Classic case of grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory.
The US should never have attempted to rebuild Iraqi society, scratch the even more moderate of Iraqi ‘democrats’ and out jumps a mohammedan. The US should have followed Dr.Daniel Pipes’ advice for a policy in wake of a post-Sadam Iraq, that being, withdraw from major population centers and allow for the existing power structure to place someone more palatable to the West in power.
Leaving Iraq after a period when stability had been restored, with the promise to return if Iraq returns to its old ways, would have been the more suitable way to handle the situation, in terms of lives lost, money and material expended. Leaving Iraq now at this time an juncture in history, is a recipe for disaster. KGS
NOTE: The TT was a big supporter of the democracy project at the time, but has since then, seriously wizened up.
Calling Things by Their Proper Names
Posted by Caroline Glick Nov 26th 2011
Next month, America’s long campaign in Iraq will come to an end with the departure of the last US forces from the country.
Amazingly, the approaching withdrawal date has fomented little discussion in the US. Few have weighed in on the likely consequences of President Barack Obama’s decision to withdraw on the US’s hard-won gains in that country.
After some six thousand Americans gave their lives in the struggle for Iraq and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent on the war, it is quite amazing that its conclusion is being met with disinterested yawns.
The general stupor was broken last week with The Weekly Standard’s publication of an article titled, “Defeat in Iraq: President Obama’s decision to withdraw US troops is the mother of all disasters.” The article was written by Frederick and Kimberly Kagan and Marisa Cochrane Sullivan. The Kagans contributed to conceptualizing the US’s successful counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, popularly known as “the surge,” that president George W. Bush implemented in 2007.
In their article, the Kagans and Sullivan explain the strategic implications of next month’s withdrawal. First they note that with the US withdrawal, the sectarian violence that the surge effectively ended will in all likelihood return in force.
