The Real Happenings in Iraq

The American Pravda hasn't quite leveled with us on the issue of Obama pulling our troops out of Iraq by year's end. The way they relay the story, Obama is simply fulfilling his promise to his base by ending the war. But, there's more to the story than that. The Iraqis don't want us in their country anymore which is a real slap against Obama's leadership.

I have mixed feelings on keeping our troops in Iraq. After spending so much time investigating Islam, I am convinced that nation building in a Muslim nation will backfire on us because too many Muslims do not want the freedoms we are trying to help them achieve. Instead, they are itching for an Islamic caliphate.

For that reason, it is heart-breaking to see our bravest men and women sacrifice so much for a hopeless cause. Yet, at the same time, if we pull out, Iraq becomes vulnerable, and Iran is likely to bully its way into taking charge of the region. Either way, it seems like a lose-lose situation.

Read the real story about what's going on from Joshua Pundit:

Out Of Iraq - The Lesson Learned?

"President Obama has announced that all U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by the end of this year, except for 150 troops needed to guard the massive U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

'The rest of our troops in Iraq will come home at the end of the year,' Obama said today at the White House. 'After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over.'

Contrary to the spin given to this by the WashingtonPost and the other establishment media, this was not President Obama's choice, but the demand of Iraqi government, who insisted that all U.S. troops be out of Iraq by year's end.

While this is also being spun as an expression of 'Arab democracy' it's actually anything but.

Moqtada al-Sadr's Iran-trained, armed and funded Mahdi Army militia has been maintaining a publicly declared quiet period with the provision that all U.S. forces leave the country. They're doing so on Iran's orders.

The Iranian strategy is to allow U.S. forces and then begin a political de facto takeover of the new Iraq, aided by Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki, who depends on the support of the Shi'ite Bloc controlled by Iranian proxy al-Sadr to stay in power. Maliki actually lost the last elections back in March to the secular, pro-American bloc led by Ayad Allawi, but Maliki was able to overcome that by making a deal with al-Sadr to form a government and 'disqualifying' a few of Allawi's winning parliamentary candidates on grounds that would have done credit to a Chicago ward heeler.

Iran owns Maliki now, and the Mahdi Army will prove just as useful as Hezbollah was in Lebanon at persuading anyone who objects to the new order to see things differently by removing any particularly stubborn opponents as an example.

Maliki is simply acting like the creature of the region he is and gravitating towards what he perceives as the strong horse. As soon as President Obama got in, Maliki took his measure, saw his weakness and understood that we were leaving, Iran isn't and that working with the mullahs was not only a way to stay in power but to stay healthy.

Besides, he doesn't need us around any more. We've already built him a shiny new army and repaired the country's infrastructure at our expense.

So Iraq will almost certainly dance to the Mullah's tune, while President Obama will now campaign as 'the man who ended our war in Iraq and brought the troops home.'

President Bush's frequently stated war goals in Iraq were to have a stable Iraq who would be democratic and an ally of ours in the so-called 'war on terror.' The goals themselves were absolutely farcical in terms of the reality on the ground and what our actual war aims should have been, and even at that we have only barely accomplished one out of three, stability. And it cost us over 4,000 lives and a trillion dollars, much of which was wasted or stolen.

In the end, we didn't even wind up with the oil. The leases on the oil fields Halliburton was miraculously able to save after Saddam set them on fire went to China.

What we've established in Iraq is a Shiite Islamic Republic based on Sharia that will have much of its government friendly or beholden to our enemies in Iran. Iraq has continued to adhere religiously to a boycott of Israel that is against US law, and there has been open season under our watch on Iraq's Christians, a story that rarely merits a mention in the dinosaur media. Iraq will no more be a 'ally ' of ours against our enemies than say, Pakistan, and will limit their 'war on terror' activities to simply suppressing any dissident elements in their own society.

This was something that was easily predictable.

Let me make one thing very clear. To repeat what I said more than two years ago, General Petraeus, his successor General Ordiano and our warriors achieved an amazing victory in defeating an in-country insurgency backed by unfriendly states to the east and north that acted as havens, bases and transit areas for our enemies. And even more miraculously, they did it in spite of ridiculous Rules of Engagement designed with political correctness in mind that no American fighting men and women have ever had to face before. The warriors who won WWII would have shaken their heads in disbelief at that.

That said, what their valiant achievement accomplished(aside from sending a notable number of jihadis to their just desserts and putting a fighting edge on our army) was to put the best possible face on a bad situation and allow America a graceful exit. It wasn't a victory, but thanks to what our warriors accomplished, it wasn't a defeat.

Before we get involved in another war with foggy, dubious goals and no clear path to victory, we need to remember the lessons of Iraq. Nation building and establishing democracy are all very well in their place, but victory comes first."


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