“Today, I can
report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of
the year”. Significant words came from President Barack Obama during a press
conference on Friday as he announced the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq to have
the last soldier leave by the end of 2011.
This announcement
has some symbolic significance as well. It comes as perfect timing to the three
other foreign policy accomplishments by the Obama administration. The first
being the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 1, following the
drone killing of al-Qaida figure Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen and most recently the
backing of actions that led to the end of dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s reign in
Libya and subsequent death. The talks to leave Iraq are marked by the trip taken
by then President Bush in late 2008. The farewell trip to Baghdad is most remembered because of the incident
at a press conference in which an Iraqi journalist threw his shoe at President
Bush and continued to call him a “dog”. President Obama’s press conference on Friday
outlined a much different and evolved relationship with the US and Iraq, one in which will now have to
enter a new phase in maintaining peace and security.
The plan in Iraq is to leave about 160 military personnel to
be stationed at the American Embassy in Baghdad
and 3,000-5,000 private security contractors as well as considerable CIA
presence. The talks have been long and drawn out ever since President Obama’s
first announcement to withdraw troops and end of combat in Iraq in late
August 2010. The most notable push back is the issue of legal immunity for US
soldiers. For a long time Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and
President Obama held negotiations about the legal protection of American
soldiers. The Iraq
government held steadfastly that American soldiers should be held accountable
in Iraqi courts and be subjected to Iraqi punishment. The negotiations only
became more complex with the release by Wiki leaks of a report that detailed the
killing of Iraqi civilians, including children, in a 2006 raid by American
troops. In recent weeks the negotiations in Baghdad revealed that such protection would
be impossible.
With this huge
announcement came a lot of expected criticism. The most obvious of the critics
are Republican leaders. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney had strong words for
President Obama when it came to the decision to bring home troops. Romney
accused Obama of making a “naked political calculation” and ultimately called the
President’s negotiations with the Iraqi government inept. Another Republican critic
was found in Senator John McCain, who faced Obama in the 2008 election when the
two candidates had polarizing ideals on the war. McCain called the withdrawal a
“consequential failure” for the Obama administration.
Despite some criticism
most Democrats in Washington
support the latest decision. In fact, many see this as an opportunity to win
over votes for the 2012 presidential election. As previously stated, the announcement
to bring troops from Iraq
home is the last of four important foreign policy accomplishments by Obama
since he has taken office. While many Democratic strategists hope that these events
will resonate with Americans it is known that voters care much more about
domestic issues than they do about foreign policy. This is evident in the
election of President Obama himself who was a first term Senator with little
foreign policy experience. In spite of that the Obama campaign hopes to reap
from the benefits at Presidential debates come November, claiming most of the
Republican candidates, like businessman Herman Cain, have little experience in
the field. Other benefits of this decision for the Obama campaign is the fact
that ending this decade long war that cost Americans billions of dollars, will
mark the beginning of the re-building of the nation’s economy.
The announcement
on Friday was met with mixed emotions. While many feel the end of the Iraq war is an accomplishment and the homecoming
of American troops as a good thing, others feel that the security of Iraq has been compromised and the influence of Iran will grow.
It is clearly too early to know what the consequence will be but there is not
doubt that the withdrawal of troops will stop the loss of American lives in
Iraq and bring back the much missed family members and friends.
Below is a link from
the New York Times website that includes an interactive timeline of the war in Iraq:
Sources:
