The Deep Insight

With U.S military forces poised to withdraw from all major Iraqi cities in less than a week, how is this strategy going to play out in the weeks and months ahead?  If the recent bombings are an indication of whats to follow, my guess is that the future does not bode well for Iraq in the short term.  Even though violence has been drop dramatically in the past year, insurgents still continue their campaign of violence against citizens and the state.  Iraqi soldiers and police continue to be the favorite targets for extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda in Iraq and other like minded groups.

I believe that the United States strategy of withdrawing to the outskirts of all major cities is eerily reminiscent of the of the failed Bush strategy of staying in large bases and “commuting to the fight”.  This strategy did not work in the early days of the war, why go back to it? This failed strategy allowed extremist groups to thrive and to establish mini fiefdoms all over Iraq. I fear this is the same thing that’s going to happen once we leave. and we are going to be right back at square one.

If violence goes back to where it was in 04-05, with sectarian violence plaguing the country, what does President Obama do then? Is he going to go back to the strategy set forth by Gen. Petraeus? Probably not right? That would be too costly. Obama is taking a huge gamble by betting on the Iraqi security forces to live up to their end of the deal. The stakes are high and he can ill afford to lose.

 If Iraq goes up in flames like it was before, and if Afghanistan remain intractable, Obama may very well be a one term President, a mere flash in the pan.   What could we be left with when he leaves? Two raging insurgencies, Iran more defiant as ever, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict still unresolved. Not much different from when good ole W left right?  Basically their is no good answer for American interventionism the Middle East. Either we are in it to win it or we pull out, cut our losses and hope for the best.

I believe that our half-hearted, short-sighted narrow policies is what gets our country in trouble. Our political leaders lack the foresight and political will to level with the American people about the threats that face our nation. In addition to that they give our military unrealistic goals and time lines to provide results.

 Our country is in some serious lack of real leadership today, and it scares me. When I see President Obama and the rest of the people on Capitol Hill all I see is politicians looking to keep their jobs, not leaders trying to lead our nation to a better tomorrow.  Our elected leaders have  become entrenched and corrupt by the power the we have entrusted to them. Let us remember what our constitution and our country stand for, and elect people to office in 2010 who represent the true values of what America is supposed to be.