Iraq the Iranian Super-state & The Afghan Stalemate

Topher Morrison

PurpleSerf.com

What are we doing?

            Barack Obama having failed to convince the Iraqi government to keep U.S. forces in Iraq pulled the majority of our troops out by Christmas of 2011, but he managed a slim political victory by feigning to keep a popular campaign promise.   Now that our troops have left its obvious what our blood and treasure have purchased – an Iranian Super-state.

            Iran has been able to inject its proxies and influence at all levels of the Iraqi government.  Adding insult to injury recent reports indicate Iran with be strengthening its military ties with Iraq as well.  It is no wonder why Rick Perry in the last debate swore he’d reintroduce American forces immediately.  While its obvious Perry understands what is happening he evidently forgets how we arrived at this point.

            George W. Bush was fond of saying history would be his judge, but I doubt he thought it would judge him so soon.  His ousting of Sunni Sadaam Hussein merely allowed the resurgence of Shia Iraq and therefore the regional realignment in favor of Iran.  What began as a search for WMDs, transformed to building a strong and stable Iraq has all, but resulted in an open alliance with Iran.  All George W. Bush will be remembered for besides abject failure will be reopening Iraqi oil, nationalized since 1973, to private exploration and exploitation – even that is a tenuous accomplishment.

            Barrack Obama’s copycat surge in Afgahnistan has similarly accomplished nothing.  A recent intelligence report surmises the situation in Afghanistan to have reached a stalemate.  The original task of denying Al’Qaeda safe haven was accomplished long ago and no interim goal aside from “winning the peace” was proffered in its place.  The Taliban evidently is the lesser of two evils – occupation or indigenous subjugation; the Afghan people evidently prefer the latter.

             NATO has botched the complicated relationship with Pakistan so much so that it looks as if Pakistan might be seeking security relationships elsewhere namely, China.  Afghanistan meanwhile is mired in corruption as was evidenced by the murder of President Hamid Karzai’s drug running brother and in light of this the Taliban is being viewed in an ironically positive light.  Alas this is the game we chose to enter.

            The War in Afghanistan is the longest in U.S. history and its time we asked the Pentagon, our President and ourselves what we have accomplished.  In light of yet another Abu Ghraib style PR blunder this time at the hands of U.S. Marines, it is hard to see any definitive success after 10 years of fighting.  Osama Bin Laden is dead, we’ve spent trillions its time to come home.