A Long Kiss Goodbye

More than 4,000 Americans lost in the Iraq war over the past decade. The price tag sits in the trillions of dollars. Those two facts alone are enough to make anyone rethink any cynical criticism to President Obama’s decision last week to exit Iraq. Gotta go buddy!

Of course the very thought of leaving the streets of Baghdad seems to insinuate [at least for some] that the United States are either giving up on its cause, licking its wounds, or proclaiming “mission accomplished.” Perhaps the answer is all of the above. According to reports, Iraqi officials want 5,000 US troops to remain in a training capacity, but refused to give them immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law. That is not a deal you can even convince a 5 year old to sign up for, let alone a country with so much vested interested in Iraqi welfare. Thanks but no thanks.

This was bound to happen, and simply because no one expects the US to take permanent residence in Iraq, in the interest of helping the country gain [and maintain] its freedom. Sooner or later the Iraqi’s will have to manage its own destiny. Case in point: - Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia. Furthermore, lest we forget, the Iraqi’s got a great head start and luxury that these other countries that emerge from the Arab Spring didn’t have.-somebody else doing the heavy lifting for them.

There are arguments to support the fact that successful operations in Iraq [and Afghanistan] pushed Al-Qaida and the Taliban beyond its comfort zone, with Osama Bin laden taken refuge in Pakistan, leading to his eventual death. Of course there is a country story that will swear that the mission is unaccomplished, and that leaving Baghdad will inadvertently give Iran a clear mandate to occupy the country [if it so wishes].

Either argument may have a leg to stand on, but any objective person will point out that the United States cannot afford to be in Iraq forever, regardless of how idealistic any interventionist policy may appear, even if it was guaranteed a full reimbursement of any costs incurred.

Sure, the US has invested mucho dinero in Iraq. No denying that. The truth is that staying another day past December 31st will incur additional costs that a country on economic life support can’t sustain. Perhaps there is a political strategy at play here, but most people will support it because it makes sense on many levels. If this effort was a joint effort though NATO for example [as in Libya] and the rest of the world split the bill, a fair argument could be made against Obama’s decision.

Nuri al-Maliki and his counterparts will have to take a stand for their own country, and Iraqi’s themselves will have to decide their fate, without international babysitters urging them to push out any strand of terrorist activities lurking in its borders. That is a decision the Iraqi’s themselves will have to make, because for now, the United States have made their; - and it’s a long kiss goodbye.