The Confused Nature Of The Iraq Mess

Stay Out Of Iraq

June 18, 2014 by Bob Livingston

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In late 2011, President Barack Obama removed the last of the U.S. troops from Iraq. The total cost of the war was 4,485 U.S. soldiers killed and countless thousands injured (both physically and mentally).

Removing the troops from Iraq is arguably the lone positive accomplishment Obama has to show for his 5½ years in office.

Predictably, Iraq is now falling apart. It takes a strong and brutal leader to keep sectarian violence at bay. For all his faults, Saddam Hussein was that strong leader. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is not.

The Iraq war is another failed U.S. intervention, if you believe George W. Bush’s tale that he strove to establish democracy there. Iraqi democracy was a farce from the beginning. It’s more so now.

The current conflict that has the Sunni terror group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) marching across Iraq, leaving a trail of beheaded Shiite bodies in its wake, is the result of tribal and religious differences that have percolated for thousands of years. No matter which “side” the U.S. chooses to back in the matter, it will be the wrong side. Neither side is truly “our friend.”

According to Jordanian officials, dozens of ISIS members were trained in 2012 by U.S. instructors. They were trained in order to fight in Syria in Obama’s effort to overthrow Syria’s Bashar Assad. ISIS is reportedly now being funded and equipped by Saudi Arabia.

It is attempting to overthrow the al-Maliki regime, which is backed by Iran.

So let me get this straight. Saudi Arabia, supposedly our ally, is funding and equipping ISIS, which we trained, so it can take down our puppet Iraqi government, which we installed and have propped up for eight years with U.S. lives and dollars. And now Obama is sending troops to fight ISIS, siding with Iran — which, we are told, wants to build a nuclear weapon with which to attack us or our ally, Israel — to do so.

This is what passes as U.S. foreign policy today.

Obama first said there would be no U.S. boots on the ground in Iraq. That promise proved as hollow as the rest of his utterances since the undocumented usurper first came on the national stage. Now he’s informed Congress he’s sent almost 300 troops and may send more.

The U.S. spent $20 billion and seven years nation building and training Iraq’s military. So let the Iraqi people settle their differences. We’ve invested far too much for far too long.

Besides, Obama’s currently trying to start a war with Russia. Isn’t one war at a time enough?

We should stay out of Iraq.