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August 25, 2014

Comments

Eric

Professor Nacos: "But this is not the time to play the blame game."

I disagree.

We must assign blame in order to correct the corrupted social political dialogue that has neutralized the sure-handed American leadership of the free world that's vital to defend our preferred liberal world order.

If we fail to highlight the wrong-doers in our midst and their malfeasance, their input will continue to corrupt our social political dialogue and fatally undermine the clear American leadership needed to compete effectively with the likes of ISIS.

The proximate causes of the crisis are, one, the construction of ISIS in Syria that combined with, two, the U.S.-abandoned vulnerability of Iraq. Both conditions arose from post-Bush events, such as the degeneration of the Arab Spring, that are related to policy course changes made by Obama that fundamentally deviated from Bush's foreign policy.

In fact, President Bush handed the Iraq mission to President Obama having resolved the festering Saddam problem (none too soon, according to the Duelfer Report), revitalized international enforcement in the defining international enforcement of the post-Cold War, and proved the mettle of American leadership and devastated the terrorists with the Counterinsurgency "Surge". The emerging pluralistic, liberalizing post-Saddam Iraq provided the US with a keystone "strategic partner" to reform the region.

To wit, in May 2011, President Obama marked Iraq's "promise of a multiethnic, multisectarian democracy ... poised to play a key role in the region if it continues its peaceful progress":

"Indeed, one of the broader lessons to be drawn from this period is that sectarian divides need not lead to conflict. In Iraq, we see the promise of a multiethnic, multisectarian democracy. The Iraqi people have rejected the perils of political violence in favor of a democratic process, even as they’ve taken full responsibility for their own security. Of course, like all new democracies, they will face setbacks. But Iraq is poised to play a key role in the region if it continues its peaceful progress. And as they do, we will be proud to stand with them as a steadfast partner."


America was winning the War on Terror when Bush handed off to Obama. Obama should have simply stayed the course from Bush like Eisenhower stayed the course from Truman.

Instead, what is happening now is due to Obama's catastrophic error of changing course from Bush, thus reversing our critical hard-won gains in Iraq that Obama described in May 2011.

President Bush was right to enforce the Gulf War ceasefire and then stay in Iraq to secure the peace the same way the US stayed to secure the peace in Europe and Asia after World War 2. When Bush left office, the Iraq mission was a success.

President Obama was wrong to leave Iraq prematurely. America's protection was needed for the continued progression of Iraq’s pluralistic liberal reform and constructive role in the Middle East and the welfare of the Iraqi people. Instead, the feared danger of Obama's feckless 'lead from behind' approach to the Arab Spring and irresponsible exit from Iraq is being realized.

Misinformation and mischaracterization have distorted the public's understanding of the context, stakes, and achievements of the Gulf War ceasefire enforcement that President Bush carried forward from President Clinton and the ground-breaking peace operations by the US military in post-Saddam Iraq. The corrupted public perception of the Iraq mission has enabled Obama's elementary, catastrophic errors, undermined the enforcement of international norms, and curtailed the further development of peace operations.

To set America's mind right for the fight ahead, we must fix the corruption of our social political dialogue.

The first step is your admission that Operation Iraqi Freedom was, in fact, right on the law and justified on the policy.

The second step is calling to task and holding responsible every pundit who championed the compounding-harmful false narrative that the "justifications for the Iraq War were carefully manufactured lies".

For the truth of OIF, see http://learning-curve.blogspot.com/2014/05/operation-iraqi-freedom-faq.html . For the basic essentials of the law and policy of OIF, see the primary sources linked in the 'further reading' section therein.

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