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Obama Joins Post-Sept. 11 Terror Policy in Iraq
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
August 21, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
After winning the Nobel Peace Prize Oct. 9, 2009,
President Barack Obama committed himself to fulfilling a campaign promise of
ending U.S. foreign wars. While it
would take two more years until he ended the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2011, Obama’s
foreign policy became bogged down in domestic squabbles, especially over signing
March 23, 2010 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. While the Arab Spring heated up in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Libya, the White House took
a backseat to ominous developments in the Middle East. When Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak was
toppled Feb. 11, 2011, the U.S. backed the fledgling democracy movement, putting
U.S.-educated Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi into power June 30,
2012. Backing revolutions in Libya
and Syria, Obama naively placed—as former President George W. Bush—democracy
over common sense.
Letting local populations expel dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya,
repeated Bush’s egregious mistake of opening up the floodgates of Islamic
extremism in the region. While
Egypt had an independent U.S.-backed military led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to
rescue the country, Iraq U.S.-backed government in Baghdad couldn’t stop the
once Islamic State of Iraq and Syria from seizing large swaths of sovereign
territory in Iraq and Syria.
Getting rid of Saddam Hussein proved disastrous, reopening old sectarian wounds
in Iraq, prompting Iraq’s leading al-Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to
rampage against Shiites, Kurds and U.S. forces.
While a 500-pound smart bomb ended Zarqawi’s reign of terror June 7,
2006, his terror group morphed into the world’s biggest terrorist threat. Now run by shadowy Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, ISIS has created havoc in Iraq and Syria.
Beheading 40-year-old
U.S. journalist James Foley Aug. 19 on global TV, Obama finally found his
military legacy in Iraq. With
al-Baghdadi massacring Shiites, Christians, Sunnis, Kurds and anyone getting it
his way, Obama pivoted White House foreign policy, ordering air strikes Aug. 8
on ISIS. “They marry ideology and a
sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well funded. This is beyond anything we have
seen,” said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, referring to a terror group reshaping
the Mideast map. What Hagel didn’t
say was that al-Zarqawi’s new group led by al-Baghdadi capitalized on seizing
heavy U.S. weapons supplied to Free Syrian Army’s Gen. Salim Idris at the
insistence of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
ISIS cleverly duped Idris into believing they were fighting to topple
Bashar al-Assad, stealing U.S. weapons to fight in Iraq.
Echoing Hagel’s concerns were those of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey. They
have “a long-term vision” to conquer Israel, Lebanon and Kuwait, in what ISIS
refers to as the Levant. “If they
achieve that vision, it would fundamentally alter the face of the Middle East
and create as security environment that would certainly threaten us in many
ways,” said Dempsey, articulating the new White House policy that seeks to
rollback ISIS’s gains in Iraq’s Kurdish territory. Currently bombing ISIS positions
around the Mosul dam, Obama decided to arm the Kurd’s Peshmerga fighters
directly, bypassing Iraq’s central government now run by Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi. Arming the Kurds directly
represents unprecedented U.S. policy, in effect recognizing an independent
Kurdistan, something historically opposed by Iraq, Turkey and Iran.
Hagel and Dempsey’s warnings hope to find common ground with
conservatives on Capitol Hill, usually opposed to Obama’s domestic and foreign
policy. Arming the Kurds and
battling ISIS in Northern Iraq finds strong support on the Hill with Republicans
led by McCain, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) all
backing vigorous U.S. intervention in Iraq and Syria. Pentagon officials have praised U.S.
air strikes against ISIS, protecting endangered populations like the Yazidis
that faced ISIS annihilation.
“American air strikes and American arms and assistance helped Iraqi and Kurdish
forces blunt ISIL’s advance around Arbil, where American diplomats and troops
are working, and help the Iraqis retake and hold-Mosul dam,” said Hagel,
outlining progress to date. After
Foley’s beheading, White House policy has take and new tougher stand against
ISIS.
Since fulfilling a campaign promise to end the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2011,
Obama is finally trying to reverse the damage from the ISIS blitzkrieg that’s
taken the Mideast by storm. Before
Osama bin Laden decimated the World Trade Center and Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001, he
had been attacking U.S. targets since the end of the Soviet-Afghan War Feb. 15,
1989. Former Presidents Reagan,
Bush-41 and Clinton couldn’t stop Bin Laden from attacking the U.S. homeland. U.S. terrorism policy solidified
under Bush-43 where he took the battle to the enemy. Obama’s decision to attack ISIS puts
U.S. terrorism policy back on the post-Sept. 11 offensive after three years of
dormancy. Arming the Kurds and
going after ISIS shows that Obama has finally recognized today’s implacable
challenge: Stopping ISIS in Iraq
and Syria before they develop a global reach to attack the U.S. homeland.
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