What Are Iraq's Military Needs After 2011

TRACER TRAINING
U.S. Army soldiers fire .50-caliber machine gun rounds at the base of a training target to indicate to nearby helicopters where to fire their rockets during partnered aerial-ground integration training between U.S. and Iraqi forces on Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, May 21, 2010. The soldiers are assigned to the 558th Military Police Company. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod

Analysis: Iraq’s Military Needs After 2011 -- New York Times

BAGHDAD — The poster behind the Iraqi general’s desk was of an M1 Abrams battle tank. When his cellphone rang, it played the theme song from the Clint Eastwood movie “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

It is not hard to believe such a man when he says that Iraq will continue to need the Americans after 2011.

But continued American help does not necessarily mean continued combat troops, insisted Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari, the spokesman for Iraq’s Ministry of Defense.

Read more ....

My Comment: With the exception of the White House, everyone is talking about US engagement in Iraq for the next decade, and this New York Times report only gives credence to this observation. Even the AP has informed its reporters that combat and fighting in Iraq is not over, and to not take at face value the narrative coming from the US administration.

What is my prediction .... by mid 2011 Iraq will be formally asking the US for a long term military alliance and security relationship. To justify this change in policy, President Obama will announce that we have a moral obligation to the people of Iraq, and that a significant number of US troops .... 30,000 to 50,000 soldiers .... plus a significant number of contractors .... will be staying in Iraq for the foreseeable future.