The majority will agree that Bush’s defining failure moment in his foreign policy was the “mission accomplished” staged fiasco. In some ways, Obama’s signature foreign policy failure may also turn out to be the premature declaration of victory in Iraq.
As is already evident, this decision will cost Iraqi’s lives. Ethnic and Religious violence is already claiming victims at an increased pace. Worst may well follow. It was obvious to most of the observers that Iraq was simply not yet ready for the American departure. Another year of simply being present on the ground would have gone a long way to help increase the chances of success. Unfortunately that year happens to be an election year and Obama obviously decided that his ability to claim that he delivered on his promise to end the war in Iraq trumped the reality of needing to finish the job.
This is not a left or right issue. If you did not agree with the war, you can’t deny that we are in it, and that we sacrificed 5,000 American lives, $800 billion, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis lives to get to a relative state of stability. All of the signs were pointing to a continued improvement of the situation and growing capacity of the Iraq to take care of its own security. All it required is our continued visible presence for a while longer. We were no longer taking on casualties, the price would likely have been gladly paid for by Iraq which is not receiving oil revenue. So why quit now? There is only one answer: politics.
When we elect leaders we shouldn’t expect them to follow the general sentiment. We should expect them to lead. Leadership means doing the right thing for our country. It doesn’t involve monitoring the polls, it involves having a vision and explaining it to the voters to bring them on board. On this issue, Obama has failed to lead, and we are likely to pay the price for this failure.