Promises, Promises

The President of the United States, who is currently Barack Obama, announced on Monday that the Iraq war was nearing an end "as promised and on schedule." This comes as some welcome relief for a number of us who were unaware that there was a schedule or an end. Back when we had a Pinhead for a president, we had been told that the war was over, or rather that it would be over abruptly, but I guess it would have helped to understand the timeline that the government was working with.
Back when the war was first getting finished, in April 2003, it was comforting to think of all those American GI's coming home in time for summer in the states. Even though "major combat operations" had ended, there was still a little clean up to do. Another seven years or so. What we who are not "in the loop" fail to grasp is just how hard it is to end a war. It's not like we're running out of bullets or anything. On the contrary, the war in Iraq has been good business for arms manufacturers here in the United States, what with all the guns and bombs that our soldiers need as well as those we are selling to the Iraqis in hopes that when there aren't any more U.S. soldiers left to shoot them they can get back to shooting one another. Our current president tells us that we are still expecting to get all our troops out of Iraq by the end of next year. If you're looking at a calendar presently, you've probably pieced together that we still have a little over a year and a half to pack our bags and go. "But make no mistake, our commitment in Iraq is changing — from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats."
No word yet on how the diplomats will be armed.