Marines Want Out Of Iraq

Report: Top General Pushing To Redeploy Marines To Afghanistan, Leaving Iraq To Army

(CBS/AP)  At a funeral in Baghdad's Armenian Orthodox Virgin Mary church on Wednesday, the Rev. Kivork Arshlian urged the government to punish those responsible. The immunity enjoyed by foreign security contractors in Iraq should be lifted, he said.

"This is a crime against humanity in general and against Iraqis in particular. Many other people were killed in a similar way," he said. "We call upon the government to put an end to these killings."

His comments reflected growing anger here against the contractors - nearly all based in the United States, Britain and other Western countries.

As the largest security firm operating in Iraq, much of that rage has been directed at Blackwater, which protects U.S. diplomats as they move about on Baghdad's dangerous streets. An Iraqi investigation into the Sept. 16 killings recommended that the State Department sever all contracts for the company's operations in Iraq within six months.

A top aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told The Associated Press that Washington was considering meeting the demand, "but so far there has been no concrete answer from the U.S. Embassy showing it was definitely going to drop Blackwater."

The embassy declined to comment.

But a State Department official, speaking anonymously, told CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier that replacing private contractors with government diplomatic security agents would be difficult, as the department is already fighting manpower issues.

"We used to have agents in every vehicle... and cameras and recording equipment," said the source, until just over a year ago, when the last head of diplomatic security decided to stop that because he had a manpower shortage, they had lost three agents and didn't want to lose any more.

According to witnesses and police, the Armenian Christian women died when their white Oldsmobile was struck by bullets from two Unity guards as the convoy was returning to a company compound in the Karradah district. They said the woman driving the car appeared to be trying to stop when she was killed.

"We cannot say the guards shot at random, but we rather say that they used deadly force in a situation where they shouldn't have," said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. "The preliminary investigation has shown that there was no threat to the convoy. The families of the victims will be summoned according to the legal procedures. They can file a law suit against the security company."

Unity Chief operating officer Michael Priddin said company officials were cooperating with Iraqi authorities in their investigations. He said the security team feared a suicide attack and fired only after issuing appropriate warnings for the vehicle to stop, including signs, strobe lights, hand signals and a signal flare.

Unity, which is owned by Australian partners but with headquarters in the United Arab Emirates, provides protection for USAID contractor RTI International. According to the USAID Web site, RTI has about $450 million in U.S. government contracts to work on local governance projects in Iraq. USAID is a semiautonomous arm of the State Department that manages American aide programs.

[speakinup]

"Any Cons calling the Marines cut and runners yet?
Posted by Smirk5

No, but I bet alot of you far left flies couldn''t wait for this page to open thinking, "Even the Marines want to leave because it is so politically incorrect."

I can only imagine your surprise when it turns out they were looking for a real fight (ie - things were getting boring!)

[ioweign]

I don''''t see how all you people think this is a knock against the war in Iraq. It''''s also just a preliminary discussion, and not like they''''re begging to get out of Iraq like some of you think. They feel it would be more efficient for the Marines to take the lead in Afghanistan and the Army take control in Iraq. The Army is better suited for the operations in Iraq, and the Marines are better suited for Afghanistan right now. It also tells me that things are getting much better in Iraq. But I''''m sure none of you can see that, despite the drastic drop of violence over the last month.
Plus, even when the Democrats admitted that the surge was working, they wanted to shift the argument to the political goals not being met. The Marines don''''t need to be there anymore, and that''''s the reason they are pushing for redeployment.

Posted by s1ckd09 at 08:06 AM : Oct 12, 2007


Ok, General s1ckd09.

What was the reason for the "surge" ??

If the surge is working - why end it ?

If the surge is working - then those political goals "should" be met !!

[s1ckd09]

I don''t see how all you people think this is a knock against the war in Iraq. It''s also just a preliminary discussion, and not like they''re begging to get out of Iraq like some of you think. They feel it would be more efficient for the Marines to take the lead in Afghanistan and the Army take control in Iraq. The Army is better suited for the operations in Iraq, and the Marines are better suited for Afghanistan right now. It also tells me that things are getting much better in Iraq. But I''m sure none of you can see that, despite the drastic drop of violence over the last month.
Plus, even when the Democrats admitted that the surge was working, they wanted to shift the argument to the political goals not being met. The Marines don''t need to be there anymore, and that''s the reason they are pushing for redeployment.

[smirk5]

Only the Republicans can be trusted to fight terrorism. The leak of the Bin Laden video to the media shows this with great clarity. It''s great that feeding the fox news propaganda machine with the Bin Laden tape trumped protecting sensitive information concerning Al-Qaeda.

[smirk5]

Any Cons asking themselves who in the White House leaked the Bin Laden tape to the media?

[smirk5]

Any Cons calling the Marines cut and runners yet?

[themartyred]

I''m pretty sure the last time they polled the troops, they wanted out of Iraq then... and the year before that... and the year before that...

So many people I know signed up for the US Military to defend us against attacks, not to plunder Iraq for economic profiteering from war spending and raping that land. No WONDER they want to go to Afghanistan - to find the real killer - OJ, er, I mean Osama!

[bluestardad]

OPPPS! AT LEAST ONE GENERAL HAS NOT BEEN BOUGHT OFF BY THE BUSHIT NEOCONS!

LETS SEE HOW LONG BEFORE THE BUSH ATTACK DOGS RUIN HIS CAREER!

[gmond]

Marines want out of Iraq. This is news?

[ramos937]

To the Marine Corps Commandant - Amen.

Too bad you will now have a short tenure as commandant.

[fairandbal]

Hey, look over here!!!! The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that Bush and Cheney were pressuring Telecom agencies to start NSA spy program WAY before 9/11 even happened. It''s not about protecting us from Terrorism folks, it''s ABOUT SPYING ON AMERICANS!
Why is CBS and other major news outlets burying this story!? Why don''t they want you to know this!?

[jetranger7]

By Ocotober 31st, I want everybody out of IRAQ, everybody, even the Iraqi''s out of Iraq and every single person is to leave !! There, just solved that problem, now its just an empty wasteland, desert, nobody there to do anything, its silent, empty, gone, situtation over !!!

[ajmarine1]

Posted by tuckerndfw at 10:24 PM : Oct 11, 2007,

Good night "Dog Face," we''ll do it again sometime.

[ajmarine1]

Nite all.,

Posted by drummer94 at 10:09 PM : Oct 11, 2007,

Nite to you too drummer.

[ajmarine1]

Bet that made news in your town.

Posted by drummer94 at 10:01 PM : Oct 11, 2007,

Yes we did, right on the front page; the wife framed a copy and it''s hanging in our bedroom.

I''ve had my 15 minutes of fame.

[drummer94]

Nite all. Will "speak freely" some more manana.

[tbweb]

I suggested Marines leave Iraq many many Moons ago! This is not the right mission for Marines and could actually hurt them if deployed to a real battle theater in the future. Like I mentioned many Moons ago, when the U.S. deploys Marines someone wants something to die and its really as simple as that, thats what Marines are trained for and thats what Marines do, kill s.h.i.t. and theres no need to sugarcoat it!

[drummer94]

Wow. Talk about a perfect match as a couple ''eh? Bet that made news in your town.

[dscott407]

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

I like that the most...

dscott407

[ajmarine1]

"I won''''t ask what day because this is the I''''net, but I''''ll be 59 next month."

Posted by tuckerndfw at 09:56 PM : Oct 11, 2007,

I don''t care, it''s the 14th; I knew there was somthing about you that I liked, you''re a Scorpio too. In case you didn''t know, they rule the *** sign in the Zodiac.