Finally the Iraq withdrawal
The U.S. troops in Iraq “will definitely be home for the holidays.” This is what President Obama said last Friday on his determination to end the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq after nearly nine years. This decision was made after months of serious talks between the American and Iraqi officials on the stationing of 3000 to 5000 U.S. troops in Iraq as training forces failed. The Iraqi government resisted the American demand to grant U.S. forces immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, hence the decision to pull out the forces from Iraq by the year’s end. Only 150 to 200 American military personnel will remain in Iraq as part of embassy security.
The U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003 to eliminate the “Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.” In less than a month, Saddam’s army was defeated while no WMD was found. As a result of the eight-year war, more than 4400 U.S. forces have been killed and more than 32000 have been wounded. The cost of the war is estimated to be around one trillion dollars. It is said that during these years the Iraqi civilian and military deaths are estimated to be more than one million people. The U.S. presence in Iraq was unpopular in 2003 and it is unpopular at this moment.
But, the question is: was the Obama’s announcement motivated by internal considerations especially when in a few months the U.S. presidential elections will kick off? The Democrats have hailed the Obama’s decision as a proof that the president has kept his promise to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. The Obama’s allies hope that this decision will help convince Americans in 2012 elections to vote for him one more time. On the other hand, a number of influential Republicans have expressed concern about the repercussions of the untimely withdrawal from Iraq. Some have even questioned the intention of the President. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential front runner said, “the unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government.” Rick Perry, another Republican presidential hopeful said, “I’m deeply concerned that President Obama is putting political expediency ahead of sound military and security judgment by announcing an end to troop level negotiations and a withdrawal from Iraq by year’s end.”
Whatever the motivation for U.S. withdrawal, it seems that foreign policy issues will not play a big role in the next presidential elections. Most Americans are very much concerned about the state of the U.S. economy and will favor a candidate whom they believe will do a better job to invigorate and revitalize the economy. However, the Obama supporters will capitalize, in presidential campaigns, on recent “foreign policy achievements” of the Administration including the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, Gaddafi’s removal from power in Libya and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
Immediately after his announcement, Obama called on all Iraq’s neighbors to respect its sovereignty, implicitly referring to Iran. Secretary Clinton was more direct saying “Iran would be badly miscalculating if they did not look at the entire region and all of our presence in many countries in the region, both in bases [and] in training, with NATO allies, like Turkey.” As expected, Republicans have also warned about increased Iranian influence in Iraq following a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.