(Reuters) - Iraq will continue talks with Washington on how U.S. trainers can work with Iraqi forces after a complete withdrawal of American troops at the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Friday that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq as scheduled by the end of this year after the two governments failed to reach an agreement over giving American soldiers legal immunity.

"Now that we have put this behind us, this will let us settle the issue of training," Maliki said. "Iraqis will ask to resume talks over the number of trainers, the duration (of their stay in Iraq) and how those trainers will be used."... U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton... said Washington expected to have a "significant" security training presence at the Baghdad embassy.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/22/...

Libyans welcome returning anti-Qaddafi fighters to Benghazi on Saturday.


BENGHAZI, Libya — Veterans of the decisive battle for Surt streamed into this eastern Libyan port city on Saturday to a raucous heroes’ welcome, firing round after round into the air and yelling greetings to a jubilant crowd that jammed the entry-point to a main boulevard into town.

Benghazi, proud of its role as the first headquarters of the rebellion against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, has assigned itself a central part in what people here call the new Libya. In the tumultuous, hours-long reception at the edge of the city on Saturday, children waved the country’s new flag, women wearing head scarves chanted hymns to fallen fighters, and the packed crowd chanted derisive slogans mocking the dead leader... Though transition officials have insisted they would not try to move the capital to Benghazi from Tripoli, some in the crowd of proud residents still suggested that their city’s political fortunes would improve after the passing of a dictator who, at best, neglected Benghazi.



The crowd’s noisy enthusiasm for the returning soldiers seemed to grow as the sunlit afternoon wore on, and car after car jammed the tree-lined road. A judge, Tudje Naima Gebril, who was on hand to greet the troops wearing a head scarf with the country’s new red, black and green colors — she said she was the first female judge in Libya, appointed in 1975 — called the moment a symbolic new beginning for her country.

“All the people are here for building the new Libya,” she said. As soldiers fired into the air, she added: “We don’t want to see any more guns in Libya. We want civil institutions in Libya.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/world/af...

You stood up for your principles and told us Bush=Gore back in 1999 and 2000 - but you assured the foolish people that Gore would win anyways. Remember? Because you have principles.





Well, as George W. Bush said, you really covered your ass on that one. Because, you know, you have principles - unlike us Obots and unprincipled pragmatists. We are so unprincipled that we don't think your "disgust" is more important than tens of thousands of Iraqi orphans and cripples. Maybe 100,000 civilian deaths, not to mention all the American men and women killed, maimed, and traumatized. But, hell "that's how disgusted the millions of us are". We think of those bodies floating down the street in New Orleans and we are too unprincipled to think: a small price to pay for Michael Moore's integrity. Voting for a protest candidate was worth it, and Mike, your understanding of political dynamics is so good you were able to confidently predict a Gore win anyways. You rock Mike - and thanks for still being here in 2011 to explain why President Obama doesn't measure up to your standards.

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2011/10/than...

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - Some military families in Tennessee say they're delighted to hear Friday's announcement that all troops will be leaving Iraq by the end of 2011.

"Happy. Happy. Absolutely happy. Ecstatic," said Staff Sgt. Michael Peckham, who is stationed at Ft. Campbell with the 101st Airborne.

Peckham served two deployments in Iraq and is recently back from Afghanistan.

"It's good for the families, and the soldiers that have families. They can stay back here and do some training here," Peckham said... Commander Brian Allen served with the Navy in Iraq. He remembers coming home two weeks before Christmas in 2008. Allen said Friday's news will make for a joyous holiday season.

"It was a great announcement. I'm sure there will be a lot of people happy," Allen said. "For the kids, the families, I don't think you could do it any better than that," he said.

http://www.wsmv.com/story/15771755/militar...

American military officials had wanted a “residual” force of as many as tens of thousands of soldiers to remain past 2011 as an insurance policy against future violence.

Those numbers were scaled back, but the expectation was that 3,000 to 5,000 American troops would remain. Some top American military officials were dismayed by the decision, saying Mr. Obama was putting the best face on a breakdown in tortured negotiations with the Iraqis.

Pentagon lawyers insisted that the Iraqi Parliament grant soldiers immunity from legal prosecution. In recent weeks, American negotiators in Baghdad concluded that it would be impossible to obtain that protection, essentially scuttling any chance of a substantial troop presence there next year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/world/mi...

American military officials had wanted a “residual” force of as many as tens of thousands of soldiers to remain past 2011 as an insurance policy against future violence.

Those numbers were scaled back, but the expectation was that 3,000 to 5,000 American troops would remain. Some top American military officials were dismayed by the decision, saying Mr. Obama was putting the best face on a breakdown in tortured negotiations with the Iraqis.

Pentagon lawyers insisted that the Iraqi Parliament grant soldiers immunity from legal prosecution. In recent weeks, American negotiators in Baghdad concluded that it would be impossible to obtain that protection, essentially scuttling any chance of a substantial troop presence there next year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/world/mi...