When in 2011 President Obama announced, against the advice of his commanders, the complete withdrawal of all US forces from Iraq, he grandly declared “the tide of war is receding.”
Two days later, his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, answered critics such as John McCain, who said the president’s announcement was a victory for Iran.
Said Mrs. Clinton: “No one, most particularly Iran, should miscalculate about our continuing commitment to and with the Iraqis going forward.”
This week these promises have been rendered hollow by the humanitarian and strategic crisis unfolding in Iraq. There, key northern cities have been falling to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, an offshoot of al Qaeda.
The horrors we are seeing fulfill some of the worst fears of critics who had warned that leaving Iraq without a new status of forces agreement imperiled the gains bought with American blood and treasure.
And far from miscalculating America’s intentions, the Iranians sized us up pretty well.
While the president turns down the prime minister’s request for drone strikes, Tehran has deployed its Revolutionary Guard to help the Shia-led government in Baghdad fight off the Sunni ISIS. What an irony: If the government of Iraq does survive, it will owe Iran more than Uncle Sam.
The president’s practice has been to blame his failures on his predecessor. But in Iraq, President George W. Bush did not hand over a mess. He handed over a victory that Obama only had to sustain.
All that the President has squandered — in a humiliation for America, a vindication for al Qaeda, a gain for Iran and a catastrophe for long-suffering Iraqis caught in the violence.