So, it is sad, but not unexpected, that every time another foreign policy debacle occurs on Obama's watch, the immediate action of the loony left is to chant-"It's BUSH'S FAULT!" loudly to all of their fellow traveller poltroons.
I actually recommended in a Facebook post the other day to one of those Obama fans that the title of his presidential memoir should be "Dreams of my Presidency-It's all Bush's Fault." This, of course is a classic sign of narcissism-refusing to own your mistakes and blaming everyone else for your failures, but is, sadly, par for the course for this Administration and it's shrinking band of defenders.
So, take the current Middle East, now world crisis, which began almost 2 years ago with the sweeping out of the deserts of Syria (not Iraq mind you) of ISIS into northern Iraq, capturing Mosul, Ramadi, Fallujah, Bayji, and most of northern Iraq, stopping only at the gates of Baghdad and the line defended by Iraq's Kurdish population. This group, deemed the "JV team" by our basketball loving President...who no doubt will fill out his NCAA brackets no matter how many jihadis are killing people around the world, surpassed Al Qaeda in organization, strength, and most important--Ambition. Not content to merely kill infidels, these particular evil doers wish to own and occupy territory in the failed states of Syria and Iraq.
Now, loony liberals immediately began the cry "BUSH CREATED ISIS, IT'S BUSH'S FAULT" right on cue...giving lefty pundits plenty to chew on and pontificate, even though most of them have no clue what the difference is between a Sunni and a Shiite and couldn't care less.
But, let's consider the facts.
I actually recommended in a Facebook post the other day to one of those Obama fans that the title of his presidential memoir should be "Dreams of my Presidency-It's all Bush's Fault." This, of course is a classic sign of narcissism-refusing to own your mistakes and blaming everyone else for your failures, but is, sadly, par for the course for this Administration and it's shrinking band of defenders.
So, take the current Middle East, now world crisis, which began almost 2 years ago with the sweeping out of the deserts of Syria (not Iraq mind you) of ISIS into northern Iraq, capturing Mosul, Ramadi, Fallujah, Bayji, and most of northern Iraq, stopping only at the gates of Baghdad and the line defended by Iraq's Kurdish population. This group, deemed the "JV team" by our basketball loving President...who no doubt will fill out his NCAA brackets no matter how many jihadis are killing people around the world, surpassed Al Qaeda in organization, strength, and most important--Ambition. Not content to merely kill infidels, these particular evil doers wish to own and occupy territory in the failed states of Syria and Iraq.
Now, loony liberals immediately began the cry "BUSH CREATED ISIS, IT'S BUSH'S FAULT" right on cue...giving lefty pundits plenty to chew on and pontificate, even though most of them have no clue what the difference is between a Sunni and a Shiite and couldn't care less.
But, let's consider the facts.
- In 2010, Iraq was a stable, if imperfect country, where the Sunni Awakening and Surge begun in late 2006 had begun to bear some fruit and create the potential for real political conciliation between Sunni, Shias, and Kurds in Iraq. Yes the whole occupation was a train wreck..no doubt about that, and it took a major change in policy and strategy to salvage SOME level of victory, but Bush made the hard decision, knowing it would cost him politically.
- When Obama took office there were a diminishing number of US troops in Iraq, training Iraqi forces, providing some CT capability, and generally providing a US presence to counter-balance Iranian influence and keep Shia politicians behaving themselves.
- In 2011, after trumpeting how GREAT Iraq was as an Obama foreign policy success (remember ol' Joe on the news shows, you can Google it), Obama yanked all our forces out of Iraq, JUST as Syria was coming apart in a civil war. This meant the US had NO ability to stop Iranian arms shipments to the Assad regime or help keep the Iraq army intact. When US troops left, the Shia majority government started backsliding on including Sunnis in the government and military..and started to piss off the Kurds too.
- In 2011, Syria came apart in a civil war, as did Libya...of course both of these were a result of the so-called "Arab Spring," really more of an Arab convulsing of got nothing left to lose rebellions. In Syria, the Obama Administration bungled every which way--not taking a Russian overture to oust Assad, not bombing Syria when ACTUAL WMDs were used, and generally ensuring that our only allies would be moderate Sunnis jihadis..in effect we have allied with Al Qaeda against ISIS...how F'up is that?
- In Libya, this Administration "LED FROM BEHIND" what the hell does that even mean, and what moron would ever say that as a national policy in taking down a dictator with...you guess it...NO PLAN to rebuild the country...in effect this Administration fought a war of choice against a contained regime (remember Qaddafi gave up his WMD in 2004 because he was afraid of that cowboy Bush)..because we wanted to "protect" people...well heck of a job Bammy...Libya is now a basket case as well...
- AND THEN, there's Yemen. Probably the BIGGEST and most unknown debacle of this Administration...and that's saying something. Yemen sits astride very strategic waterways and borders two long time allies-Saudi Arabia (allies in the loosest sense) and Oman. It is also in the throws of civil war and threatens to draw Iran and Saudi Arabia even deeper into their de facto Cold War.
- I won't even talk about Afghanistan, because, well, frankly that country is a basket case that even Solomon couldn't fix.
SO, how can I make bold statements like Obama f'ed up Iraq more than Bush...simple...he's sending troops back...and likely a lot of them.
Ask yourself this question...if keeping 15 or 20 thousand troops in Iraq might have prevented the re-emergence of ISIS, shortened the Syrian civil war by preventing Iranian resupply of Assad's military, and kept Iraq together and functioning would that have been worth it?
Even as Obama says the US might need troops in Afghanistan longer...a dubious course as those 7th century goat herders are even more primitive than the Iraqis and Syrians, why wouldn't he have kept troops in Iraq, a much more strategically critical country?
The answer is simple----he is blinded to reality by his rigid ideology and the narrative of the modern Democratic Party that the US had to get out of Iraq and "Bush's War" as fast as possible no matter what...after all, any fallout after a short-sighted blunder like withdrawing ALL OUR TROOPS could be blamed on Bush...seemingly forever, if my liberal acquaintances have their way.
Now of course, there is a new dilemma--how to respond to ISIS on a global level. Do we continue the pinprick bombing campaign in Syria while mouthing platitudes about not misunderstanding and blaming Islam while loony open borders advocates say we should let thousands of Arab Muslim male refugees in our country?
Or do we man up, apply some real air power to aid the Kurds, Iraqis (for better or worse, we're now stuck with the new, improved Iranian owned Iraqi military) and whatever rump Syrian forces are left to wipe out ISIS once and for all...if that's even possible?
That's the question...and, quite frankly, there are now easy answers. It takes fortitude, foresight, and an absolute firmness of resolve to try and deal with this challenge...which is only going to get worse if the dithering and hand-wringing by the West about the Muslim threat is interpreted as weakness by ISIS, which it most assuredly will.
Unfortunately, this Administration and it's party has no JFK, FDR or even Truman to lead this country and defend it's citizens and freedoms. We are stuck with a President determined to make the next 15 months some sort of weird victory lap about HIM and HIS Administration and their successes...and screw whoever takes over because then everything will be THEIR fault...after all Barry will be out playing golf and making speeches about his total awesomeness as the first black (actually mixed race) President.
When the world turns to the French to lead the fight against Islamic fascism..we have truly fallen through the looking glass...
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