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Conservatives Blame Obama for Chaos in Iraq
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
June 18, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Consulting with Congress on the
deteriorating situation in Iraq, President Barack Obama found conservatives more
interested in scoring political points than finding a fix. Iraq’s 63-year-old Shiite President
Nouri al-Maliki finds his military unable to contain a growing Saudi-backed
Sunni insurgency taking over Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and now
encroaching on Baghdad. Al-Maliki
has been one of the U.S.’s biggest critics, often pushing to get U.S. forces off
Iraqi soil. When Obama finally
obliged officially ending the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2014, conservatives on Capitol
Hill like Sen. John McCain warned of dire consequences. After watching the 2007-08 economic
meltdown nearly drive the U.S. into a new depression, the public backed Obama’s
move to end the Iraq War “What’s
happening in Iraq is a direct result of the president’s misguided decisions,”
said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.).
Hunter blames the president for watching the Iraq situation go from
bad-to-worse, no matter what the costs to the U.S. military and treasury. “Militarily, the U.S. won in Iraq,
but the hard-fought and hard earned gains of our serviceman and women have been
politically squandered by the president and his administration,” said Hunter,
playing politics at a time when al-Maliki could be driven from Baghdad. Hunter knows that there’s no
winning-for-losing in Iraq, where the U.S. military can’t stop a growing
sectarian war between Shiites and Sunnis.
While al-Maliki begs today for U.S. air strikes, he practically booted
out the U.S. military. Even Obama’s
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey knows there’s no
military fix in Iraq. When the Bush
administration toppled Saddam Hussein April 12, 2003, they opened up the
floodgates of Islamic radicals now threatening Baghdad.
Duncan’s a shameful partisanship doesn’t recognize the painful sacrifices
already made by the U.S. military and taxpayers.
Iraq has already claimed over 4,800 U.S. lives and over $1 trillion tax
dollars. Al-Maliki faces the same
radical Islamic group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant once led
by murderous Syrian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed by U.S. Special Forces in
2006. Obama’s been reluctant to
jump back into to combat operation in Iraq because he’s been told by the
Pentagon the U.S. military can’t stop Iraq’s sectarian war. “It’s time for the Iraqis to resolve it themselves,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, rejecting Hunter’s charge that Obama ended the Iraq War prematurely. “The entire enterprise is at risk as
long as this political situation is in flux,” said Dempsey, referring to the
raging sectarian war between Shiites and Sunnis engulfing Iraq and Syria.
Once the U.S. toppled the Sunni Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein and put
Iraq into the hands of its long-disenfranchised Shiite population, the restive
Sunnis plotted how to get back in power.
Politicians like Duncan only want to take cheap shots at Obama. He can’t admit that no matter how he disliked Saddam, he ruled Iraq with an iron fist,
keeping radical Islam out of Iraq.
Al-Maliki’s Iraq has closer ties to Tehran, where both countries share common
Shiite roots. Recent overtures by Secretary of State John Kerry to coordinate Iraq’s security with Iran
haven’t gone over well on Capitol Hill for good reason. No matter what happens in Iraq, Iran
despises the U.S. more than the radical Sunni ISIS group now threatening
Baghdad. Conservatives on Capitol
Hill, like Hunter, need to stop playing politics with the U.S. military and
study Iraq’s sectarian conflict before sending in U.S. troops.
Obama faces all bad choices
sending Special Forces or more troops back to Iraq. Trying to battle ISIS in Iraq
undermines the current U.S. strategy in Syrian that makes use of radical Sunni
groups like ISIS to battle Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Supplying radical Sunnis, like ISIS,
in Syria, hurts Iraq by aiding the overthrow of al-Maliki’s Shiite government. Dealing with Iran opens up a can of
worms, especially trying, at the same time, to contain Iran secret nuclear
program. “Those who attack
President Obama for bringing our troops home from Iraq are wrong and out of step
with the American people. After a decade of war, the American people have had enough,” said Reid, firing back at
Duncan’s indictment. However
reluctant Obama is to intervene in Iraq, he can’t let Baghdad fall to radical
Islam, especially not the same group that already massacred U.S. forces.
Whatever went right or wrong with
the Iraq War or the way Obama ended it Dec. 15, 2011, White House and Pentagon
strategists must find a way to keep Baghdad from falling to radical Islam. Obama must decide first whether or
not he can allow al-Malki to go down in Iraq.
If the answer is no, then the Pentagon has plenty of assets close to Iraq
to drive ISIS out of Mosul, including involving the Kurd’s Peshmerga fighters to
drive out Sunni insurgents. Chasing
ISIS out of Mosul would be the first step in ridding Iraq of al-Zarqawi's old
al-Qaeda virulent strain of radical Islam.
Once the U.S. military helps rid Mosul of ISIS, it’s time to pressure
al-Maliki to accept a power-sharing arrangement with Iraq’s Sunnis. Today’s civil war between Shiites
and Sunnis undermines Iraq and destabilizes the region. Obama must face the music or watch
radical Islam sack Baghdad.
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