US troops at lowest level since Iraq invasion

[sabra]

Source: AP

BAGHDAD — The American military says the number of boots on the ground in Iraq has dropped below 100,000 for the first time since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Army 1st Lt. Elizabeth Feste told The Associated Press that as of Tuesday there are 98,000 troops in Iraq.

That's a significant drop from the roughly 140,000 troops in the month after the invasion, and a decline of about 70,000 since the height of the 2007 surge in which tens of thousands were deployed to fight the insurgency.

The declining number of troops signals the U.S. is sticking by its plan to steadily reduce its number of combat troops in Iraq to 50,000 by the end of August.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD9DTBI9G0

[MineralMan]

1. Good news. We haven't heard much on this withdrawal.

I'm glad to see it's proceeding.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Of course we haven't heard much about it -

the media can't keep people hating on Obama if they tell us that he's doing what he promised to do. Gotta focus on EXPANDING THE WAR in Afghanistan (which he also promised to do, but it seems nobody was listening).

[yava]

25. YES

kick

[Frustratedlady]

3. Did some of these transfer to Afghanistan?

If not, maybe the admin. is keeping it low key until they see how it works, or to use it to answer one of Cheney's criticisms in the near future. God knows he has plenty of them.

[DCBob]

4. Yes possibly.... from a dumb war to a necessary war.

Which was Barack Obama's position as a candidate and continues as the President.

[zipplewrath]

5. Yes and no

He never really outlined the massive increase in troops he apparently had planned. He implied his intention was far more to focus on the Pakistan/Afghan border, and to let diplomancy and NGO's deal with the larger country. The one exception was a discussion he had with Petreus in which he explained a desire to reduce troops in Iraq so he could shift focus to Afghanistan. Even then, the assumption was that it was operations along the border which were important. He even got into some early criticism from the Bush crowd that it would be foolish to conduct operations inside Pakistan without permission from that country.

To be honest, I'd "betcha" that even he didn't realize what he was advocating when he said he would want to focus on Afghanistan more. Bigger country with even less infrastructure than Iraq, if that was possible, and he is running around promising to "do more". That was a big promise.

[DCBob]

8. As a candidate he could not possibly outline precisely what he was going to do in Afghanistan..

He said he would refocus the effort from Iraq to Afghanistan. That is what he is doing.

[zipplewrath]

11. He said a bit more than that

He spoke in enough specificity to receive some criticism from his opponents, including the White House. He also presented, during the primary, as the more "pacifist" candidate, at least with respect to Hillary. Furthermore he never spoke of these kinds of troop commitments, and often chastize Bush for making these kinds of commitments. That's a tad more than just saying he'd "refocus".

[Bragi]

12. No, it's from one dumb war to another dumb war

Once bin laden left Afghanistan, there was no reason for the U.S to continue its occupation of the country, nor was there any justification for joining the religious extremists, drug barons and tribal warlords in the ongoing civil war that is Afghanistan.

Obama got this war wrong in the campaign, and he was wrong to escalate it once elected. No good will come from this war which is now helping to undermine his Presidency.

[No Elephants]

15. What necessary war? Karzai is our puppet

[bkozumplik]

19. yes, they all transfered to Afghanistan plus some

I've read that we have more boots on the ground in the combined Afghan/Iraq conflicts than we did under Bush.
Every division we have is allocated, with time at home periods closely watched. The second the time-at-home period is over, they head back as fast as possible.

They arent super clear with the numbers anymore, between OEF and ISAF and plain USMil, and you cant even find the numbers on civilian contractors.

It just gets less press now, since casualties are low.
Stop loss is still going on too, although its supposed to be phased out.. in 2011.

Its the same as before, but I guess we can be happy casualties are low.

[Don Caballero]

6. Thank you President Obama for your leadership

This is great news

[Mari333]

7. headed straight to the other fucking occupations and what a load of shit

mercenaries and troops will stay in Iraq for ever...why? WAR PROFITEERS

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=1551

Iraq was a corporate war from the beginning and will continue to be held in occupation by the US and their mercenaries to secure oil contracts for companies..

thats all it ever was about.

its a WAR CRIME

and the Obama admin is continuing the Bush war crimes by staying there at all

[saigon68]

9. Absolutely

[Bragi]

14. How many US-paid mercenaries are now there? /nt

[Mari333]

18. boy would I like to know

I doubt we will be able to find the truth about how many

[Robb]

20. 11,162 in Iraq and 10,712 in Afghanistan. nt

[Bragi]

22. I get 132,610 in Iraq and 68,197 in Afghanistan

I can't vouch for the reporter, but does anyone have information better than this?

http://rebelreports.com/post/116277092/obama-has-250-000-contractors-in-iraq-and-afghan

- B

[Robb]

24. My numbers above are accurate as of December.

...Your reporter is likely counting everyone who's paid to be there, including civilian truck drivers and engineers and what-not; if the question is armed security guards, (PSCs, private security contractors) it's a much smaller number.

http://www.acq.osd.mil/log/PS/p_vault/Contractor_Support_8Dec09.doc

[Lasher]

27. 180,000 in July 2007.

The numbers include at least 21,000 Americans, 43,000 foreign contractors and about 118,000 Iraqis - all employed in Iraq by U.S. tax dollars, according to the most recent government data.

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/04/nation/na-private4

Not as recent as your scoop but I hope this breakdown is useful. With about 114,000 contractors right now, some of those 118,000 Iraqis are no longer getting paid by the US. I wonder how peaceful it's going to be there as more of them lose their jobs.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

23. So you want Obama carted off to The Hague?

Good grief.

[Mari333]

26. I want to see the whole MIC investigated

for their participation in criminal enterprise, war crimes, corruption, etc

whoever gets caught up in that, so be it.

Obama is continuing the Bush war policies, moving the deck chairs around on this huge Titanic of neverending occupations of other countries for profit.

[Lasher]

10. There were 140,000 US soldiers in Iraq 1 year ago.

This number has been reduced to 98K, so we've gotten 42K of them out so far. 48K more need to come out by August 31, 2010 as Obama said at this time last year. About half of the 90K soldiers have been withdrawn but 2/3 of the 18 months has elapsed. Assuming a constant number (5K) to be withdrawn during each of the 18 months, only 30K should be left right now, in addition to the 50K 'non-combat' troops that are to remain until the end of 2012.

The pace needs to pick up if Obama's objective is to be met by the end of August this year.

[zipplewrath]

13. Which is why we aren't hearing much

A bit like Gitmo, and trials in Manhattan, they are beginning to have second thoughts. No final decisions I'm sure, but it is occuring to them that they may not get there when they want to. Can't start taking credit when it only will elevate expectations.

[No Elephants]

16. Another misleading AP headline. Should be "US Troops IN IRAQ at Lowest Level Since Invasion."

Like all Republicans, AP hates Democrats, but loves war, and seems to skew most of its headlines accordingly.

And, given how newspapers can't afford reporters anymore, services like AP have a monopoly on the news we read.

[impik]

17. By the end of August, another 50,000 will be home

And presdient Obama will end this war just like he promised - The same time frame and with responsibility.

[Mari333]

21. the occupation will never end in Iraq

we will be there forever unless we are kicked out. we are securing OIL FIELDS for our corporate friends. It was a scam from the beginning, and its still a SCAM.

and, its a WAR CRIME.