It appears that the Obama administration is ready to extend our troops deployment in Iraq past the agreed withdrawal date of December 2011 if the Iraqi government request same. That seems to be the case since it was reported by Secretary of Defense Leon Pinetta that the U.S. was waiting for Iraq to make up its mind.
Why should the U.S. let Iraq determine our troops fate in Iraq? That should be a decision of the U.S. and the U.S. alone. Those voices that say U.S. troops need to stay because the mission of training Iraqi troops has not been completed and that Iraq needs more time to be able to defend their country is slang for the continued occupation of our troops in Iraq.
If enough Iraqi troops have not been trained after 8 years on the job and those we have trained are not good enough to train their own Iraqi forces than the U.S. has failed. As for those who say we have to stay to blunt Iran's influence, forget it. Iran and Iraq are tied together no matter what, which was pointed out in past commentary by this writer long ago.
In December 2011 the war in Iraq over WMD that did not exist will be 8 years and 9 months old. The U.S. has lost over 4400 of its brave men and women, over 30,000 wounded and just last month the highest number of Americans were killed in Iraq than in the past few years all because of our invasion and occupation over WMD that did not exist. Bush's war committed our military to satisfy his warped ideology of remaking the middle east in his own warped image and our troops are still paying the price with their lives. President Obama needs to end this madness like he promised. That is the only way he and other elected officials can truly show they support our troops and the sacrifice they have already made. Pretty speeches are a dime a dozen. What is needed is action to end this war once and for all.
There is simply no good reason to extend our presence in Iraq past the end of this year. Bringing our troops home alive is the best way to honor their sacrifice and service. Not one more American should die in Iraq over WMD that did not exist. Too many people have taken this war and loss of life in a casual way and have treated it like a foot note in history. What a shame.
