Obama: Pulling All U.S. Troops Out of Iraq Was Not ‘My Decision' (it was Iraq's decision)

cns ^

[Intolerant in NJ]

The ‘assurances’ thing is just an excuse...for sure - Obama spent so much time bashing Bush and the Iraq war to get himself elected that even if he had been smart enough to comprehend what a catastrophe a complete pullout would be, he really had no choice if he wanted to appease his "base" but to bug out all the way - once more ideology and politics outweighed the reality of the situation.

As for Maliki, he had been wanting to minimize the Sunni influence in the government since he took over, but with the US there he was held in check - the day after our last troops left, he had the Sunni vice-president arrested on trumped-up charges, and continued the purge of Sunnis including many of the best-trained army officers after that - without the leadership our military had helped develop and without our direct support in the field, it's no surprise the Iraq army virtually collapsed in the face os ISIS - Obama will never admit to the harm he has unleashed after the US had, in his own words, brought Iraq to a "sovereign, stable, and self-reliant" state......

[ogen hal]

Agree. However, ridicule is a nice supplement.