Surprise! We're not out of Iraq!

Don't drop your carrot muffin into your latte.  This is no real surprise.  What we're experiencing is some truth about ourselves that's unpleasant and bodes ill.  Enjoy the latte while you can.

A month after the last American troops left Iraq, the State Department is operating a small fleet of surveillance drones here to help protect the United States Embassy and consulates, as well as American personnel. ...NYT

That cutback at the Pentagon?  Doesn't apply to State.

It foreshadows a possible expansion of unmanned drone operations into the diplomatic arm of the American government; until now they have been mainly the province of the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency.

American contractors say they have been told that the State Department is considering to field unarmed surveillance drones in the future in a handful of other potentially “high-threat” countries, including Indonesia and Pakistan, and in Afghanistan after the bulk of American troops leave in the next two years. State Department officials say that no decisions have been made beyond the drone operations in Iraq. ...NYT

If you're sane and you didn't know about this already, you're experiencing some shock.  We're seeing a reduction in defense as no real reduction at all.  Just call it a leaner military establishment even as they move the fat to another agency.

American contractors say they have been told that the State Department is considering to field unarmed surveillance drones in the future in a handful of other potentially “high-threat” countries, including Indonesia and Pakistan, and in Afghanistan after the bulk of American troops leave in the next two years. State Department officials say that no decisions have been made beyond the drone operations in Iraq.

The drones are the latest example of the State Department’s efforts to take over functions in Iraq that the military used to perform. Some 5,000 private security contractors now protect the embassy’s 11,000-person staff, for example, and typically drive around in heavily armored military vehicles. ...NYT

Mission accomplished? 

"As a candidate for president I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to an end," the president said Friday, speaking from the White House. ...'

..."The last American soldiers will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high...that is how American military efforts in Iraq will end," the president said.

He also noted that the end of the war in Iraq would reflect a transition in America's military priorities. "The tide of war is receding," he said. ...Atlantic

I guess we misunderstood?  But one thing we knew:  Iraq pushed us out.  The reason we were "out" by December was because that decision was Iraq's to make, not ours.  And they asked us to leave.

But we didn't.  We haven't.

Barack Obama marked an end to a war he once described as "dumb" by declaring the conflict in Iraq a success and saying the last US troops will leave in the coming days with their "heads held high".

The president told an audience of soldiers at Fort Bragg that the final pullout from Iraq after nearly nine years of war is a "historic" moment and that the country they leave behind is "an extraordinary achievement". ...Guardian

Dumb, Mr. President?  Haven't you had any contact with that famous American philosopher, Forrest Gump?

Stupid is as stupid does.

Oh, and we've allegedly obtained permission from the Iraqi government for those drone flights.  Not.

The United States, which will soon begin taking bids to manage drone operations in Iraq over the next five years, needs formal approval from the Iraqi government to use such aircraft here, Iraqi officials said. Such approval may be untenable given the political tensions between the two countries. Now that the troops are gone, Iraqi politicians often denounce the United States in an effort to rally support from their followers.

A senior American official said that negotiations were under way to obtain authorization for the current drone operations, but Ali al-Mosawi, a top adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki; Iraq’s national security adviser, Falih al-Fayadh; and the acting minister of interior, Adnan al-Asadi, all said in interviews that they had not been consulted by the Americans.

Mr. Asadi said that he opposed the drone program: “Our sky is our sky, not the U.S.A.’s sky.” ...NYT

___

Update:  President Obama reacted to the Times article:

Mr. Obama, in an unusually candid public discussion of the Central Intelligence Agency’s covert program, said the drone strikes had not inflicted huge civilian casualties. “We are very careful in terms of how it’s been applied,” he said. “It is important for everybody to understand that this thing is kept on a very tight leash.” ...NYT, 1/31/12

Comments

[Barbara O'Brien]

It used to be that marines served at all U.S. embassies and consulates as guards; I believe that's still true of most of them. It seems to me there is a clear distinction between military embassy guards and being "at war." I think you're going off track a bit here; by the same logic, we're still "at war" with Britain, since there is a military guard at the embassy in London.

Yeah, that ridiculous embassy in Baghdad ought to be sold to private developers and turned into a mall, IMO, but as long as it's there, the embassy staff will require some pretty heavy-duty guarding.

[PW]

Glad you called me back to this post to see I pasted the same paragraph in twice!

But no, I think you're wrong about embassy guards. They are onsite, familiar critters. Most if not all embassies have them, no matter the nation. "Onsite" meaning on what is American real estate in a foreign country just as (say) the British embassy in DC is on British territory. But non-military, privately contracted drones in the sky above Iraq (or anywhere) are a different order of business.

And where did I write "at war"?

[senor crews]

I think you're off base here, too. I'm a ragin' Liberal, and I think we should have a 5K kick-ass squad inside the embassy that could zoom out - yeah, out - and get anyone who attacks the embassy. Even if it's mortars from 3000 feet away.
In Afghanistan, it should be larger, PLUS a big drone/bomber wing to do strategic and tactical damage to ... our enemies. Taliban may not be our enemy - who knows. But in a lawless land, we should be able to take care of ourselves.
And I'm a big Liberal.

[PW]

I hope you're kidding, Senor, but suspect that you're not.