What a terrible surrender of the leverage the US had with its presence in the Middle East as a counterweight to Iran. This pullout leaves Iran as the premier power in that area and one that has stated its murderous intentions toward Israel and the West, all to satisfy the leftist base of the Democrat Party.
The Democrats have a history of this going back a century and a half. They were not against slavery in the mid-1800's and were actively campaigning to stop the war and recognize the Confederacy as a separate slave-holding nation; all after thousands of men had died in trying to keep this nation united.
As it was with McGovern in the 1960's and on to the pro-Palestinian leftists today, this world will be a much more dangerous place when run to the satisfaction of "progressives".
We might as well have elected Bill Ayers or Rev. Wright to be our president. TD
US pullback to leave 30,000 Iranian Al Qods fighters sitting in Iraq "The eight-year US military presence in Iraq ends therefore leaving Iran sitting pretty on its two key strategic goals:
1. The exit of American soldiers, whose presence in Iraq since the 2003 invasion was deemed in Tehran a continuous threat to its borders. US military involvement in Afghanistan is seen in the same light.
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| Qassem Soleimani |
2. A weak Shiite-led government in place in Baghdad, heavily dependent on Tehran's will. Torn by strife among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, Iraq is in no state to obstruct Iran's hegemonic plans for the Persian Gulf and Syria.
"The Iranian regime's right hand for achieving those goals was – and is - Al Qods commander Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the man also accused by Washington of masterminding the assassination plot."
More...
...."They will stand eyeball to eyeball with a like number of al Qods operatives defending the pro-Iranian Iraqi government. It is on this jarring note that America is about to end its war in Iraq."
Emphasis added.
William Kristol: It’s time for the United States to speak to Iran in the language it understands
"So we can stop talking. Instead, we can follow the rat lines in Iraq and Afghanistan back to their sources, and destroy them. We can strike at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and weaken them. And we can hit the regime’s nuclear weapons program, and set it back. Lest the administration hesitate to act out of fear of lack of support at home, Congress should consider authorizing the use of force against Iranian entities that facilitate attacks on our troops, against IRGC and other regime elements that sponsor terror, and against the regime’s nuclear weapons program."
The Foreign Policy Initiative.
Max Boot: The Iraq Withdrawal Is Nothing to Brag About "And any such agreement would run into the same obstacle that has already scuttled the current U.S.-Iraq talks: President Obama appears more determined to gain credit for “ending the war” than for ensuring Iraq’s long-term future as a democratic American ally. Like Obama’s decision to downsize prematurely in Afghanistan, this is short-term thinking that could come back to haunt the United States–and its commander-in-chief, who is now taking upon himself the burden of blame should Iraq go off the rails."
Via Blackfive,
which adds its own perspective.
Remember, however, that the Obama base is the Occupy Wall Street crowd and the socialist left. They neither know nor care what happens to peaceful people of the world; they only seek the approval of the murderers of innocents.
Obama's base drive up in their cars with the "Visualize World Peace" bumper stickers and rallies for those who would murder innocent families asleep in their beds or dining in restaurants.
From The Institute for the Study of War: Retreating With Our Heads Held High "And [Obama] promised: “make no mistake, [U.S. force levels in Afghanistan] will continue to go down.” Gone is any language about conditions, objectives, goals, American interests, or any of the fundamental principles that Americans have fought so hard to achieve in these wars and throughout our history. American strategy is simply to go home."
American Thinker: Obama's 'tide of war' idiocy "The tide of war in the Middle East is most certainly not receding. It is exactly the opposite and this is in large part because of Obama's feckless foreign policy and refusal to stand up for American interests in the region and support American allies there. Because of American weakness and intransigence, a large-scale conflagration involving many players is inevitable and this has to be placed on Obama's shoulders." Jerry Philipson
