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Here's another great article to read from Ambassador Chris Hill: How the Obama Administration Ignored Iraq - Christopher R. Hill - POLITICO Magazine
How the Obama Administration Ignored Iraq
One ambassador's story of an exit strategy gone wrong.
On June 30, 2009, Maliki gave a speech to announce a major development in the U.S.-Iraqi Security Agreement. The occasion was the anniversary of the 2003 assassination of the Iraqi Shia leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. After a few words in memory of the fallen ayatollah, Maliki shifted gears to describe the moment that U.S. forces would withdraw from populated areas as a great victory for the Iraqi people, which did not sit well with those who had backed the war effort. After all, Maliki was suggesting that what had happened was the U.S. forces had in effect been ordered to retreat.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/how-the-obama-administration-disowned-iraq-111565_Page2.html#ixzz3FELaAdak
Here's another great article to read from Ambassador Chris Hill: How the Obama Administration Ignored Iraq - Christopher R. Hill - POLITICO Magazine
How the Obama Administration Ignored Iraq One ambassador's story of an exit strategy gone wrong.
In the end it was increasingly clear that Iraq remained the military’s problem, not the State Department’s. It is not to say that Iraq was not on people’s minds in Washington. But it was increasingly a legacy issue, a matter of keeping faith with our troops rather than seeing Iraq as a strategic issue in the region.
al Maliki could have renegotiated the SOFA so that it was acceptable to the American CIC. He said he would have American troops leave Iraq. The American people supported him on that. The minority who disagree can suck it up.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/st...disowned-iraq-111565_Page2.html#ixzz3FELaAdak... Maliki shifted gears to describe the moment that U.S. forces would withdraw from populated areas as a great victory for the Iraqi people, which did not sit well with those who had backed the war effort. After all, Maliki was suggesting that what had happened was the U.S. forces had in effect been ordered to retreat.
Read more: [URL='http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/how-the-obama-administration-disowned-iraq-111565_Page2.html#ixzz3FELaAdak[/QUOTE']http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/how-the-obama-administration-disowned-iraq-111565_Page2.html#ixzz3FELaAdak[/URL]
That is not what Chris Hill said. Yes, Maliki was a bad partner.
Iraq got the bureaucratic reputation as a loser, something to stay away from. No question, Shia-led Iraq was the black sheep of the region, with no natural allies anywhere. Shia-led Iraq also did not fit into any broader theme that the administration was trying to accomplish in the Middle East.
State Dept Spokeswoman Jen Psaki has been on all the cable channels trying to defend Obama, and she is getting BLISTERED!!! Fun to sit back and watch.
To get back at Obama for being thrown under the golf cart on Benghazi.Why would Panetta write a book like that?
This is Politics. Timing is everything.
Suspicious Scientist is Suspicious.
[/QUOTE]JS029 9911663al Maliki could have renegotiated the SOFA so that it was acceptable to the American CIC. He said he would have American troops leave Iraq. The American people supported him on that. The minority who disagree can suck it up.
From EconChick's own link in the OP, your impression of Maliki is confirmed. Maliki was 'celebrating' as a 'great victory' for the Iraqi people the 'retreat' of US forces from populated areas in Iraq.
... Maliki shifted gears to describe the moment that U.S. forces would withdraw from populated areas as a great victory for the Iraqi people, which did not sit well with those who had backed the war effort. After all, Maliki was suggesting that what had happened was the U.S. forces had in effect been ordered to retreat.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/how-the-obama-administration-disowned-iraq-111565_Page2.html#ixzz3FELaAdak
It would be hard to believe that EconChick actually read what she posted let alone comprehend what is being said in it.
Bush needed to do in 2008 what Obama has just achieved in Afghanistan. That is negotiate a long term deal of at least ten years duration if withdrawing troops too soon was indeed a problem.
Here's another great article to read from Ambassador Chris Hill: How the Obama Administration Ignored Iraq - Christopher R. Hill - POLITICO Magazine
The U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, spoke with him soon thereafter to tell him he needed to make a gesture, suggesting that during his upcoming visit to Washington he visit Arlington National Cemetery and lay a wreath. He did so, but it was too little, too late. Maliki’s reputation never recovered in Washington, and complaints about him, whether in matters of human rights or relations with Sunni neighbors, or his attitudes toward Americans, or political alliances within Iraq, all seemed to reinforce each other with the conclusion that Iraq would be better off with a new prime minister, perhaps one who did not seem systematically to upset every conceivable constituent group. How the Obama Administration Ignored Iraq - Christopher R. Hill - POLITICO Magazine[/QUOTE
This is how we lost Iraq.
So basically you're going with the standard "Maliki wanted us out so Obama had no choice in the matter" spin. That unfortunately ignores the fact that Obama had significant leverage and that Maliki was not the only opinion in Iraq on the matter. So that post is a loser.
JS031 9911923That is not what Chris Hill said. Yes, Maliki was a bad partner.
Here is what Chris Hill said. How do you translate this?Iraq got the bureaucratic reputation as a loser, something to stay away from. No question, Shia-led Iraq was the black sheep of the region, with no natural allies anywhere. Shia-led Iraq also did not fit into any broader theme that the administration was trying to accomplish in the Middle East.
