Obama came into office determined to declare the Iraq War over and come home. We engaged in a mad rush to go from 100,000 to 50,000 troops, which drastically decreased our leverage; at the same time we had a passive ambassador on the ground who was content to let events drift. Lately Joe Biden has been more involved, but our impatience for the Iraqis to finally form a government may have overwhelmed considerations about its composition. There are obviously limits to our control of Iraqi politics, but we should be using every possible instrument of persuasion to forestall the creation of a government that could be the predicate for renewed ethnic conflict.The sacrifice of American troops during the surge bequeathed to President Obama a winnable war in Iraq. At this rate, weâ??ll read in the next Woodward book all the details of how he let it slip away. - National Review [Emphasis mine]
Let it be noted that Iraq's parliamentary impasse overtook the Netherlands' similar paralysis in 1977 to be the longest such stalemate in history, so "our impatience" - however regrettable - is understandable.
It's also worth pointing out that the Obama administration inherited an Iraq that was violent and politically unstable, with none of the existential issues confronting its future resolved. If that's "winnable" than score one for untempered optimism.
That Iraq is less violent than it was, and its present government more secure, is a good thing, but if the U.S. cannot address the sources of Iraq's political fragility these gains may prove ephemeral. If the administration's critics know how to successfully weave together Iraq's various political factions into a coherent, liberal, non-Iran-leaning whole, by all means let's see the plan (it would be an interesting argument, to say the least, given previously expressed skepticism about the U.S. government's ability to steer, say, the U.S. health care market to beneficial outcomes). Otherwise, it's better to make more modest claims about the president's Iraq inheritance.
