The loathsome Ali Musa Daqduq, a senior Hezbollah operative who engineered the kidnapping and killing of five American soldiers in Iraq in 2007, is reportedly back in Beirut, no doubt basking in his new-found freedom to plan fresh terrorist outrages. His release from Iraqi custody, while not unexpected, is nevertheless dismaying. The U.S., after having released all other detainees, turned him over last to Iraqi custody in 2011 hoping against hope that the Iraqis could somehow be persuaded to keep him locked up. Fat chance.
What makes the whole situation really pathetic is that Vice President Biden called Prime Minister Maliki in recent days pleading for Daqduq not to be released. The fact that he was set free anyway is hardly a sign of Maliki’s respect for the rule of law. It is a sign of how little influence the U.S. now wields in Iraq and how much influence Iran now has. Daqduq, after all, was in Iraq working for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to train Shiite militants to attack U.S. personnel. His release is a big victory for Iran and a big defeat for the United States.
If President Obama is chagrined about the outcome, he had no one to blame but himself. His failure to make a serious push to maintain U.S. forces in Iraq past 2011 means that our influence over that country’s future is marginal. There is little, alas, we can do as Iraq aligns itself more closely with Iran and against our interests in the region.
Obama will double down and call it a great victory for diplomacy. The NYT will of course describe it as part of the process of 'freedom, liberty and self determination'
And just think how exciting things will get now that our enemies know they have four more years of Obama idiocy! This will get interesting.
Obama's "failure to make a serious push to maintain U.S. forces in Iraq past 2011…." n nYou wanted a free Iraq? Well you got it. And they told us to leave. And what would the presence of US troops do in this case? Overthrow Maliki? Saddam was a bloody tyrant, but he was Iran's #1 enemy. Shoulda thought of that 9 years ago.
So Biden called Maliki. He should have had Donald Duck make the call, if he wanted a comic figure doing the job.
I am wondering what was Biden’s face expression when he was calling. I bet the same when he was debating Ryan.
"If President Obama is chagrined about the outcome, he had no one to blame but himself." What? WHAT? How dare you attempt to pin any blame on this man, our slickest of all the Teflon (i.e. liberal) Presidents! I think we all know (back me up here, HillelA!) that all blame for everything has, and will, forever more be the blame of President Bush the Younger and/or Reagan… n nSeriously though, part of me is glad these idiots were re-elected just so we can watch the consequences of their idiocy! Is that wrong of me? lol
Hello Max n nThere are two points I would like to make. First, we were wrong to invade Iraq to begin with. We did it intentionally or unintentionally under false pretenses. Saddam Hussein didn’t have WMD’s. We all know it now. Second, when we broke it, we owned it. We attempted to built Jeffersonian democracy, pacify the civil war, and left currying with us a price tug – 4000 killed (our best and brightest men and women) plus 30,000 injured plus billions of dollars paid for it. However it is reasonably to assume that with voting, shia majority country will elect shia majority government, which eventually will align themselves with shia Iran. So, releasing a shia terrorist will fit into the scheme perfectly. Vice-president Biden can make as many long distance calls as he wishes, I would doubt that Miliky will listen. n
"If President Obama is chagrined about the outcome, he had no one to blame but himself. " n nMaybe so, but it all hangs on "IF" n n n n