We spent eight years, close to a trillion dollars, and the lives of 4000 US servicemen to change Iraq from a national security threat into a weakly functioning democracy in the Arab Middle East. At least 100,000 Iraqi citizens lost their lives in that transition. We had the opportunity to establish an toehold in a strategically crucial part of the world from whence we cannot rationally disengage, for all its toxins and no matter our own desires.
The final withdrawal of US forces from that blasted land will come in accordance with a timeline finalized between President Obama’s predecessor and the legally established government of Iraq. Altering that agreement in a way that more closely suited both our own security needs and those of the fledgling Iraqi republic would have required political courage on all parts, and inspired leadership here at home.
Alas, there was none:
Throughout the summer and autumn, as talks on a continued U.S. military presence in Iraq foundered, President Barack Obama and his point man on Iraq, Vice President Joe Biden, remained largely aloof from the process, logs released by the U.S. Embassy here suggest.
The omission would be an unusual one, given the high priority U.S. officials had given to achieving an agreement for some sort of residual U.S. presence in Iraq after the Dec. 31 pullout deadline, and the White House labeled the suggestion inaccurate. A spokesman said the logs released by the embassy were incomplete.
The listing provided by the embassy _ drawn, the embassy said, from the White House website _ indicates that Obama had no direct contact with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki between Feb. 13, when he telephoned the prime minister, until Friday, when he called Maliki to tell him U.S. troops would be withdrawn by Dec. 31.
The embassy listing showed that Biden telephoned Maliki on Dec. 21, the day Maliki formed a new government, and visited here Jan. 18, but had no direct contact after that date, according to the official listing.
The White House dismisses the embassy logs, and disputes the legacy of disengagement they reveal. But the result is perfectly in alignment with what we can deduce were the White House’s over-arching policy objectives: 1) Get US forces out of Iraq before the 2012 election cycle no matter what the cost, and 2) Don’t let any of what happens afterward stick to Obama himself.
SecDef Leon Panetta can bark all he wants at Iran, but come 2011 – or perhaps sooner – the mullahs will know that he has no bite.
August.1939. Big trouble for the next administration.
Pres. Chamberlain strikes again..
Nah. Closer to James Buchanan – or Jimmy Carter, as I think matters may well brew up before the new President takes office.
That Obama and Biden were not engaged is more a blessing than a curse.
Biden is an absolute idiot who gives buffoons a bad name. His reverse Midas touch and inability to articulate a rational thought would clearly screw up any project he engages in, so we lost nothing due to his disengagement. As bad as Obama is, with his antipathy to our nation, what it stands for, and our defense, as he actively subverts our core values and infrastructure, at least he is competent at doing what he wants. Biden is simply incompetent.
The opportunity for some continued influence in Iraq is being unilaterally surrendered at a time when Iran will exploit that. That is not good, but it could be worse.
However, the sectarian bigotry and hatred within Iraq, and the tenants of their Muslim faith offer little hope that even long term presence by the U.S. would accomplish much, other than placing us in the position of being the referee (or more accurately the hated interloper) in their inevitable religious Civil War.
Now, with Iraq over (neither won nor lost) we should declare victory in Afghanistan and pull our troops home and put them on the southern border. There is no way we will drag the Afghan multi-tribal culture into modernity, let alone some semblance of nationhood. The Brits and the Russians paid dearly to learn that lesson, and we should heed their experience. The Taliban who supported Al Quida were their former government, and now are sheltered in Pakistan, and may return to power some day. AQ is gone, so let the locals kill each other as long as they like. We cannot stop it anyway.
Our own nation is declining from illegal immigration, and unsustainable spending, and we should be more worried about our domestic enemies than foreign at this point.
Every bit of energy we have needs to go into replacing the present administration in November 2012, and reversing their disastrous domestic policies!
Absolutely 100% agree with you, especially on the points related to Afghanistan. Indeed with Karzai saying he’d support Pakistan over the U.S. and with Pakistan most assuredly giving succor and solace to the Taliban – we should just pull up stakes and leave them to it.
Just have drones on hand and in the area, frequently.
Nah, I’d rather have BUFFs on hand and in the area.
Proud graduate of the Ripley School of International Relations. Got my commemorative Curt Lemay stoneware, too.
Butch/
Remember when LeMay ran for V.P on the ticket with George Wallace in ’68? The running joke was that his campaign bumper-sticker read (or should have read): “Bombs Away With Curt LeMay!” LOL.
This is a major failure by the current administration including Hillary Clinton as SecState. Yes, Bush & Co. negotiated the existing pull-out timeline, but that was looking forward from years back when the reality of ‘now’ was not a known quantity. A competent SecState and a real leader for a President could and should have done more than this bunch has done to make a newer agreement to make ultimate success in Iraq more likely than not.
Will the media do more than quote Obummer and Hillary on why this is happening? Will the public be told the reality that by leaving now as they are planning we are opening the door to future problems that closely involve Iran? Will the public understand that further problems in Iraq will either require our involvement or very negative consequences to the USA?
This is all terribly depressing. I think, too, that I should stop reading Mark Steyn’s book because it’s too negative if accurate.
Our forces would have been like the british in northern ireland–in the middle of religious strife. The number would have been so small that Iran could have used them as hostages in any regional flareup. And everyone knows if there is another flareup no US soldiers are going back in. I think it was an inevitable result.
What would Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, etc. have done?
Only one Republican candidate seems to have spoken (and acted) in defense of sovereignty as opposed to global (UN) obeisance, as far as I am yet aware.
How can any other issue have superiority?
If one is looking for a little political courage, this White House has about as little as any in history.
We have abandoned any claim to leadership in the area and have opened the door to Iranian hegemony of the Middle East. Is there any question as to why our “friends” are throwing us overboard?
The only one who might take some comfort in all this is Jimmy Carter, who must take considerable joy in the fact that history will no longer remember him as the worst President in history.
And the destruction of the United States of our forefathers (and us) continues. Hard to believe it’s not agenda-driven.
TC
Dumb and Dumber at the helm put there by a majority of koolaid drinking, mis-informed, self-indulgent morons. I cry for my grandchildren. They will live in an occupied country in their lifetime. We have just about crossed the point of no return.
my pastor and I have cancelled a planned mission trip (to teach Enga-rish to businessmen) scheduled in Feb 2012. The drum beat from those at “the school” is not good. al Sadr’s thugs will initiate action. I told ___ in Baghdad I didn’t fancy being kidnapped by Iranian thugs.
all this will simply cause Israel to act sooner than later.
I’d comment, but I’m too busy throwing up…nothing like having the reincarnation of General Jubilation T. Cornpone to lead the retreat..
The Iraqi penchant for play-acting brinksmanship (“we will not sign a SOFA unless all US troops are fully under Iraqi law!”) played right into the hands of Dear Leader, who gets what he wanted, a full retreat from the “bad” war, leaving Mookie and his Iranian-funded and overtly backed thugs the opportunity to make Iraq a near-Province of western Iran. If push comes to shove, House of Saud will make a deal with Tehran. Way to go, Dear Leader, you putz.
I, a Vietnam, vet saw the same governmental cowardice, lack of insight, foresight and any semblance of honor at the end of the Vietnam war.
Vietnam was a war fought by the services but governed by politicians. Iraq is a war fought by by the services and governed by politicians.
Afghanistan is a war fought by the services but governed by politicians. I see the same outcome in Iraq that Vietnam suffered and believe that the same will happen in Afghanistan.
The services in all cases did (and do)their job properly, honorably would have been swiftly victorious were it not for the gutless cowards in washington.
The only change that I see is that I was spit on when I came back from Nam, our folks now come back to great respect.
Roger
Roger, “The only change that I see is that I was spit on when I came back from Nam, our folks now come back to great respect.” is the key point.
Totally agree. Not sure it makes a difference to what eventually happens, but still it is great to see the troops treated with honor and respect by their fellow citizens. Was not so much the case back then.
Now wait just a minute folks: 1. We haven’t heard from Flit yet; 2. President “Present” was present in the White House, or on the golf course, or out raising campaign funds, or on vacation continuously from February 13 until last Friday. If Maliki had called him, surely The Bamster would have answered!
Good political things come to those who sit on their keester and do nothing–a lesson all too internalized by our fearless leader.
The thing I can’t wrap my brain around is how this does anybody any good. I take it as a given that those in power want to stay in power, and from that I’m just not seeing the up-side for anybody.
Maliki wants to flex muscle and show he’s not under the thumb of the US, so he makes a few demands. Fine, he has to do that. He gains nothing by the US withdrawing unless he thinks he can hold onto power without our help. Good luck with that. He may have over-stepped his play, but then again he might have thought we were serious. I wonder if this announcement was made without consulting him?
Obama wants to withdraw so the anti-war faction can be appeased. Again, good luck with that. They wanted Guantanamo closed too. They wanted UN approval of Libya. They wanted the CIA and NSA and FBI hamstrung and anything done under Bush rolled back. This little tidbit of a promise kept will not assuage them. They may vote for Obama but they were going to vote for him anyway, at best this gets a few who might have chosen to sit out into the voting booth.
Which makes this smack of desperation.
For the Republicans, they’ll vote for a syphilitic camel before they’ll vote for Obama. Doesn’t matter who makes it through their primaries, they’re not voting for The Won. For the independents, this is not the hot-button issue. They’d rather see TSA shut down than worry about the FBI wiretapping people calling terrorists in Iran, and they’d rather see Fannie Mae regulated than Wall Street. Pulling out of Iraq without a stable government and security forces able to hold it doesn’t make them happy, to them it makes us losers there too.
The calculus doesn’t add up unless we’re looking at dispirited liberals too weary to go to the polls as the deciders of this election.
I’m thinking they’re outnumbered by the unemployed.
– Max
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot do you expect from a SCOAMF who has NEVER allowed the word “victory” to pass his lips?
It is all the rage to call the other guy stupid in politics these days. Most who do that fail to appreciate that the guy you’re calling stupid, the occupant of the White House, just beat you.
Presidents aren’t stupid, nor are they generally without sound advice from experts in any field they might need to consult.
This looks more like dismissal than poor planning. Sort of that, “Cancer? No, it’s probably just a bump” bit of hopeful assumption that allows you to concentrate on the present rather than the future.
Which, December is about a month away. Now I’m not an expert in logistics but I’m thinking there’s a lot of heavy equipment, a lot of supplies, things like missile batteries and howitzers and radar installations that are just going to be left behind because two months isn’t enough time to pack them up and ship them home.
Which, if you take an armored division out of the field without it’s armor, is it still an armored division? If you take a brigade of engineers home and leave behind their bridges, bulldozers, and the like aren’t they combat ineffective until replacements are delivered?
And the military budget is being gutted.
We may learn, this December, what the Brits learned at Dunkirk. Saving an army is a noble cause to be sure, but it takes years to return the material that made the soldier a fighting force. Until
then he’s pretty much a guy in a uniform unable to do his job.
– Max
Max, they’ve been pulling the combat stuff out for months. Recall that -officially- there have been no combat units in Iraq for a while now. That’s not to mention they’ll be boxing up the “leftovers.”
As for how smart Barry might be, he didn’t beat me, or my first choice. Or any of my choices. McCain wasn’t on the list. Barry won because he BS’ed the entire country, and a lot of otherwise-intelligent people fell for it. Those of us who expressed skepticism were branded racist reactionaries. Another point is that 99% of the MSM was so far in the bag for Teh Won that they regularly slagged Hillary Clinton for challenging the new Messiah. I will admit that Barry is a very good campaigner. I just wish even a teeny bit of that campaigning skill translated into actual governance.
Thing is, a very large number of people who were fooled in ’08 won’t be listening this time around, including a fair number of PUMAs, who might seriously consider the Republican nominee if the party grows even half a brain.
Yeah, I know, that’s a big “if!”
As for Dunkirk, I take away the obverse lesson. Equipment -while valuable- is mere clay as compared to losing men who have become blooded veterans under fire. The time to refit such men with materiel is the life of a mayfly compared to the time of building new troops from scratch.
Moving away from Iraq we still have the most precious resource on the planet in terms of warfare; tens of thousands of experienced troops.