Withdrawal Symptoms

Obama pulled the United States out of Iraq without

actually ending the war. And now we're paying for it.
BY KORI SCHAKE-JUNE 13, 2014
So this is what a "responsible withdrawal" from Iraq looks like?
Mosul overrun by
terrorists more virulently dangerous than al Qaeda. Iraqi seurity fores throwing off
their uniforms and fleeing! leaving all their high-end hardware -- paid for by the
"merian ta#payer -- in the hands of our enemies. Iranian $evolutionary %uard fores
streaming into &a'af and (arbala to protet Shiite Muslim holy sites. Iraqi )rime
Minister &ouri al-Maliki still inapable of building ross-setarian ooperation even
when ISIS is *+ miles outside of ,aghdad. (urdish paramilitary fores stepping in to
protet only (urdish areas! setting the boundaries for a seession bid. Militias forming
to protet ommunities where the state has failed. "yatollah "li al-Sistani issuing a all
to arms. -ihadists are about to ahieve ontrol of a ountry! a santuary in whih to
train more 'ihadists and to plot attaks against the "far enemy." .hat would be us. .he
narrative of 'ihad will ement into a Sunni-Shiite onflit instead of a struggle by
moderates of all faiths against barbari violene in the name of religion! reating the
irumstanes for the ne#t round of warfare in the Middle /ast.
Soon! either Iraq will be the aliphate 0sama bin 1aden yearned for! or the Iraqi
government will be beholden to Iran for preserving it. Iran will have ahieved a
stunning vitory2 dramatially e#panding and onsolidating its regional influene
while getting us to ignore its domesti repression and lethal influene in 1ebanon!
Syria! and Iraq in hopes of a nulear weapons deal. "yatollah "li (hamenei must be
thrilled2 so little invested! so muh ahieved.
3ere in the free world! we await the 4hite 3ouse5s e#planation that the ollapse of our
influene in the Middle /ast is really the fault of the %eorge 4. ,ush administration.
3ouse Minority 1eader &any )elosi has already spooled out that ludicrous
defense. ,ak in 6++7! when it signed the Status of 8ores "greement! the ,ush
administration antiipated remaining militarily and politially engaged in Iraq to
stabili9e seurity and onsolidate demoray! working to integrate Iraq among our
allies in the region! and building a bilateral partnership of the kind we have with
%ermany! -apan! and South (orea.
)resident ,arak 0bama5s supporters insist he has always been lear about his
ob'etive to "end the war in Iraq." ,ut neither the president nor his supporters have
ever been straightforward about the fat that the war wasn5t ending. 4e 'ust quit
fighting it. .he war ontinued.
Seretary of State 3illary :linton grandiosely claimed in 6+;; that our "responsible
withdrawal" of military fores from Iraq would be supplanted by the largest <.S.
diplomati program sine the Marshall )lan. .hat never materiali9ed. .he 0bama
administration delined to use what leverage we had left to broker a stabili9ing
politial bargain after the 6+;+ parliamentary eletions! standing in silene as Maliki
politii9ed the eletoral ommission =it invalidated numerous winning andidates>!
violated the Iraqi :onstitution! replaed effetive military ommanders with ronies!
and used the 'ustie system to perseute setarian foes =inluding the sitting vie
president! .ariq al-3ashimi>.
.he administration omplained ineffetually for over a year aboutmultiple Iranian
weapons shipments transiting a ountry that had no air fore to patrol its own
airspae and delined to polie that airspae ourselves. 4e allowed Syria to go up in
flames without even helping shield neighboring ountries like Iraq from the migration
of 'ihadists into their territory..he politiians who omprise the president5s national
seurity aides might have even indulged some smug satisfation to have the Maliki
government now begging for the military assistane we offered and they delined with
the Status of 8ores "greement in 6+;;. .hose 4hite 3ouse politiians might onsider
that the Iraqis publily advised the (ar9ai government in "fghanistan not to make the
mistake they had. ,ut that would require less swagger and more ompassion for the
diffiulties of demorati transitions in war-torn ountries than this 4hite 3ouse team
has evidened.
4hile answering questions about the ,ergdahl prisoner e#hange! 0bama lectured!
"this is how wars end in the 6;st entury -- not through signing eremonies but
through deisive blows against our adversaries! transitions to eleted governments!
seurity fores who are trained to take the lead and ultimately full responsibility." In
Iraq! he ended our partiipation in the war without ahieving any of those
things. 0bama is now looking at the destrutive onsequenes of his "responsible
withdrawal" from Iraq.
.he president implied that Iraq would need military assistane in the near term. 3e
gravely intoned that all options are on the table. 3is 4hite 3ouse team rushed out
afterward to larify that "all options" do not inlude the option of sending "merian
soldiers to bolster the Iraqis5 fight. ?enying the Iraqi government assistane in a
ounterterror fight is going to finally and ompletely disredit 0bama administration
laims of support for our partners around the world. 4e have already lost the
onfidene of our friends in the Middle /ast =like Saudi "rabia and ,ahrain> that we
are about governments killing their people@ now we are onveying that we don5t even
are about the advane of 'ihadists.
%iven the speed of ISIS5s advane into Iraq! there is probably not time to pull together
an international oalition of fores to share the burden of preventing Iraq5s fall to
'ihadists. "t best we ould loosely oordinate ation among ountries that fear Iran5s
spreading influene. More likely! any assistane we now offer will be too late. Still! the
4hite 3ouse is likely to onlude it needs to "do something" -- the very worst way to
get involved in a national seurity risis. ,ut they are ertain not to identify a preferred
end state and to allow the military to figure out plans for the use of fore to ahieve
it. .he 0bama 4hite 3ouse is one again telling our enemies all that we will not do!
and failing to onvine our allies that we will do muh of anything. .he president is so
spooked by the prospet of "a third "merian war in the region" that he has
ompromised our seurity to prevent it. 3e ought to have understood that he wasn5t
starting a third "merian war in the region -- he needed to finish the first one.