TWO CHEERS FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA'S IRAQ TROOP WITHDRAWAL

In making the historic announcement that all US troops would leave Iraq by year end, President Obama conveniently failed to mention two important points:

First, our withdrawal is over the objection of the Pentagon which has lobbied for and worked hard to keep indefinitely tens of thousands of troops in Iraq for training, support and counterterrorism past December 31.

Second, we are leaving because President Obama's negotiators failed to get the Iraq government to grant immunity to any US soldier for crimes committed against Iraqis after December 31, 2011. Iraq has experienced senseless and unpunished violence against its citizenry for eight and a half years and they are justifiably fed up. Without a grant of immunity, President Obama has also had enough of our murderous and bankrupting war and occupation of Iraq, while American itself is crumbling both physically and spiritually.

Now, if we can finally launch the investigation into Bush administration war crimes, which led to this sad chapter in American history, we would really have something to celebrate.