Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Five Worst Iraq Predictions from the Obama WH
National Review ^ | January 10, 2014 | Alec Torres

Posted on 01/11/2014 11:38:36 AM PST by Ooh-Ah

On January 3, extremists affiliated with al-Qaeda in Iraq declared an Islamic state over Iraq’s Anbar province — the group now controls territory reaching from western Iraq all the way across Syria. The Iraqi government has since deployed troops to Fallujah, as Prime Minister Maliki vowed to remove al-Qaeda from the country and retake the embattled city.

Western Iraq — destabilized by the civil war in neighboring Syria — threatens to be thrust further into sectarian conflict, and violence throughout the struggling, young democracy is at the highest level since before the U.S. surge. Al-Qaeda, through its Iraqi branch, now controls more territory than ever in the Middle East. So it’s worth remembering some of the Obama administration’s predictions about Iraq as America pulled out of the country:

1.Ultimately these terrorists will fail to achieve their goals. Iraqis are a proud people. They have rejected sectarian war. – Barack Obama, August 31, 2010

2. We [withdrew troops] in phases. And because we did it in phases, we were continually able to build up Iraqi forces to a point where when we left the cities, violence didn’t go up in the cities; when we further reduced our footprint, violence didn’t go up. And I have no doubt that that will continue. – Barack Obama, December 12, 2011

3. I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. – Joe Biden, February 11, 2010

4. The tide of war is receding. The draw down in Iraq allowed us to refocus our fight against al-Qaeda and achieve major victories against its leadership. – Barack Obama, October 21, 2011

5. The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their head held high, proud of their success. – Barack Obama, from the same October 21 speech.

Unfortunately, many veterans in fact are looking back on their service in Iraq and wondering if their sacrifice was for nothing. In a recent New York Times article, Adam Banotai — who was a 21-year-old Marine Corps sergeant in the 2004 invasion of Fallujah — gave his reaction to news that insurgents retook the city:

I don’t think anyone had the grand illusion that Fallujah or Ramadi was going to turn into Disneyland, but none of us thought it was going to fall back to a jihadist insurgency. It made me sick to my stomach to have that thrown in our face, everything we fought for so blatantly taken away.



TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; alqaedairaq; iraq; obama

1 posted on 01/11/2014 11:38:36 AM PST by Ooh-Ah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Ooh-Ah

Take it all the way back to the initial invasion by Bush. The jerks in charge now put all their efforts in to ensuring Iraq was a failure. They hated Bush more than they wanted a succesful Iraq. Now they are reaping what they have sown. Since it didn’t happen on Bush’s watch Iraq is to be ignored now that The Won us in charge.


2 posted on 01/11/2014 12:09:12 PM PST by Organic Panic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ooh-Ah

America will have wasted the years between inauguration day ‘09 and inauguration day ‘17.

Democrats reign supreme at wasting all things military. obama is this on steroids.

We’ve not yet really committed to and begun the modern Crusade.


3 posted on 01/11/2014 12:16:53 PM PST by RobinOfKingston (Democrats--the party of Evil. Republicans--the party of Stupid.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Organic Panic

Yeah, but Christie snarled traffic in Ft Lee, New Jersey for half a day.


4 posted on 01/11/2014 12:37:48 PM PST by stanne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Ooh-Ah

The Christie bash fest is successfully keeping this out of the headlines...and conservatives seem to be not seeing that for the most part.


5 posted on 01/11/2014 1:04:11 PM PST by what's up
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ooh-Ah
Anyone have an idea how many lives were given to take this city?

Also, how many military lives have been lost since Obama took office?

The SOB's in the media tracked military losses during the Bush years on a semi-daily basis!!! Now there seems to be nothing reported?

6 posted on 01/11/2014 2:19:40 PM PST by eeriegeno (<p>)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: eeriegeno

Shhhh! He’s black.... He’s not to be criticized.


7 posted on 01/11/2014 6:07:54 PM PST by Bullish (America should yank Obama like a rotten tooth before he poisons the entire body)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: eeriegeno

“the SOB’s in the media tracked military losses during the Bush years on a semi-daily basis!!! Now there seems to be nothing reported?”

Psychotic, adolescent, subversive Progressives have a habit of being psychotic, adolescent, subversive Progressives.

IMHO


8 posted on 01/12/2014 5:22:58 AM PST by ripley
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson