Twitter This Commentary In The News: Thanks to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the commentary and news audio files this morning. The war is over... It's a "New Dawn" in Iraq. More in the commentary.

General Ray Odierno, the outgoing U.S. commander in Iraq, said that the formation of a new government there could still be months away. "If we get the government formed, I think we're okay," Odierno said. "If we don't, I don't know." [source]

President Obama spoke of Iraq yesterday in a speech, and it's been noted that the White House has received a celebratory interior makeover while the President and First Lady were vacationing at Martha's Vineyard. Juan Cole at Informed Comment has: "The Speech President Obama Should Give about the Iraq War (But Won’t)"

"Fellow Americans, and Iraqis who are watching this speech, I have come here this evening not to declare a victory or to mourn a defeat on the battlefield, but to apologize from the bottom of my heart for a series of illegal actions and grossly incompetent policies pursued by the government of the United States of America, in defiance of domestic US law, international treaty obligations, and both American and Iraqi public opinion..." [In Full]

Here's more on "What You Will Not Hear About Iraq" from President Obama:

Iraq has between 25 and 50 percent unemployment, a dysfunctional parliament, rampant disease, an epidemic of mental illness, and sprawling slums. The killing of innocent people has become part of daily life. What a havoc the United States has wreaked in Iraq. UN-HABITAT, an agency of the United Nations, recently published a 218-page report entitled State of the World’s Cities, 2010-2011. The report is full of statistics on the status of cities around the world and their demographics. It defines slum dwellers as those living in urban centers without one of the following: durable structures to protect them from climate, sufficient living area, sufficient access to water, access to sanitation facilities, and freedom from eviction. Almost intentionally hidden in these statistics is one shocking fact about urban Iraqi populations. For the past few decades, prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the percentage of the urban population living in slums in Iraq hovered just below 20 percent. Today, that percentage has risen to 53 percent: 11 million of the 19 million total urban dwellers. In the past decade, most countries have made progress toward reducing slum dwellers. But Iraq has gone rapidly and dangerously in the opposite direction. According to the U.S. Census of 2000, 80 percent of the 285 million people living in the United States are urban dwellers. Those living in slums are well below 5 percent. If we translate the Iraqi statistic into the U.S. context, 121 million people in the United States would be living in slums. If the United States had an unemployment rate of 25-50 percent and 121 million people living in slums, riots would ensue, the military would take over, and democracy would evaporate. So why are people in the United States not concerned and saddened by the conditions in Iraq? Because most people in the United States do not know what happened in Iraq and what is happening there now. Our government, including the current administration, looks the other way and perpetuates the myth that life has improved in post-invasion Iraq. Our major news media reinforces this message. [More]

But will we ever REALLY leave? Lets ask "General Ray":

General Ray Odierno speaks on CNN’s “State of the Union” August 22 2010:

“Can you foresee a scenario like that, that there would be some U.S. military presence, albeit much smaller, at 2020?”

ODIERNO: “Well I -- yes -- I think I don't know. I think it depends on what kind of presence you're talking about. If the government of Iraq requests some technical assistance in fielding systems that allow them to continue to protect themselves, some external threats, we could be here.”

See this interview for more including his view of Iran's involvement in Iraq and the potential that the US will keep 'troops just over the horizon' for the foreseeable future.

The two Yemeni travelers arrested in Amsterdam with their luggage 'lost' at Dulles with some odd items open for misconstruing, were just what they appeared to be... Yemeni travelers. Speaking of Yemen, and 'terrorism', the ACLU and other constitutional rights groups are in court attempting to kill the "kill order" on an American Citizen radical Muslim living in Yemen with relatives, who has never provably participated in anything more physically violent than the philosophic analysis of Jihad. Intrigue in the land of the midnight Sun - With 25,000 votes left to go in the Alaska Senatorial nomination run-off, Lisa Murkoski drops out of the race after claims by the Joe Miller camp that she was intending to rig the vote. Peace could break out in the Middle East, just don't hold our breath - President Obama will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and US recognized Palestinian PLO faction leader Mahmoud Abbas today. -30-
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