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Obama makes a bad decision
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Candidate
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| Contributor | Jason |
| Last Edited | Jason Oct 30, 2011 08:48pm |
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| Category | Opinion |
| News Date | Wednesday, October 26, 2011 02:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | TEL AVIV -- Since the beginning of the Arab Spring, there has never been such a succession of dramatic events in the Middle East as we have witnessed in the last few days.
The end of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, the first free democratic elections in Tunisia, the return of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit after more than five years of captivity, a new reform-oriented government in Jordan, and -- finally -- a decision by U.S. President Barack Obama that, by year's end, there will no longer be an American military presence in Iraq.
Of all these events, the most important and the one with the greatest long-range strategic considerations is the American withdrawal from Iraq.
With a faltering economy and with growing difficulty in financing the war, the situation on the ground became almost untenable for the United States. The U.S. spent close to $1 trillion on the war. Close to 4,500 American soldiers were killed.
Nevertheless, the Iraqi army is still unable to enforce its authority throughout the country. The loyalty of the various security forces is to the various ethnic groups and not to the central government. As a result, the hope of building a credible U.S. ally in a functioning Iraqi democracy to serve as a buffer against Iran's hegemonic ambitions appears to have failed. |
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