US troops to withdrawal from Iraq

[Rob Williams]

All US troops will be pulled out of Iraq by the end of the year, President Barack Obama has announced.

He ordered a complete withdrawal from the country, nearly nine years after the invasion under President George W Bush.

About 39,000 US troops remain in Iraq, down from a peak of 165,000 in 2008.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15410154

After so many bouts of false hope to see this happen, it's almost hard to believe this headline. Next up: Afghanistan.

 

[Optix]

All of this to get rid of a dictator that the US helped put in place. Bravo.

 

[OriginalJoeCool]

About time! Wonder what will happen next. It's the nature of the world we live in .... :S

A thought just popped into my head. Iraq and places like it are some of the oldest civilizations on Earth. Why are they the least developed?

 

[Doomsday]

About time! Wonder what will happen next. It's the nature of the world we live in .... :S

A thought just popped into my head. Iraq and places like it are some of the oldest civilizations on Earth. Why are they the least developed?

Theres a saying here that : 'While we built Taj Mahals and Architectural Beauties, the West built Universities!'

 

[OriginalJoeCool]

Before the West even existed, the middle east, Asia, and eventually Europe were the big inventors. I can think of one thing off the top of my head Arabs gave us:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Arabic numerals!

 

[Kougar]

A thought just popped into my head. Iraq and places like it are some of the oldest civilizations on Earth. Why are they the least developed?

At one time or another, they were the most developed, or the most advanced in the world. Greece, Persia, China, Egypt... War and internal strife are usually the culprit, although changing weather patterns that brought famine, or even the imposition or staunch adoption of super rigid religious or cultural systems can do it. There are lots of reasons, in many cases a combination of several.

As a side note, if you look at some of those older middle-eastern civilizations, they tend to have the strictest, most rigid cultures that severely limit creativity, individual rights, and even education. Woman would not be allowed in schools, or if they were they were taught how to be a housewife. Woman couldn't conduct (let alone own) a business, children forced or raised into a specific type of work by their parents, the list goes on for awhile. All of that eventually will hamstring the society and hold them back. Just read this, as a starting point.

 

[OriginalJoeCool]

Saudi Arabia ... Naming the country after yourself is pretty damn arrogant. It's like if Obama renamed the US the United States of Obama.

 

[Psi*]

... ...

 

[Glider]

Oh, are all the oil reserves, I mean, WMD, found already?