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The actual war in Iraq was over some time ago, after the Bush “SURGE” was the final nail in the coffin. But, now, President Obama will take the credit for the end of the Iraq War which former President Bush deserves.

The decision to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq’s cities on June 30 was made by Iraqis, not Americans. That’s why the Iraqi government is holding a massive celebration to mark the redeployment as National Sovereignty Day. At the insistence of Iraqis, the Status of Forces Agreement, which was concluded late last year between the Iraqi government and the Bush Administration, required that U.S. troops be out of Iraq’s urban areas by June 30, 2009, and withdrawn from the country altogether by the end of 2011. Now, Iraqi citizens and the American forces hovering in Iraq’s countryside are holding their breath for the first stage of testing Iraq’s ability to protect itself. It didn’t get off to an auspicious start with the news that four U.S. soldiers were killed in combat on the eve of the withdrawal.

But, is the war really over or is Obama just drawing down troops because American political will is drained and he promised a withdrawal during the campaign?

Oh yeah, remember that Obama opposed the Surge as did Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid who proclaimed the war was lost.

Stay tuned…….

So much for deadlines and timetables since the United States won the Iraq War with “The Surge” that both Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid (above) and Obama opposed.

President Barack Obama plans to order that all U.S. combat troops be withdrawn from Iraq by August 2010, administration officials said Tuesday, ending the war that defined his upstart presidential campaign three months later than he had promised.

Obama’s plan would pull out all combat troops 19 months after his inauguration, although he had promised repeatedly during the 2008 campaign that he would withdraw them 16 months after taking office. That schedule, based on removing roughly one brigade a month, was predicated on commanders determining that it would not endanger U.S. troops left behind or Iraq’s fragile security.

Pledging to end the war in 16 months helped to build enormous grass-roots support for Obama’s White House bid.

The withdrawal plan — an announcement could come as early as this week — calls for leaving a large contingent of troops behind, between 30,000 and 50,000 troops, to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to protect U.S. interests.

Also staying beyond the 19 months would be intelligence and surveillance specialists and their equipment, including unmanned aircraft, according to two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public.

The complete withdrawal of American forces will take place by December 2011, the period by which the U.S. agreed with Iraq to remove all troops.

Currently there are 142,000 troops in Iraq and by leaving 30-50,000 troops, there will still be plenty of soldiers there that can take up arms if conditions warrant.

So, who gets the credit for ending the Iraq War?

It should go to President Bush and General Petraeus whose “SURGE” pretty much ended the hostilities.

Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly, who just left his job overseeing U.S. operations in Anbar Province, said Tuesday that he saw violence drop to an almost “meaningless” level over the past year.

Kelly told reporters Tuesday that in the area that was the home ground of the Sunni insurgency, American combat forces don’t have enough to do and most could have pulled out months ago.

“There is still a security issue there, but in the province I just left the (Iraqi) army and the police are more than handling the remnants of what used to be al-Qaida,” Kelly said. “There’s other parts of Iraq that aren’t going quite as well but all of Iraq is doing pretty well.”

Exit Question: Will President Bush get any credit for ending the war? Or for just starting it? And the 4,200 plus killed and 31,000 injured?

Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist, who threw his shoes at President Bush has asked for a pardon from the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

A spokesman for Iraq’s prime minister says the journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush has asked for a pardon.

Spokesman Yassin Majid says that in a letter sent Thursday to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki the journalist described his behavior as “an ugly act” and asked to be pardoned.

Majid says that Muntadhar al-Zeidi in the letter recalls the kindness the prime minister once showed him during an interview in 2005 and asked for al-Maliki to show him kindness once again.

Al-Zeidi, a correspondent for an Iraqi-owned television station based in Cairo, Egypt, could face two years imprisonment for insulting a foreign leader.

What would a judge impose on a miscreant such as this here in America?

Probably a fine, community service and probabtion. Plus, the villain would have to allocute in front of the court his remorse.

Do it……

But, NO PARDON.

The Iraqi journalist who threw the shoes at President Bush was a Saddam Hussein Baathist Party supporter/member.

Go figure.

Flap supposes he could be wearing a Saddam t-shirt? But, would it be the pre-hanged version? Or how about Saddam celebrating the gassing of the Kurds? Invading Kuwait and killing American soldiers?

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Here is the site (contributed to Flap by a reader)

This is the “throw a shoe on Bush” -game.

In the upper curve you adjust the angle.
In the lower curve you adjust the strength.
And if that wasn’t it, this guy has 3 shoes!

(When it pops yellow you have a hit, when it is red you must throw again)

Kast skoen = Throw the shoe
Kast igjen = Throw again

It is quite easy to hit Bush. The Iraqi journalist yesterday must REALLY be a moron.