“ 'The surge had undoubtedly met its stated aim of buying the time and space necessary for the Iraqi government to advance national reconciliation and, at least in theory, develop the capacity to provide adequate public services,” a 2011 article in Foreign Affairs magazine by reporter Emma Sky read.
As I prepared to depart Iraq in August 2010, it was clear that the close partnership between the U.S. military and the ISF had paid dividends. Accompanying [Gen. Raymond] Odierno as he toured the country to review the progress, I witnessed U.S. and ISF soldiers celebrating each time the United States transferred one of its bases to Iraqi forces, conducting ceremonies in which U.S. commanders symbolically delivered the keys to their Iraqi counterparts. The strong individual and institutional relationships between the two forces contributed to a growing sense of security across the country.
... "It was not America’s patience, but the patience of its political establishment that deserved the credit. The American public would have long ago abandoned Iraq to its own murderous devices had the political will existed in Washington to invite that kind of calamity. Sobriety and foresight guided Washington’s approach to the situation in Iraq, but only just long enough to provide Obama with the space he needed to desert Iraq entirely."
"Today, that country is a failed state"..
...
" Iraq is not the first of Obama’s predecessors’ foreign policy accomplishments which he has undone."
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"With more than two years of the Obama presidency to go, he may secure for himself even more dubious accomplishments." Emphasis added, TD
Dana Milbank: Obama vacations as the world burns
"Such visuals probably won’t help Obama with the 60 percent of Americans who disapprove of his handling of foreign policy. Even his former secretary of state is registering her disapproval." Via Lucianne.
Obama adjusts Iraq narrative, now blames Bush for troop withdrawal
"The president who spent years touting the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq suddenly has had to distance himself from that action.
"At the White House on Saturday morning — less than 48 hours after authorizing airstrikes against Islamist militants and humanitarian air drops to save the lives of trapped Iraqi civilians — President Obama blamed his predecessor, George W. Bush, for the absence of American troops in Iraq and rejected the assertion that he could have left a small peacekeeping force in the war-torn nation."
How presidential; Obama calls criticism of his Syria policy 'horses**t' "President Obama has never led anyone, anywhere, at any time in his professional career. Never met a payroll, never led men in battle, never had to deal with the political opposition as a governor, and was never forced to stake out a controversial political position (his anti war views sat very well with his Hyde Park constituents).Why would anyone expect Barack Obama to suddenly acquire leadership skills when he never demonstrated that he had any once in his life?
"His successor will be forced to pick up the pieces of a shattered world in 2016."
Bush League " Perhaps to cushion the blow of losing his leadership during his semi-monthly vacation, Barack Obama took time Saturday to remind the American people that he isn't actually responsible for leading diddly-squat, at least when it comes to showing accountability.
"Specifically, the nation's golfer-in-chief took pains to point out that the current fiasco in Iraq can be blamed entirely on George W. Bush." ...
"The president who spent years touting the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq suddenly has had to distance himself from that action.
"At the White House on Saturday morning — less than 48 hours after authorizing airstrikes against Islamist militants and humanitarian air drops to save the lives of trapped Iraqi civilians — President Obama blamed his predecessor, George W. Bush, for the absence of American troops in Iraq and rejected the assertion that he could have left a small peacekeeping force in the war-torn nation."
How presidential; Obama calls criticism of his Syria policy 'horses**t' "President Obama has never led anyone, anywhere, at any time in his professional career. Never met a payroll, never led men in battle, never had to deal with the political opposition as a governor, and was never forced to stake out a controversial political position (his anti war views sat very well with his Hyde Park constituents).Why would anyone expect Barack Obama to suddenly acquire leadership skills when he never demonstrated that he had any once in his life?
"His successor will be forced to pick up the pieces of a shattered world in 2016."
Bush League " Perhaps to cushion the blow of losing his leadership during his semi-monthly vacation, Barack Obama took time Saturday to remind the American people that he isn't actually responsible for leading diddly-squat, at least when it comes to showing accountability.
"Specifically, the nation's golfer-in-chief took pains to point out that the current fiasco in Iraq can be blamed entirely on George W. Bush." ...
