San Francisco (Obama.net) – On September 11th, 2001, the Twin Towers were attacked in New York City. The terrorist attack was perpetrated by al Qaeda, who at the time had a strong hold in Afghanistan. Thus, the United States had the obvious choice to go into Afghanistan to run the terrorist regimes out, including the Taliban and al Qaeda. After a matter of weeks, the job was done. But then in 2003, for reasons never truly explained to the people of the United States of America, the neoconservatives with their figurehead President George W. Bush decided to invade Iraq.
Then after running up the national debt to double of what it was the previous two and a quarter centuries because of the costs of the war, Bush and the neoconservatives left office with the job unfinished.
Now it has been left to President Barack Obama to get the job done in Iraq. Obama has taken care of the issue to the best of his options. He has put control of the conflicts in Iraq into the hands of the Iraqi army and police. Obama is working with the Iraqi government to stabilize them and prepare them to control the state when all American troops withdraw at the end of 2011.
However, some criticize Obama for how he’s going about the war.
Many seemed upset when he didn’t immediately pull out all of the troops upon entering office. Hmm, let’s examine that option. Had he withdrawn all of the troops, Iraq would have been left in a state of chaos without a fully trained army and police force and without any legitimate government in tact. And instead of criticizing Obama for still being in Iraq, critics would be complaining about how terrible of a move it was to leave the country defenseless and on its own.
Clearly, Obama could not withdraw all of the troops immediately. So he did the next best idea: a slow withdrawal while strengthening the Iraqi military and government. Apparently some people want to have their cake and eat it too.
Critics of Obama’s military strategy keep forgetting one major fact. Obama is not making up his own ideas as he goes. Obama has been forced by the Bush Administration and Republicans to take over and complete a war that was never even approved by Congress and wasn’t ever an official war due to its ludicrously. Obama is simply doing the best he can in a situation where he was dealt cards that even the best in the world would fold.
After taking over a war that was started by the fountain of misinformation that was the Bush Administration and the neoconservatives, Obama is making all the right moves and all that everyone can do now and is sit back and let Obama clean up the mess of the Republicans.
In fairness to Bush it should be noted that Obama is basically complying with the Status of Forces Agreement, (SOFA), the Bush Administration negotiated with Iraq before Bush left office. Trust me, I am no Bush defender. His Presidency was a disaster beyond what I previously thought was possible under our system of checks and balances and rule of law. However, facts are facts and when relevant should be noted.