The Consequences of Pulling Out of Iraq in 2011

Less than one week ago, the last remaining United States troops in Iraq crossed the border into Kuwait. I am neutral in whether it was the right time to pull out our troops mainly because I do not know what else we could have accomplished while remaining there (without seriously changing our role), however, Iraq is not ready to govern itself.

As we left, Iraq has no standing Air Force meaning anyone can cross over their skies such as Iran or even Israel. In fact, one of the top Iraqi military leaders, Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, said Iraq would not be ready to defend its own borders and air space until 2020. Eight years is more than enough time for Iran to turn Iraq into another Lebanon or Syria, essentially another puppet state for the radical regime. I believe the main reason we entered Iraq was to contain Iran (Iraq to the west, Afghanistan to the east) just like Iran is doing to Israel with Syria, Lebanon, Gaza Strip, and now maybe even in Egypt.

To make matters worse, the day after the United States military presence was non existent, the Iraqi government started making moves to possibly reignite sectarian violence. Shiite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, issued an arrest warrant for Vice President, Tariq al-Hasemi, who is Sunni. The Vice President is now in hiding from Iraqi officials in the northern semiautonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq and al-Maliki is now ordering Kurdistan officials to turn over the Vice President. Surely the coalition government is bound to collapse over this incident and who knows whats in store for the government. All we can do is hope this does not turn into another dictatorship. 


Lastly, as reported today, deadly bombings are now starting to happen as over 50 people have been killed in the most recent attack. No matter what day, month, or year we pulled out, this was bound to happen. While it is not a coincidence, all we can do is hope the Iraqis can find the strength to pull through these terrorist attacks and not revert to another civil war. If that happens, it will not stop until a dictator is once again in power or the nation is divided up into three regions which I don't see happening.


The United States did remove an extremely evil man from power, Saddam Hussein, and did an amazing job with the "troop surge" ordered in 2007. Pulling out of Iraq in 2011 was premature if we wanted the Iraq experiment to succeed so they could have liberty and be able to defend it. While the 2020 mark was way too long into the future, it was not ideal to pull out now, especially because their defense forces are not ready. If Iraq goes back to its historical ways, history could blame President Obama because of his failure to secure a proper deal for the United States military to remain in Iraq for a couple more years. President Bush was constantly in contact with the Iraqi government to secure deals, but, Obama did not show the same due diligence. All we can do now, is hope Iraq can get the proper resources to secure itself quickly and not have the coalition government based on religious factions, collapse.


-Christian N.


Sources:

• http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/18/world/la-fg-iraq-last-convoy-20111219
• http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iYV48140VGP9NW1ILBsXkgWVsE4g?docId=CNG.df3ecb21e974d96be42ce539d582b290.3c1
• http://www.theblaze.com/stories/iraq-issues-arrest-warrant-for-sunni-vp-on-terrorism-charges/
• http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/12/22/explosions-rock-baghdad-7-killed-3-injured/?test=latestnews

Libya, Operation Odyssey Dawn, and the Mid East is on fire.

Two months ago (last blog posting), I created a map of what I thought the Middle East could become under the power of one ruler. I dubbed it the "New Persian Empire". Maybe I should have called it a different name, however, the possibility of the entire region (and even further, possibly including Morocco and other nations I didn't put "within" the boarders) being ruled by one person, a Caliphate is now more real than ever.

MARCH 19, 2011 OBAMA: 'Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world'... MARCH 19, 2003 BUSH: 'American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger'...

I'm torn on us being involved in Libya. I do think Colonel "nutjob" Gaddafi  should be killed or brought to justice because of previous crimes he committed such as the Pan Am flight bombing over Lockerbie and the bombing of the German nightclub that killed many Americans. If President Obama launched a Tomahawk or ordered a B-2 Bombing raid over his palace, I'd say "bravo" and we would all move on. I do not think we should be meddling with a nation's civil war, especially because we do not have a defined mission. Must Gaddafi go or just stop killing his own citizens or do we want an East Libya and a West Libya?

If the Obama Administration, NATO, and the United Nations were serious about removing Gaddafi, the no fly zone would have happened weeks ago. Also, a No Fly Zone alone will not accomplish a goal of removing Gaddafi, or even him stopping a civil war. As we saw in Kosovo in the 90s, you need troops on the ground, and we all know we can't afford a 3rd front. This leads to the third main issue, how long will we be involved? There is a difference between launching a couple hundred missiles and a few B-2 bombing raids (as CNN is reporting) taking out military targets and us being involved for months or years.

The whole Mid East is on fire, which is why I don't like how we are picking and choosing our fights. What's next, we have to protect the citizens in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or Bahrain who are being killed by their governments while citizens are unarmed? Again, I want Gaddafi killed, but I do not want a 3rd (or more) war, especially in the Mid East.