When deciding what to talk about for news of the day there were many options. I wanted something that was relevant to the students in the classroom and people all over the world. After contemplating many topics I decided to do something that caught my attention in the hopes that it would catch my classmates attention as well. As we are all aware there has been a war going on for too long and it is time to end it, which is exactly what my topic involves.
President Obama announced that he will be removing troops in Iraq on August 31, 2010. The president announced the extraction of troops to thousands of marines in camp Lejeune North Carolina, the same place where president Bush announced in 2003 that the troops would be in Iraq until things were fixed and the job was done as stated in the New York times. Fox news discusses, that the president is living up to a commitment that he made as a candidate. Of course when voting this year the war was something Americans were focusing on and to have this announced makes many Americans feel proud.
There are currently 142,000 U.S. forces in Iraq and those numbers will slowly dwindle. Iraqi government and The U.S. Government have made an agreement that by Dec 31, 2011 all American military personal are to be removed. Within that year the U.S. military will focus their efforts on advising equipping and training Iraqi security forces as well as assisting in reconstruction and political reconciliation. After 2011 there will be no more US troops in Iraq and by making this agreement the Americans feel safer.
This affects this class and the people around me because we all feel the effects of the war in some way. Whether our family members are in the war, having friends in the war and just the general devastation that occurs while a war is going on. By hearing that this war is coming to an end I think it brings my fellow classmates and I hope for the future and that things can get better and hopefully will get better.
The end of this war is seen as a good thing and as a bad thing. Some people don’t think the job will be done by then and others believe that the fight has been over for a while. The end of the war to me is exciting and bring complete hope for the future.
Questions for the class:
Do you think the “Job” is done?
Do you think that is a bad idea to have this plan to be done in 2010 and promise that to the troops when we don’t know what will happen in between that time?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/27/obamas-troop-drawdown-decision-end-iraq-war-late-officials-say/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/washington/28troops.html
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I think it's great that Obama is pulling out some troops, but you have to remember that he's putting more and more in Afganistan. Neither war has ended...and it won't be ending any time soon.
ReplyDeleteDo I think the "Job" is done? What "Job?" Does anyone even remember why we went into Iraq? Weapons of mass destruction. Turns out they didn't have any. I'd say the "Job" was finished a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteRipley: I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
ReplyDeleteHudson: Fuckin' A...
Burke: Ho-ho-hold on, hold on one second. This installation has a substantial dollar value attached to it.
Ripley: They can *bill* me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCbfMkh940Q
I am glad there is at least ideas of withdrawing from Iraq floating around within the government.
ReplyDeleteAs for the "job", I agree with Eric that the purpose of the war has pretty much been BS from the beginning. Even if there is a defined goal for the war the questions of whether that goal can actually be met and how long it will take to reach that goal come into play.
As for sending more troops to Afghanistan, I feel that there is at least a reason to be there (this is debatable of course) and I doubt they would send nearly as many troops there as are currently in Iraq.
i just hope that this can be a turning point for our country. i hope we can move away from a country based on and in debt because of war. what effects will this have on our economy?
ReplyDelete