Since his Thursday night announcement that he had authorized US airstrikes in Iraq, the US air war in the country has picked up considerably, and President Obama’s latest comments are laying the stage for a “long-term project” in the country, with further escalations likely along the way.
In his interview with the New York Times, President Obama lamented the comparative brevity of his war in Libya, saying his decision to attack Libya and impose regime change was “the right thing,” but that the US should’ve had a longer “follow-up” mission to prop up a new government there.
It is that regret that is informing his new Iraq War, and his talk of a military goal of preventing the creation of an Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria is only part of a protracted nation-building mission that is rapidly forming around what he presented Thursday as an emergency humanitarian intervention.
Obama was quick to dismiss any talk of any time frame for the new war, saying only that it “is going to take some time,” and answering a question about whether that meant months or years by saying only that it wouldn’t be a matter of weeks.
Yesterday’s expansion of the “red lines” inside Iraq to include ISIS getting near either Irbil or Baghdad were also expanded further today, with Obama saying a key portion of the war now was also meant to prevent ISIS from getting ahold of “key infrastructure” all across Iraq.
The political goals of the war were also laid bare today, with Obama promising to see Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority feeling “connected to and well-served by a national government” in the long term.”
Another telling aspect of the president’s latest talk is that, while he had long bragged about having ‘gotten the US out of Iraq,’ he openly spurned the label today, insisting the pullout was “not my decision” and was only done because President Bush had reached a status of forces agreement which expired under his watch.
Ultimately, the new Iraq War is shaping up to be even more ambitious than the 2003 mis-adventure, with President Obama imagining not only the ouster of ISIS from the nation’s west and from Syria’s east, but also the creation of a new, more “inclusive” Iraqi government.
Well, the Iraqis under Maliki kicked the US out as no SOFA agreement could be reached so the "new" narrative is closer to the truth, innit?
I do think we have now practically near the end of shit creek. The next president will most likely have the honor to break the paddle.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over hoping for different results – Einstein.
WMD got them in Iraq and a Bunch of Monkeys called ISIS will keep the US Troops in Iraq for ever.
WMD did NOT get them into Iraq as there never were any weapons of mass destruction. What got them into Iraq was the degenerate Israeli-first neoconservatives. What keeps them in now is the pathology of American politics.
The US has been bombing Iraq (off and on) for 23 years now.
What did the Iraqi people ever do to Amerika to deserve this destruction & slaughter?
They chose to be born in territory containing oil – US's oil.
It's what they get for living on top of OUR oil and not being white christians.
The Serbs were white Christians.
What did the people of Serbia ever do to America? And many others.
It looks like only another Military strong man on the order of Saddam or Gaddaffi will have to take over Iraq likle we have now in Egypt Syria and Saudi Arabia . Otherwise the wild insane Muslims coming from the United States and all over the world will just keep killing and converting every one until all are Muslim killers or dead .
He should come clean and admit that he and his so called moderate Arab government allies created this huge mess spanning from Libya, Syria, and into Iraq. He isn't responsible for Iraq but he is responsible for the growth of the Islamic State. He should have known that the fighters in Libya and much of the Islamic world were conservatives and would want what they thought would be an Islamic form of government like the Islamic State. The Libyans who he supported do not like the US and many of them traveled all the way to Iraq to kill Americans. I doubt they would appreciate Uncle Sam telling them what to do in their own country. He is sticking the US into a killer bees nest to get stung. He probably just turned the Islamic State into an Al Qaeda that will focus on attacking the West. He will have solidified Al Qaeda's argument that Muslims need to setup an open grave somewhere in the Middle East and get the US Empire to fall into it because that is the only way they will ever get to rebuild the Middle East in their image. If he doesn't want Sunni Muslims to govern Syria then why does he support the overthrow of the Syrian government? Is he trying to have a controlled forest fire? Only the Shia and Islamic State get burned to the ground? Is this the American Empire version of what Israel just did in Gaza? Is he obeying Netanyahu who wants all sides to be weakened except of course Israel?
Only one thing I would disagree with. By supporting the Islamic rebels in Syria, instead of staying out of it and allowing the now popularly elected Assad to put down the rebellion, Obama's policies led directly to the growth of ISIS. Therefore, he is responsible for the further deterioration of the hellhole known as Iraq.
I agree he is responsible for Iraq's further deterioration under ISIS. I meant that he shouldn't be blamed for what his predecessors did to Iraq. It was a mess when he was elected.
Empress Clinton thinks that Obama didn't do enough to support the rebels against Assad. She is hitting all the right imperial notes to get elected. She thinks Obama's policy is cautious. I dread to see what she has in store for us.
The sad truth is Obama's administration does not know what they are doing. They are reacting to pressures from the American right while trying to accommodate the contradictory and ever-changing agenda of the American left. One need only listen to the statements by the unqualified four horse women of the apocalypse in the US state department to see American foreign policy is an unfocused shambles.
What IS the first black president thinking…. (????) Does he really think creating MORE war and strife will solve any of OUR problems…….. Send more bombs to Israel so they can keep their APARTHEID GENOCIDE going…. Just like sending Hiltller more gas for Auschwitz…. As the abused B-cum the ABUSERS…. WTF…… How long before this whole empire of pain and stain dies the violent death it so richly deserves…. As the Israeli State with . Full U.S.Support and U.S. death systems…… becomes a NAZl State.. and as Gaza becomes the Warsaw ghetto..
Any State that tortures CHILDREN writes it's own death warrant…… The clock is ticking……..
Ummmm… we have been waging war on those poor people continuously since 1990. When does it become a "long war"?
Oy, that bombing campaign crap is worlds of exhausting. Off to Martha's Vineyard for a "much deserved" vacation. Way to go President Slick.
Indeed insanity is doing the same thing over and over hoping for different results-Einstein.
Any other sane government or even street individual would have changed the corse by now, but not the USG and its entire force of uneducated but well paid individuals, because they think that they are indispensable, because they think that they are the superior of everything and by anything, they even think that is their god or other delusional given right to create a new hell for the Iraqi and other people by creating ISIS where the very same creations wants to see their soaked in blood flag in White House.
Obama would have done himself – and the rest of us – an immense service if, instead of vowing 'not to look back' when he took office, he actively sought to make the G.W. Bush's administration accountable for the situation he (Obama) inherited including the military, financial; torture and surveillance issues.
He would now not only have much wider choices but would also be operating from the moral high ground instead of coming across as a timid 'me-too' supporter of probably the most disastrous US administration ever.
YEAH, Libyah just turned out great! No worries there. Let’s not Gaza and ISIS and Iraq distract us from our real goal….the overthrow PUTIN through destabilizing the Ukraine.
None of my comments ever get published ….beccause I criticized jason ditz…just realized this writing this…
[moderator’s note: Not nice to lie, Stu Piddy. Some of your comments do get published, and Jason Ditz gets criticized all the time – TLK]
Obama may present an image that he's in charge, but he's not. He follows the whims of probably the dumbest group of advisers ever assembled. And, while the world is falling apart, he goes off on a jaunt to Martha's Vineyard to take in some rays and do a few rounds of golf. While he's trying to stem the genocide of the Yadzikis, in Northern Iraq with a couple of F-18s, he doesn't give a fig about the genocide in Gaza. In fact he's aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes. Bottom line is that this articulate charmer is really dumb.
"…pullout was “not my decision” and was only done because President Bush had reached a status of forces agreement which expired under his watch…"
So, Bush is responsible for the US being run out of Iraq before, well, before whatever it was the Imperium wanted to accomplish and the resulting swamp left to Obama to wade through. But Obama is going to leave his successor with a fully-enflamed Middle East and a full-scale ground/air war the American people did not want to deal with.
Here we go again
That's it. Impeach now.