Iraq is back in the news with the 10th anniversary of the war. I'm sure all of you remember when Democrats went to the microphones to tell us that Sadam Hussein was a threat and must be removed. As for me, I supported the war and believe that we are better off without Saddam and the Iraq of the 1990s! See Professor VD Hanson!
Today, Secretary Kerry, one of the aforementioned Democrats, is finding that the Iraqis are not happy to cooperate.
"Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki on Sunday to stop Iran from flying arms across Iraqi territory to the beleaguered Syrian regime, but found him unwilling to give ground."
Doesn't the sight of a US Secretary of State pleading make you mad? Isn't this government grateful that we lost 4500 soldiers?
On the other hand, can you blame Iraq for looking to the future?
Like Afghanistan, Iraq is looking to a future without the US. They know that we are "disengaged" and "disinterested".
Iran is very engaged and interested and they have a border with Iraq.
Again, what would you do if you were the Iraq government? Would you listen to a superpower focused on "hope and change" or an aggressive neighbor determined to get its way?
How did we get here? How did this happen?
First, President Obama did not fight for an agreement leaving troops in Iraq.
I don't buy this nonsense that leaving troops in Iraq was unpopular. It was just as popular in Europe but President Truman explained to the new governments that the troops were there to protect them from those tanks on the other side of Berlin.
Why didn't we make the same argument to Iraq?
I repeat that no one likes "foreign troops". Therefore, it is the responsibility of "leaders" to explain the strategic significance of US troops. It was our "job" to tell the region that the Iraq War was over but that troops would stay behind to remind Iran that
we were serious about containing their expansion.
Second, President Obama concluded that the war on terror ended on the day that we killed Osama.
In fact, killing Osama was just one chapter in an ongoing war. It has not stopped the growth of terrorist elements.
Who would have believed this in 2009 when the Bush administration handed new President Obama a very manageable situation in Iraq?
We are paying the price of indifference and a president who seems more eager to tell "yes we can" screamers what they want to hear than conducting a foreign policy that promotes US interests.
It is very sad to read that Secretary Kerry is "pleading" to the Iraq government.
We look "weak" and that is reflected in new polls that show that President Obama is more unpopular than President Bush.
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