Those were some pretty astonishing statements that President Obama made after his meeting in Washington with Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq: He said that “what we have now achieved is an Iraq that is self-governing, that is inclusive and that has enormous potential.”
Only the last part of that sentence is true: Iraq does have “enormous potential”–both good and bad. It could become another opulent petrostate–or it could revert to a hellish state of civil war. Either is possible at this point because Iraq is only barely “self-governing” and its government is acting in ways that are less “inclusive” all the time–witness Maliki’s arrest of more than 600 people on vague charges of “Baathism.”
Obama’s happy talk is seriously at odds with reality–and I’m sure Obama knows it. He is only attempting to put his abandonment of Iraq in the best possible light.
In the process he is taking an enormous gamble, not only with the security of Iraq, the United States, and the entire Middle East but also with his own historical reputation. True, the pullout from Iraq is popular today. It won’t be so popular a year or two from now if the result of the U.S. pullout is greater instability or tyranny. Obama will then shoulder the bulk of the blame for messing up the end game of a war that he never supported.
I hope Obama’s optimism is vindicated. I really do. But there are many troubling signs which suggest that his statements this week could be remembered much as George W. Bush’s proclamation of “Mission Accomplished” is today.
For more see these excellent articles by K2 (that would be Fred and Kim Kagan) and by the Washington Post editors.
If Iraq is anything other than a fantastic success, the MSM is poised to declare the failure as proof Bush should have stayed out of Iraq, and that, of course, Obama the Great was right. Yes, there will be many, whom the MSM will proclaim are full of sour grapes and either criticize or ignore, who will point out Obama abandoned all that Bush had accomplished — but that's about it. Very sad.
Oddly, Obama's happy talk kind of does change the reality in Iraq. Because, as Keith Vlasak points out, the "reality" is only what that MSM says it is. There are tons of "realities" out there that people have no clue about. They are effectively non existent as far as the US voter is concerned. And as far as Iraq is concerned, the voters have essentially outsourced everything to Obama. They wanted him, foolishly in my view, to bail out of Iraq. He's doing it. There is no chance he will pay any price for a bad outcome in Iraq. Zero. And on the contrary, he will get credit for even a slightly good outcome. Totally unfair, but there it is. And by the way, we can't really blame the MSM anymore. The facts are out there for anyone who even slightly cares. As much as I love to blame the MSM, at some point we have to just admit that the country supports the cut and run policy (just don't call it that).