(CNSNews.com)
- When President Barack Obama removed the last U.S. forces from Iraq in
December 2011, he announced that—as he had planned—the U.S. was leaving behind
a “sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government.”
It was a
"moment of success," he said.
On Feb. 27,
2009, a little more than a month after his first inauguration, Obama gave a
speech at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina that the White House entitled,
“Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq.”
Obama said
then that his strategy was based on the “achievable goal” of a “sovereign,
stable and self-reliant” Iraq--and that he intended to withdraw all U.S. forces
from Iraq by the end of 2011, as had been envisioned in the Status of Forces
agreement negotiated by the Bush Administration.
“Today, I
can announce that our review is complete, and that the United States will
pursue a new strategy to end the war in Iraq through a transition to full Iraqi
responsibility,” said Obama. “This strategy is grounded in a clear and
achievable goal shared by the Iraqi people and the American people: an Iraq
that is sovereign, stable, and self-reliant. To achieve that goal, we will work
to promote an Iraqi government that is just, representative, and accountable,
and that provides neither support nor safe-haven to terrorists.”
“And under
the Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, I intend to remove
all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011,” said Obama. “We will complete
this transition to Iraqi responsibility, and we will bring our troops home with
the honor that they have earned.”
Almost
three years later, on Dec. 14, 2011, when he was removing the last U.S. troops
from Iraq, Obama gave a speech at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Here he said
his strategy based on building a sovereign, stable, self-reliant Iraq had
succeeded.
“It’s
harder to end a war than begin one,” Obama said at Fort Bragg. “Indeed,
everything that American troops have done in Iraq--all the fighting and all the
dying, the bleeding and the building, and the training and the partnering--all
of it has led to this moment of success. Now, Iraq is not a perfect place. It
has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and
self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its
people. We’re building a new partnership between our nations. And we are ending
a war not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home. This is an
extraordinary achievement, nearly nine years in the making.”
In the past
seven months, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)—a terrorist group
that sprang from al Qaeda—has captured Fallujah and Mosul, and is now intent on
capturing the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
In
February, CIA Director John Brennan told the House Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence that al Qaeda camps on both sides of the Syrian-Iraq border are
a threat to the United States.
"Do
you believe that there are training camps that have been established on either
side of the Iraqi or Syrian border for the purposes of training al Qaida
operatives?" House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers asked Brennan.
Brennan
said: "There are camps inside of both Iraq and Syria that are used by al
Qaida to develop capabilities that are applicable both in the theater as well
as beyond.”
Chairman
Rogers asked: "Do you believe that that ungoverned space presents a real
threat to the United States of America, via al Qaida operations, or the West?”
"I
do," said Brennan.
Obama had
announced on Oct. 21, 2011, that all U.S. troops would in fact leave Iraq by
the end of that year. The next day, the New York Times ran a story headlined:
"Despite Difficult Talks, U.S. and Iraq Had Expected Some American Troops
to Stay." The top of that story said:
“President
Obama’s announcement on Friday that all American troops would leave Iraq by the
end of the year was an occasion for celebration for many, but some top American
military officials were dismayed by the announcement, seeing it as the
president's putting the best face on a breakdown in tortured negotiations with
the Iraqis. And for the negotiators who labored all year to avoid that outcome,
it represented the triumph of politics over the reality of Iraq's fragile
security's requiring some troops to stay, a fact everyone had assumed would
prevail.”
No comments:
Post a Comment