I would like to comment on this fiasco. First Iraq is in total shambles governmentally. They don’t even have a defense minister. There “army” is usurped by Shia Sadr army and hamas as well as Iranian ground generals.
This visit is about Mosul. After the huge mess in Ramadi where the entire Iraqi general staff was blown up in one day at the football stadium and Ramadi was left by ISIS with not one building left standing, Mosul is next ( in “June”) and is a city of 600,000 civilians and close to 30,000 fighters . Iraq is no match because they don’t have a clue how to fight.
Obama sees this as a horrible legacy of leadership and sees Trump coming to take over at which time we will get these incompetent Iraqis out of the way and kill all isis bastards and break their stuff. There will be “collateral” damage but that’s what you get is you accept that pagan oppression.
Biden is going why? Pump up the worthless Iraqis? After the election,we will take care of this and then leave, just like DJT said in his excellent foreign Policy speech yesterday. Kill them all and get the hell out— No nation building EVER AGAIN!! What a waste of lives and blood these people were.
I really really appreciate that sentiment. Except it IGNORES history. Getting out and not engaging was what gave us 9-11. We walked away from Afghanistan after the Russians were booted and the radicals gave rise to Al Qaeda.
Carter gave up in Iran and we got the Ayatollah.
I don't want another one of those.
I think there is a REAL solution that lies somewhere between so-called nation building and leaving completely.
The solution is what we did with Egypt and with Jordan and with Iran in the 50s, etc.: we installed or assisted STRONG MEN who kept the LUNATICS in jail.
Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, the Shah, King Hussein of Jordan, etc....all of these guys were ALLIES of the United States and while there WERE some apparent abuses (they weren't Constitutional Republics), there also wasn't any toleration of radical Islamic terrorism.
In those days, the lunatics were locked up. And the world was much more peaceful.
I think our mistake in Iraq wasn't replacing Saddam with a strong-man government.
otherwise, we're just kicking the can down the road to another 9-11. Or worse.