Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Barak Obama in 2011 said “We are leaving behind a sovereign, stable, self-reliant Iraq”.

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VP Joe Biden said “”I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration.”  And to think Romney lost to these guys still baffles me to this day.

John McCain responded to President Obama’s total troop withdrawal from Iraq and his failure to obtain a status of forces agreement from Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki by saying the following:

“I continue to believe that this decision represents a failure of leadership, both Iraqi and American … that it was a sad case of political expediency triumphing over military necessity, both in Baghdad and in Washington … and that it will have serious negative consequences for Iraq’s stability and our national security interests. I sincerely hope that I am wrong, but I fear that General Jack Keane, who was one of the main architects of the surge, could be correct again when he said recently: ‘We won the war in Iraq, and we’re now losing the peace.’

This came up in the third debate with Romney challenging Obama for wanting, but failing to obtain a status of forces agreement.  Obama bragged how there were no more troops in Iraq and charged Romney for wanting US troops to still be there (10,000).

OBAMA: What I would not have had done was left 10,000 troops in Iraq that would tie us down. And that certainly would not help us in the Middle East.

ROMNEY: I’m sorry, you actually — there was a — there was an effort on the part of the president to have a status of forces agreement, and I concurred in that, and said that we should have some number of troops that stayed on. That was something I concurred with..

John McCain said that the entire Obama national security team should be fired and I agree.  Why?  According to,the NY Times, Iraq had asked for air support and drone attacks on these militants in 2013, and the Obama Adm. said no, which is turning your back on Iraq and those that fought alongside coalition forces. “Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s foreign minister, last year floated the idea that armed American-operated Predator or Reaper drones might be used to respond to the expanding militant network in Iraq. American officials dismissed that suggestion at the time, saying that the request had not come from Mr. Maliki.”

Now Sharia Law is being imposed across Iraq as government forces are either massacred or on the run.  Now it appears Obama will send some weapons but the bees have already left the hive and drones won’t have as much impact now and the sacrifices made by coalition and Iraqi forces during the insurgency are all for not.  I hope Obama doesn’t make the same mistake twice and pull all the troops out of Afghanistan b/c history has a way of repeating itself.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/when-obama-and-romney-argued-about-iraq-and-russia

http://thepage.time.com/2011/12/14/remarks-by-senator-john-mccain-on-iraq/

 

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Comments

  1. I know, I have gotten in trouble for using this word before but, “John McCain is a DoucheBag”.

    From a current diary atAndrew Sullivan’s blog that I totally agree with:

    McCain does provide something important to journalists: whatever the issue of the moment is, he can be counted on to offer angry, bitter criticism of the Obama administration, giving the “balance” every story needs. The fact that he has never demonstrated the slightest bit of understanding of Iraq is no bar at all to being the most quoted person on the topic.

  2. No one believed him. It’s clear he didn’t believe it either. Iraq was a mess and no more time or soldiers’ lives lost was going to make it any better. Obama’s words were just the necessary pap that needed to be said before extricating us from that mess. I hope Obama sticks to his guns and keeps us from getting involved.

    • Besides you can keep your health care plan and doctor, what else?

      My guess is Obama knows he is full of excrement on this global warming hype, amirite? I mean, the way he burns carbon, he doesn’t really give a hoot, right? Its money for his friends in green energy, we all know that.

      Amnesty for all illegals is good for the country, full of crap there? A YouTube video incited the killing of Ambassador Stevens, what he lying on purpose then? Yeah, of course he was, everyone knew that. Is he really perplexed in making a decision on Keystone? Surge in Afghanistan and sending kids off to die on a mission he doesn’t believe? Would he a tally do that, simply for political reasons?

      I guess I see your point now.

    • The rise of ISIS was a fairly recent development and the recent attacks seem to have surprised everyone by the attackers.

      The Iraqi government was likely not stable, but was perhaps as stable as it could ever be. A low bar, certainly, but to request more is to demand more than was ever achievable.

  5. The whole Iraq involvement was a grave error. We have to get out of the business of “nation building,” especially in those parts of the world which do not care for our way of life. I support President Obama’s foreign policy 100 percent. I am ashamed and embarrassed for having voted for McCain.

    • But leaving in 2011 with no SOFA left Iraq exposed and now Al-Qaida is more powerful today than ever. But Obama chose politics over national security.

  6. One should always bear in mind that the nations of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan were entirely artificial creations of the British and French as part of the Sykes-Picot Treaty after World War I. These countries did not go through an indigenous process of nation formation of the sort that gave us the nations of Europe. Instead, the boundaries were drawn by colonialists to suit their purposes. They didn’t even particularly match the province demarcations of the Ottoman Empire that they were replacing.

    As a result, the existence of Lebanon is somewhat arbitrary and it is unsurprising that Syria would frequently want to absorb it. Iraq was always an incoherent mishmash that would have great difficulty forming a national identity.

    The Bush Administration, lost in neo-con fantasy, imagined it could impose Western democracy on a country not asking for it and lacking any traditions on which to build it. That didn’t work. And so they created this crazy constitution where to lead the country one must obtain super-majority support from parliament. No other country does this, and for good reason. But is was a way to cover over the incoherence of the Iraqi state.

    In short, Iraq was never going to viable. Never. And so keeping the U.S. military there to destroy still more Fallujahs was just going to kill additional people to accomplish no purpose.

    The withdrawal was overdue.

      • History

        n April and November of 2004, the United States military launched two massive military sieges against the city of Fallujah, located 60km west of Baghdad, due to on-going resistance there against the occupation.

        Doctors at Fallujah General Hospital told Al Jazeera in 2004 that 736 Iraqis had been killed during the April siege. They said approximately 60 per cent of the victims were women, children, and elderly, and told of medical personnel being fired on by US forces while trying to evacuate the wounded.

        By the end of nearly three weeks of heavy bombings and a ground invasion in the November siege, more than 1,000 Iraqis were killed, according to Fallujah doctors.

        Most of the residents of the city of 300,000 had been displaced from their homes at that time, and while most have returned, thousands remain homeless, unemployed, and struggle to rebuild their lives.

        It is estimated that 70 per cent of the buildings and homes in Fallujah were damaged or destroyed, along with at least 100 mosques, 6,000 shops, and nine government offices.

  7. Is whether Obama does pursue air strikes against ISIS. I pray God he doesn’t, and if he does I hope Congress revokes the authority.

  9. Paul Waldman

    As you watch the debate on this issue, you should remind yourself that the most prominent voices being heard are the very ones who brought us the Iraq War in the first place, who promised that everything was simple and the only question was whether we’d be “strong” and “decisive” enough — the same thing they’re saying today. They’re the ones who swore that Saddam was in cahoots with Al Qaeda, that he had a terrifying arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, that the war would be quick, easy and cheap, that since Iraq was a largely secular country we wouldn’t have to worry about sectarian conflict, and that democracy would spread throughout the region in short order, bringing peace and prosperity along with it.

    We can start with the man on every TV producer and print reporter’s speed dial, John McCain. McCain does provide something important to journalists: whatever the issue of the moment is, he can be counted on to offer angry, bitter criticism of the Obama administration, giving the “balance” every story needs. The fact that he has never demonstrated the slightest bit of understanding of Iraq is no bar at all to being the most quoted person on the topic.

    For context, here’s a nice roundup of some of the things McCain said when he was pushing to invade Iraq in the first place. When asked if Iraqis were going to greet us as liberators, he answered, “Absolutely.” He said, “Post-Saddam Hussein Iraq is going to be paid for by the Iraqis” with their oil wealth (the war ended up costing the American taxpayer upwards of $2 trillion). And my favorite: “There is not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias, so I think they can probably get along.”

    Yes, John McCain knows exactly what to do!

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