Obama abandons Iraq

And so, the US combat mission in Iraq comes to an end, and the last combat brigade leaves the country. It was announced earlier in the week that remaining US forces in Iraq were now below 50,000.

This was followed by a day of co-ordinated bombings across the country, killing at least 52 people. Indeed, there has been an upsurge in violence as the US withdrawal deadline has approached.

US forces are leaving, not because Iraq is ready, but because Obama - an opponent of the Iraq War - promised to end combat operations by August 2010. The remaining US forces - fewer than 50,000 - who are still there to train Iraqi forces and protect US interests will all be withdrawn by the end of 2011.

This may play well to US public opinion, but the Iraqis themselves are deeply worried. Lt Gen Babaker Zebari, Iraq's most senior army officer, stated baldly: "At this point, the withdrawal is going well, because they are still here, but the problem will start after 2011... If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020." Mohammed al-Gartini, a leader of one of the Sunni 'Awakening' militias that participated in US General Petraeus's 2007 surge (which Obama opposed and predicted would lead to a bigger bloodbath), said: "The US withdrawal will subject Iraq to strong attacks from terrorists, because we are now in a critical situation and the country is suffering from foreign interference."
Even Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein's former deputy, wants the Americans to stay, saying: "Obama is a hypocrite. He is leaving Iraq to the wolves." (He added: "Now Iran is building a weapons programme. Everybody knows it and nobody is doing anything. Why?")

Iraq's democracy is under attack, and Al-Qaeda has returned to the country. Yet US forces are withdrawing, not because they are failing, not because Iraq is ready, not because the Iraqis want them to go, but because of an ill-judged campaign pledge from Obama. US forces have been in Iraq for less time than Afghanistan, but because Obama opposed this war, he is ending it regardless of whether the mission is complete. Iraq is an emerging Middle Eastern democracy and an ally of the US, and is vastly improved compared to a few years ago. Yet Obama is risking all this, leaving the fledgling democracy, before it is fully stabilised, to face threats from Al Qaeda and Iran alone. With Bush having liberated Iraq from one pack of wolves, Obama is in danger of throwing it to another.

Source: http://thecountuk.blogspot.com/2010/08/obama-abandons-iraq.html