August 2, 2009
Notes

Gates in Baghdad: Three Day Old Fish

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (R) shakes hands with Iraqi commanders during his visit to Baghdad July 28, 2009. Gates said during a visit to Iraq on Tuesday that the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from urban bases was paying off as Iraqi forces assumed the lead for Iraq's fragile security. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ CONFLICT POLITICS MILITARY)

“As the old saying goes, ‘Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days,’ ” Colonel Reese wrote. “Since the signing of the 2009 Security Agreement, we are guests in Iraq, and after six years in Iraq, we now smell bad to the Iraqi nose.”

Oh please.

In light of Col. Timothy Reese’s memo regarding the rapid and irreversible deterioration of U.S. – Iraqi military cooperation since we withdrew from Baghdad June 30th, this photo of Secretary Gates hobnobbing with Iraqi military commanders last Tuesday in the Iraqi capital are just pure propaganda. And then, how much credibility are we to give to more of the same looking at photos shot the same day in Talil (1, 2, 3), a shared command post where U.S. troops have shifted to an advisory role?

(image: Stringer/Reuters. Baghdad July 28, 2009)

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Michael Shaw
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