Mitt Romney calls Obama Iraq withdrawal decision an ‘astonishing failure’

[TomCADem]

Source: Washington Post

The 2012 Republican field largely slammed President Obama’s decision, which the president announced Friday, to end the Iraq war and bring U.S. troops home by the end of 2011, suggesting that the move was a purely political one.

Republicans have suddenly found themselves running against a president who has notched clear foreign policy victories over the last year, among them the May killing of Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki last month. But the narrative among Republicans is of a president who’s an apologist for American foreign policy, of a commander-in-chief who is weak and ineffectual.

On Friday, shortly after Obama announced that by the end of the year, tens of thousands of U.S. troops “will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home,” leading Obama rival Mitt Romney released this statement:

“President Obama’s astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women,” Romney wrote. “The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government. The American people deserve to hear the recommendations that were made by our military commanders in Iraq.”


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/mitt-romney-calls-obama-iraq-decision-an-astonishing-failure/2011/10/21/gIQANpjD4L_blog.html

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Fresh off of condemning President Obama's Libya policy hours after Quaddafi was killed on the ground that President Obama could have brought the conflict to decisive end sooner if he had committed a massive amount of U.S. military power to the conflict, Republicans are now condemning President Obama decision to withdraw from a sovereign Iraq.

[krispos42]

1. As opposed to pResident Bush's astonishing success in securing an orderly transition?

I see that Mitt and Reality only have a nodding acquaintance.

[roguevalley]

44. Mitteh was looking at the mirror at the time.

[99th_Monkey]

2. What a dweeb. Does he really expect that kind of rhetoric to attract voters? nt

[pezDispenser]

7. do you really expect it won't?

[FarLeftFist]

28. I know for a fact it won't. No one is sitting around thinking "maybe year 10 would be different"

Nope. America wanted this war to end.

[SkyDaddy7]

26. HELL YES I bet it does attract voters!

Remember this is America where regardless of what people are thinking they can be easily persuaded by the typical empty Right Wing Authoritarian Rhetoric...After all the public still overwhelmingly thinks Republicans are better at defending this country despite the fact Bill Clinton & especially Barack Obama's foreign policy successes compared to Republican failures! Seriously, what foreign policy success have they had in the last 30yrs other than Reagan just so happened to be in office when the Soviet Union fell...One could argue that happened because the USSR went broke in Afghanistan & one lone Democrat played a major role in that happening Charlie Wilson! Plus, the 1st Gulf War. Other than that the Republicans have literally been a disaster!

The reason, I think, is Obama does not run around screaming look at me & look what I have done & how tough I am when it comes to defending America! The Republicans on the other hand do this all the time running around beating their chest & grunting despite their foreign policy disasters...And the American people soak it up!!

Before Obama got Bin Laden I said many times it would not matter if President Obama got Bin Laden the American people would still buy into the Republican rhetoric that only they can be trusted to defend America...And the latest poll says exactly that!

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64849.html

I think similar feelings apply to other issues as well...And add in the fact the Republicans have an entire 24hr news channel & the entire AM radio band dedicate to promoting Right Wing Propaganda & it is no wonder why the Democrats have such a hard time getting their message out...Not only that but the MSM is AWOL!

Sorry for the long rant.

[izquierdista]

33. Poppy Bush

Bush the Elder was in office when the Soviet Union fell. But I can understand how you might say St. Ronnie, after all that the Republicans have done to venerate his corpse.

If only there were a 24hr facts channel. There is, it's called the internet, and you can get facts any time day or night. However, you have to look for them, and you can't passively sit back and just accept what is broadcast to you.

[SkyDaddy7]

42. Yes, I am fully aware that "Poppy Bush"

was actually in office at the time the USSR fell...I was speaking from the perspective of the average US Citizen who think Reagan brought down the USSR by himself...The same applies to how the average person gets their news. Most Americans do not do what we political junkies do & read many varying sources on the internet. Many people get their news in sound bites & via the AM air waves. Plus, where in live in the deep south every place of business from doctor's offices to restaurants to convenient stores all have TVs tune to FOX "News". So, folks who do not pay attention to what is actually going on in this country hear what they hear on the AM dial in their car then hear the same in the doctor's office, convenient store & at night in the restaurant will assume what they are hearing must be true because they hear it everywhere!

The Democrats do not have anything like this to our message out...Plus, our message is one that wants change things in America to help rebuild the middle class, save our environment, improve education, respect the US Constitution, etc., and none of these things can be reduced to sound bites...To understand the Democratic/Liberal message one must be willing to LISTEN & have decent understanding of history & why things are the way they are. That makes things extremely difficult for our cause!

[Politicalboi]

3. Wait Mittens

Your boys can still enlist and kill people in Afghanistan.

[coalition_unwilling]

6. If his boys enlisted, they'd surely be REMFs - n/t

[keroro gunsou]

12. REMF?

ok this i gotta hear.... :evilgrin:

[Thor_MN]

14. Rear Echelon Mother... Well you can guess the rest.

[Kolesar]

18. A "fortunate son" eom

[coalition_unwilling]

40. Old Vietnam-era acronym for 'Rear Echelon MotherFucker' - used

to disparage those who served in the Armed Forces but did not fight or even see or hear bullets fly or artillery hit. May have been a term of derision for desk-bound officers in Saigon and the Pentagon, IIRC.

[tanyev]

30. Yeah, they can even take the RV they used to keep the heartland safe

during Mitt's 2008 campaign.

[diane in sf]

4. The failure was in going there in the first place.

[polichick]

16. Absolutely - it was criminal.

[BlueStater]

5. It's not 2004 anymore, Mittwit.

This sort of rhetoric isn't going to work with the voters.

[opihimoimoi]

8. NitMitt ain't going anywhere but Loser Ville

[truthisfreedom]

9. Wow, he just opened himself up. What an idiot.

He has no idea what he's in for.

[Submariner]

10. Mountain Meadows Mitt was a draft dodging coward

and his 5 sons drove a Winnebago around America supporting the war effort in Iraq. Mitt is nothing but a trust fund baby from the lucky sperm club spending the bucks his daddy left him. The only thing he knows about foreign affairs, is that is where he sent American jobs to further line his pockets.

[rpannier]

11. failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq

I'd like him to explain why it's not an orderly transition

[newspeak]

43. oh, mitt-you and your pnac boys

may still profit even after we withdraw. We got out of vietnam and how many corporate sweatshops are now doing business there.

[sandyj999]

13. He just doesn't like any positive news concerning Obama.

Makes his campaigning more difficult. Very smart move politically for Obama.

[madrchsod]

15. tens of thousands of troops will be "home for christmas"

i`m sure their loved ones will disagree with mittens.

i swear to god the republicans are the dumbest people on the planet.

[Kolesar]

17. I hope Romney gets a painful and embarrassing illness

The pernicious fkhead that he is.

[elias7]

32. nasal hemorrhoids?

or a gaze palsy leaving him cross-eyed, oh wait...

[Historic NY]

19. Has Mitt been sleeping orderly transition.......we have been leaving for months already.

[SpiralHawk]

20. Typical peeping from a Republicon chickenhawk

The Republicon chickenhawks & their whining are just pathetic...

[90-percent]

21. Ask the military commanders what to do?

That's the tail wagging the dog. They should tell the President what's going on, but the decision on what to do is up to the Congress and President. Asking the Generals what to do is absurd and is a good road to perpetual war. MacArthur wanted to nuke China. Good thing Truman didn't listen to him, and fired him eventually.

Oh, the illegal Iraq occupation was a failure from the day it started. Mitt is a twit!

-90% Jimmy

[msanthrope]

22. Mitt Romney can send his own sons to Iraq to help with the effort. Why hasn't he? nt

[Sam Hain]

23. So, a Republican is criticizing the implementation of an agreement

that was signed by a Republican. Makes sense to me! :crazy:

[Drahthaardogs]

24. Failure?

Hell that is the best news I have heard all damned day. Get our men and women home now! While we are at it, let's leave Afghanistan too. Osama is dead and if the Afghan people want democracy, they have had a decade to procure it. Maybe they do not want it.

[Botany]

25. ‘astonishing failure’

R you kidding me? The ‘astonishing failure’ was starting the war in the first place.

[TexasProgresive]

27. A hesitant prediction

Sometime after the withdrawal of US troops the Tigris and Euphrates' will be red with blood and choked with bodies.

It will not matter when the troops are withdrawn-50 or 100 years would not make a difference. In fact the longer the artificial peace the greater will be the violence to come.

This is my opinion and I hope it is wrong- One thing I know and that will never change BabyB*sh should've listened to PapaB*sh.

[Botany]

31. You are right

It is not a question of if there will be carnage but when.

W should have also listened to former Ambassador to Iraq Joe Wilson who said in Feb. 2003 that
Iraq had 103 different factions and that we could be in Baghdad on a matter of days but
then is when the trouble will start. W didn't know that there were different sects of Islam, Shia
and Sunni only a few months before starting this mess,

[jowsybart]

29. and after only 8 years

[hobbit709]

34. When it comes to "astonishing failure" Mittens is what he speaks about.

[izquierdista]

35. Wise words from 20 years ago

Still timely today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaS2bRGS86c

[spanone]

36. romney should know well 'astonishing failure'

[TBF]

37. The view of the one percent ... Romney got missionary & student deferrments while our

fathers served in Viet Nam. His sons would do the same ... they will never have to serve.

[Ezlivin]

38. We've ALWAYS been at war with Eastasia

And so it goes...


Kudos to all the literary types who know both references. We are a vanishing group.

[Puzzler]

39. Did Obama campaign on this issue? Therefore he has a mandate to do it!

Elections have consequences.

[TheKentuckian]

41. What a wicked idiot, he is upset that the drain on the treasury might be slowing down

Ending bullshit wars is not good for drowning the pig to justify social spending cuts and stupid fuck privatization.

We should never gone and once we made the crippling, idiotic decision (and don't even bother hoping for a moment that we are anywhere near the end of the consequences) we should have still been out a year and a half ago at the absolute latest.

The TeaPubliKlans are ideologically locked into near worse case decision making, they are incapable of avoiding destructive options and should be dismantled to save the country. The Turd Way is dangerously Reich Wing enough to function as the conservative party, in fact they are probably too far gone to be a rational option either but this collection of insane radically regressive folks cannot continue to have a governing influence on the country.

They are seriously whining about moving toward wrapping up a completely pointless bullshit war that has gone on like twice as long as WWII. This ranks up there with apologizing to fucking BP in showing what utterly worthless and contemptible idiots these fuckers are even at their level best considering Romney is supposed to represent their "sane" faction.

"Bipartisanship" with these evil halfwits is almost as insane as they are. Anything besides sit in a corner and shut the fuck up with your nonsense is way, way, way, way, way too fucking accommodating and respectful of their unadulterated batshit crazy.

[deacon]

45. Twit Romney. This loser is some piece of work. n/t

[and-justice-for-all]

46. fuck you Mitt, FUCK YOU! .nt

[Puregonzo1188]

47. Does Romney know that this deadline date was set by the Bush-Maliki deal? Shouldn't he be angry at

Bush? Obama, after all, is just following through.

[lumpy]

48. Bottom line. Romney doesn't give a damn about troops

continuing to put their lives on the line for Bush's dismal war. The GOPers ar worried that unemployment will be escalated and they have no plan to do anything about it.