Rick Perry is upset that Obama has announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Said Perry: “The last thing you want to do is put those men and women’s lives in peril and I think that’s what the president’s done by making a political statement to his base that he’s going to be out of Iraq by a date certain. He needs to be working with the commanders on a timetable to remove those troops but obviously not telling the bad guys when it’s going to happen.”
The timeline was set in motion by Bush the Republican in 2008 and was public knowledge. See Glenn Greenwald here.
Are Iraqis “bad guys”? We made them our enemies after we invaded them in 1991, imposed brutal sanctions on them during the 1990s, and then invaded them again in 2003. No Iraqi is seeking to harm an American except those in U.S. military uniforms occupying their country.
Perry also released an official statement that says in part:
As a veteran and commander-in-chief of national guard forces, I cannot express enough appreciation for our military service members who have protected and defended American interests in Iraq. Our Iraq war veterans made enormous sacrifices to make our nation and world safer.
This, of course, is pure nonsense. See any of my articles on Iraq or the military.
6:58 am on October 23, 2011
