crew.

tonto 1 year, 6 months ago

I know that the Buchanan family still reveres RMR but that's about the end of it.

asb 1 year, 7 months ago

The third world lacks character and integrity? That smells a lot like "it's the poors' fault they're poor because they have poor morals." Grace the third world lacks money. What arrogance . . .

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

You need to study the real history of the United States. The founding fathers were wealthy, and the revolution was financed by bankers. There was money involved from the very start, and strong European allies. The frontier myth was real, just not on the east coast where the country was founded.

asb 1 year, 7 months ago

A continent full of resources easily taken from its natives, the expolosive introduction of the English insdustrial revolution, the construction of a government based on the best of western political thought, the use of slave labor, a Calvanist work ethic, and English law all helped make America great. Its people were and are just about indistinguishable from all other peoples. And, like Herman Cain says, success is inevitable, failure is inexcusible.

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

That attitude is not so weak as you seem to think. Every day, most people go to work expecting to keep the greatest part of what they earn for their families' benefit precisely because we have a history of written laws enacted by our representatives and enforced by honest courts. We plan and expect to keep that in place.

It is you who are failing to grasp that - change what you need to change about your own life and get over the fact that no one shares your gloomy outlook.

wow 1 year, 7 months ago

Washington, Jefferson, Adams Monroe and a few more Presidents were slave owners and you say Obama is the worst? Several Presidents sat idol as the original occupants of this land were slaughtered and driven onto reservations..that is until several Presidents and his Men found" Gold in Them Thar Hills. Then the remaining innocent natives were dealt another blow as treaties were broken and those American Presidents did nothing to stop the continued slaughter of innocent men women and children. Past Presidents enslaved American citizens in interment camps just because these Americans didn't look like the "accepted Anglo Ozzie and Harriet" type. Past Presidents watched as American servicemen and women were beaten and lynched just for wearing an American military uniform in public. American Presidents sat idol as American were killed for trying to vote or get an education. Yet you say Obama is the worst. Past Presidents sanctioned medical experiments on unsuspecting American citizens, yet you say Obama is the worst? Camelot was run by a womanizing, drug addict who did nothing except for 1 week in October. Roosevelt and many others did nothing to stop Jim Crow yet demanded Americans go fight and die to stop Nazism. Nixon was a liar and cheat. LBJ spent most of his time helping big business while American men and women were dieing in Viet Nam. Regan eliminated the entire middle class and many of the problems we have today are caused by several President allowing the Social Security Account to be robbed by their buddy politicians. Yet you say Obama is the worst. Is this based on fact on simply hate?

Obama clearly has his faults...yet nothing negative he has done comes close to the stuff I mentioned and his successes are equal to or far better that the good things other Presidents were able to accomplish and that's not only fact, it's also common sense as well.

evenkeel 1 year, 7 months ago

Get the horse in front of the cart. The 3rd world lacks money because the 3rd world lacks the rule of law and economic freedom.
The rule of law means that contracts between parties can be relied upon and are enforceable. Property rights are especially important. What you own, you own. Lawlessness or capricious conditions caused by dictatorships leads to poverty. Libya has oil, but had a thug for a leader and so remains a 3rd world nation. Haiti was ruled for decades by the Duvalier family (Papa Doc and Baby Doc), was largely lawless and so remains a 3rd world nation. The USSR certainly had the rule of law, obviously lacked economic freedom and so it collapsed.
Economic dynamism follows the rule of law and economic freedom.

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

The USSR collapsed because the CIA had overestimated their GDP by a factor of about ten. No one had better numbers for them and we were able to literally spend them into economic failure with our Star Wars fantasies and lavish military spending.

evenkeel 1 year, 7 months ago

You are not saying, are you tonto, that the USSR had both the rule of law and economic freedom? Because when I think economic dynamism, the USSR does not spring to mind.
Standing in line for hours to buy bread would make me want to reach for the vodka bottle too. My point was originally, that poor countries are poor not because they lack money, but because they lack the economic infrastructure (rule of law and economic freedom) to build and grow their economies.

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

Reagan had neither the imagination nor the complexity to develop such a theory. The Reagan administration used the CIA estimates, and that's why we spent so much. We were spending more on "defense" than the USSR had available to spend on everything.

spelchek 1 year, 7 months ago

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." | Ronald Reagan

tonto 1 year, 7 months ago

Please read ASB's comment below.

asb 1 year, 7 months ago

Reagan was the talking head behind the policy, he was an actor, remember? Beloved and well spoken, when well written for.

spelchek 1 year, 7 months ago

"Instead, Obama spoke of a promise kept..." You mean like Guantanamo?

evenkeel 1 year, 7 months ago

Thanks wow for confirming that those who loath our country will be supporting Obama in his re-election. I think most people already knew that, but it is nice to get confirmation.

wow 1 year, 7 months ago

Pardon me "Unevenkeel" but you are SFOS with that supporting Obama means loathing the country. I suppose those faces on Mt Rushmore loved this country and their countrymen more. I mean they owned people as property and helped slaughter a bunch of innocent natives. I understand about developing civilization and it's all in the past...but I find it seriously disheartening that you seem to support slave owning Presidents who promoted Jim Crow, modern Presidents who allowed Iran Contra to happen, Presidents who were responsible for much worse acts than President Obama asking the rich to pay a higher tax or insisting that everyone have affordable health care or pushing for better schools and school teacher for Americans. Somehow I fail to see how supporting President Obama is loathing America? Our current President isn't perfect, but he is trying to make things better...and as along as he's working to make America a better place for all Americans, even though I voted for several republican Presidents......as along as Obama is in the mix and or until someone better comes along, President Barrack Obama is gonna get my vote!

spelchek 1 year, 7 months ago

"President Obama asking the rich to pay a higher tax or insisting that everyone have affordable health care or pushing for better schools and school teacher for Americans" -- $200,000 on the coast is not "rich", he's not insisting he's forcing us to have unaffordable health care (pending supreme court ruling), if $10,441 spent per student can't get the job done he is doing something wrong. Moreover, if these policies have been so successful why isn't he touting them rather than distracting the country with OWS?

gzc721 1 year, 7 months ago

Your words are more of a repeating rant than factual history. Yes, there were many problems that have gone on since the creation of this country and long before! Presidents the last time I checked are men and men are not superheroes that you seem to think they should be but people who make mistakes. You are right that there are many atrocities that happened in our country over the last 200 plus years and there are more to come if man continues to be well, human.

You say that you are loving the fact that our fate is now in the hands of an ancestor of the people that were brought here in chains. I am not loving the fact, but proud of the fact that America has put the past behind us and moved forward. A fact which you are obviously lacking since you cannot seem to let go of what happened before. We can't change what past presidents or citizens did just as we can't change what future presidents or citizens will do. But Obama is not all clean and sparkly like you want to make him seem. He has his own agenda just as everyone else in the past has. While he didn't make this mess all on his own, he also has not helped the situation by ramrodding things down the throats of American citizens. He likes things his way like everyone does and when he doesn't get it then he plays the game of if I can't have it my way then you can't have it at all.

As for your comment on whether or not the faces on Mount Rushmore loved their country and countrymen more the answer is YES! They fought in wars, they led their country and countrymen, and they didn't shirkk their duties. Washington led armies during the American Revolution which by the way guess what, won you the freedom of speech! Roosevelt served in the war and made many inroads into environmentalism and foreign policy. Jefferson was the one who drafted the Declaration of Independence, so again someone who gave you many of the freedoms that you so love and admire. Lincoln supported a joint union and stopping slavery. Sure it helped him along the way, but the ultimate end was worth the other perks that came along with winning the war. He also made the ultimate sacrifice being shot and killed by someone who supported slavery and the separation of north and south. So did those faces love their country and countrymen more - I would have to say yes! Did Obama ever serve - nope! So please do not think to compare Obama to some of the greatest minds and creators of our country simply based on some of their beliefs. I do not agree with everything they believed or stood for, but I will certainly not disrespect them as you have!

gzc721 1 year, 7 months ago

Obama and pushing for better schools and teachers is a laugh and a half! If he was pushing so hard then we would see each and every dollar of the $10441 that we are supposed to! Instead we see less than $6000 per student. And guess who is left picking up the pieces, parents and the very teachers and students that he is supposed to support! And affordable health care - hah! Pretty soon we will all be on government health care and waiting in line to see a doctor because no one will want to be a doctor any longer. Sorry, but you cannot lump a brain surgeon in with a family practioner and pay them the same amount of money. If I want a family MD to operate on me, then I will go see them and tell them to do so. But please Mr. President, do not tell that is what I have to do.

So see Obama isn't the next savior of the world, but a human man with all of the human characteristics that tend to make us screw up! Be glad that all the people you have continued to knock were willing to pay the price that allows you to even have the freedom to speak out!

JCLifer 1 year, 7 months ago

I thought education was the duty of the state?

evenkeel 1 year, 7 months ago

wow. Ouch. Calling me unevenkeel really hurts. I do not choose to pardon you.
wow, your view of history is distorted. According to you our nations' past is an unbroken line of hatred, bigotry, murder and mayham. That is distorted. You seem to be saying that our founding fathers, in fact, our entire past is deserving of nothing but contempt because it is less than perfect. Your viewpoint is unbalanced. Your contempt is contemptible.
Our nations' original sin of slavery can never be undone. The past is past. Turn the page.
Now read this next part carefully. I did not say that those who support Obama loath the country. I am saying that those who loath the country, like you, support Obama. Got it?

evenkeel 1 year, 7 months ago

mayhem I may have ham for lunch.

evenkeel 1 year, 7 months ago

If President Obama is asking the rich to pay a higher tax, I am all for that. That of course is not what President Obama is doing. Obviously.

evenkeel 1 year, 7 months ago

If President Obama can insist we each have health coverage, can he also insist that we must all eat broccoli? Afterall, it is for our own good.

NoMoBigBro 1 year, 7 months ago

I'm with ya. Although I believe that Healthcare coverage needs a tune up, destroying the Tenth Amendment is NOT the way to get it done.

wow 1 year, 7 months ago

Evenkeel this is your writing "thanks wow for confirming that those who loath our country will be supporting Obama". You followed that up with " those who loath the country, like you, support Obama." According to those statements people who support Obama loath this country, those who loath this country also support Obama...I fail to see the difference in your view. Now here's my response. Thank you for a spirited debate, it's been a bit testy, but interesting. As for me loathing America...well nothing could be further from the truth. Which is why I gladly put my life on the line 20 plus years in America's oldest fighting force...FYI that's the United State Army. I did that willingly and would gladly do so again. Now just because I feel that way does not mean I shut my mind down to our nations history. On the contrary, accepting our nations tattered history is exactly why I would gladly lay down my life to make sure the laws of this land are fairly developed and equally enforced. I will not sit idol as Americans are slaughtered, enslaved or denied their Constitutional Rights to vote. I will always champion equal employment, education, free speech, etc, etc, etc.. Oh sure you can say I've said some mean things about a few past U.S. Presidents, but you cannot truthfully say what I said is a lie. Americans have a history rich in wrong doing, but Americans/Americans also have slowly evolved into a better nation of people because of those "RECOGNIZED" faults! In other words smart Americans have learned from the mistakes of the past and don't want to repeat them.

Now you READ this carefully. President Obama is the current President of the United States of America. If you don't want to vote for him DON'T! But Sir/Mam don't ever confuse my willingness to be openly critical of this nation to mean I am anti American...because nothing could be further from the truth! As I said 20 plus years defending America and Americans and I'm still gladly doing it today! So unless your are standing post with me, later I've got work to do.

asb 1 year, 7 months ago

Excellent post, reasoned and inclusive. Equating support for Obama with the desire to destroy America is sick and you counter it well.

JMO 1 year, 7 months ago

Ditto. And wow, thank you for your service to our country.

wow 1 year, 7 months ago

Graceful...don't just spew your hate...will you please tell me and the others why you feel that way? What has Obama done to destroy America? Is it because he pushing the rich to pay more taxes? Is it the thing with ending the war in Iraq or perhaps the fact that he ordered the hit on Bin-Laden? Is it the fact that he's tried to provide every American with affordable health care? Come on please tell me what he's done or hasn't done to destroy America. So that I can stop supporting the destruction of this nation, please tell me how he's tearing the nation apart...but be honest. If it's just because of his skin pigmentation...I'll understand. If it's just because he was suppose to be a field Negro and not a House Negro..I'll understand that too. What ever your reason, all I ask is that you tell me your real reason for spouting all this anti Obama stuff? Please tell me, because honestly speaking, unless and until I know your real reason and it is actually fact....your anti Obama stuff will continually sound like a disgruntled white man who hates the fact that a black man is in charge and is doing a pretty good job of cleaning up the mess so many white men left unresolved!

asb 1 year, 7 months ago

National Health Care is universal, except in America. We will get it right. The stimulus packages have worked, for 1,000 years, to level economic collapses. Governments have been involved in their peoples' economies since writing could record it. Debate with you is like trying to reason with a fight-trained Pit Bull during the struggle. Of course you like Sowell and Thomas, they're nearly extremist conservatives. Nobody says ALL who oppose Obama do so out of bigotry, but the component is there, in print, in code, and in unconcious action. Nothing about the known philosophy, ideology or certainly character of Obama would engender disgust in a healthy mind. Oppose him, fine. Be disgusted by him and your rants and spewing take on a medical overtone.

asb 1 year, 7 months ago

Repeating mis-information doesn't make it right. Reason and common sense can still be conservative, now and then. The US is not failing, you just want it to. I are not say ALL opposition to Obama is racist, just that it is a factor. Obama is not a socialist, or he hides it really well. I guess "contempt" is better than "disgust," but not much.

asb 1 year, 7 months ago

Reports of the US's failure seem a bit premature - to paraphrase Mark Twain - As far as I can tell the US is still the strongest, safest, most emulated nation on Earth. Go figure. Failure should feel so good.

spelchek 1 year, 7 months ago

"If it's just because of his skin pigmentation...I'll understand." - Are you referring to the white or black?

spelchek 1 year, 7 months ago

Tell me wow, will the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People back Herman Cain? Of course not. Why? Because in his own words, 'I Left The Democrat Plantation A Long Time Ago'.

NoMoBigBro 1 year, 7 months ago

The fact is, the American people cannot continue to bear the burden of the continued spending of these politicians. It is breaking their backs. The business owners that offer jobs are going out of business more and more and thus we see unemployment continue to stay the same or rise. Obama is spending like a mad man, more than all previous Presidents have, combined! Bush was a big spender too! This is not about Republican or Democrat, they have both spent us into our current predicament. This is about getting someone in there, anyone with some sense, that can get our government under control. This idea that we can spend our way out of our troubles...it's troubling. It's like the bread winner of a home brings in $500 per week, but the homemaker begins spending $1000 a week. Explain to me how that is suppose to work. So some will say "make the rich pay more!". I'm just a week to week paycheck guy, but telling people, "ok, you make $500,000 a year, so we need $200,000 of that, don't worry you get to keep $300,000! And you over there, you make $600,000 a year, so we need $300,000 from you, but don't worry you get to keep $300,000. And you? We haven't forgotten you! You make $1,000,000 a year, so we need $700,000 from you! Don't worry, you get to keep $300,000. Again, I'm just a week to week paycheck guy, but there is something horribly wrong with that situation to me. And I know that it is not exactly how the "tax the rich" thinkers envision it, but I bet it is not far off!

No, pillaging hard working, and harder working Americans is no answer to the corruption that has plagued our great nation for many, many years now!

No, a better answer is "STOP THE G^%#^% D*^&$@% SPENDING!!!"

JMO 1 year, 7 months ago

I'm glad to see someone on here understands this isn't a Democrat vs. Republican thing. It's rather refreshing.

evenkeel 1 year, 7 months ago

wow, I will try one more time to see if you can follow this:
The people who loath the country will vote for Obama. This is not the same as saying the people who vote for Obama loath the country. Can you follow this?

I think this is middle school level difficulty. Try harder wow.

evenkeel 1 year, 7 months ago

wow, if you do not loath the country (and I have serious doubts that you do not), then either explain or apologize for statements such as this recent gem of yours: "Past Presidents enslaved American citizens in interment camps just because these Americans didn't look like the "accepted Anglo Ozzie and Harriet" type."

Really wow? That is why Japanese Americans were put into interment camps? Because they didn't look like the "accepted Anglo Ozzie and Harriet type"?

Certainly no one is defending that policy of President Roosevelt, I am no fan of Roosevelt or of the internment camps. But to describe this regrettable policy in this way is loathsome. There was a war, our west coast was largely defenseless because of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the nation was in peril. Our very existence was in jeopardy. Roosevelt was fearful that our enemies have infiltrated our homeland. He made a dreadful mistake.

If a person wanted to characterize the internment of Japanese Americans in the worst possible light, then they would describe it in the way that you did: "Past Presidents enslaved American citizens in interment camps just because these Americans didn't look like the "accepted Anglo Ozzie and Harriet" type."

Your words match those who loath this country. You can either stand by them or apologize. If you regret your words, fine. Control your rhetoric. I cannot look into your heart, but I can read your words and they were well over the line.

NoMoBigBro 1 year, 6 months ago

A little late to this conversation turtle but...Just curious what country you live in? And I'm sure we would all welcome your insight into what makes YOUR country so good that you choose to live there.

NoMoBigBro 1 year, 6 months ago

I live in the USA also. And for all of her shortcomings, big and small, past and present, she is still the most free, most democratic republic in today's world and I love her.

Since you hate this country and all that it does on a daily basis, I wonder, when are you leaving?

evenkeel 1 year, 7 months ago

wow, I have one more bone to pick with you.

wow, you wrote this: "I also like that the next best guy for the job is Herman Cain...... Either way is fine with me."

What? Seriously,... what? How in the sam hill can anyone vote and support Obama and then say that the next best guy for the job is Herman Cain! Cain is the anti-Obama! Cain is the antidote to Obama-itis! Obama is the sickness and Cain is the cure!

Are you looking at policy objectives and values at all, even a little bit, when judging the candidates? Hmmm, if not, I wonder what you ARE looking at when saying that you support Obama and also Herman Cain? Superficial things? Pigmentation? Melanin?

wow 1 year, 6 months ago

Ok, "there was a war, our west coast was largely defenseless because of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the nation was in peril. Our very existence was in jeopardy. Roosevelt was fearful that our enemies have infiltrated our homeland. He made a dreadful mistake.' Glad you ended with he made a mistake...but you forgot to add that President Roosevelt's mistake was not based on what these Japanese people did wrong, because clearly they did nothing wrong. The decision put them in interment camps was based on racial suspicions and ignorance. Here's more proof that my "Anglo Ozzie and Harriet" comment was justified. Dig this...WWII we were fighting the Germans too...yet not one American with German heritage was placed in an interment camp. Why was that so? In fact captured German POW's that had actually killed American servicemen/women, even some of the most vicious SS Troops traveled throughout America in first class public accommodations while American soldiers of color were forced to live under the hatefully racist rules of Jim Crow...and ya know what more than just the President knew about and yet nothing was done to correct the situation. So tell me again, about how my comments are to negatively skewed. As ugly as it is...everything I'm saying is true...but that does not I "loath" America. It simply means that when it comes to America's true historical past. I'm more willing to accept the good with bad than you and some others.

Next...you asked me "how in the sam hill can anyone vote and support Obama and then say that the next best guy for the job is Herman Cain!" It's simple....I don't support Herman Cain. What I do support is the fact that he has a plan and none of the other Republicans do. I'm sick of hearing excuses and seeing all this snot slinging childish name calling. I don't care about what Romney or Perry said in their books. I know what they have not said....and that is how they plan on fixing some of the things that are clearly broken! So Evenkeel, it has never had anything to do with "superficial things like Pigmentation or Melanin." It's always been about who has the better plan to get us on the right track. Here's something else that may shock ya...neither party has all the right answers, but if they put their heads together and actually work together in a unified effort...I have no doubt many of our nations problems could be on the path to be quickly resolved. JMO said 20hrs and 12 minutes ago. It ain't about a political party.. It's about...less/smarter spending and more people doing the right thing. it's someone who can get the working together for the benefit of everyone....in my Opinion that is what Obama has been trying to do and will continue to do. I'm glad the Troops are being pulled from Iraq and unless thing President Obama get's my vote for four more years cause he's the best person to help lead America to better days.

wow 1 year, 6 months ago

Kinda got goofed on the wording of my last post. It should have ended with. JMO said 20hrs and 12 minutes ago. it ain't about a political party. It's about...less/smarter spending and more people doing the right thing. It's about someone who can get people working together for the benefit of everyone....in my opinion that man is Barrack Obama. I'm glad the Troops are being pulled from Iraq and unless things change President Obama get's my vote for four more years cause currently he's the best person to help lead America to better days.

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