While probably every American wants to be able to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home as soon as it is reasonable to do so, the President’s announcement that we would remove all but a residual force of 3,000 troops next year is a huge mistake. Undoubtedly the President was guided heavily by his re-election efforts in making that decision. While there was disagreement over an important negotiation point about immunity for American troops, the administration seemed willing to take advantage of that disagreement so that it could bring the troops home and start claiming, heading into the election year, that the President fulfilled a campaign promise.
Supporters of the President may claim that ending the war is what most voters want. That may be true, as it was true that much of the Iraq war strategy that President Bush implemented and President Obama continued was opposed by a significant number of voters. Doing what may seem popular, however, is not always wise. Such is the case with ending the Iraq effort so abruptly and risking a loss of the progress there that we have invested so much to achieve.
Former U.S. envoy to Iraq, Paul Bremer, has offered a criticism of the President’s decision to leave Iraq. He includes risks of doing so, such as more terrorism there and in the region, a weakening of Iraq’s new democratic institutions, less ability for the U.S. to gather intelligence, and the influence of Iran. Bremer’s warnings should be remembered as we unfortunately attempt to end the war on a timeline that suits President Obama’s re-election schedule.
An interesting point of view. I guess, Presidential Elections are (and will be) affecting the US policy toward Iraq.