"Thanks to the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform, the war in Iraq is over. The war in Afghanistan is winding down. Al Qaeda has been decimated. Osama bin Laden is dead."
- President Obama, Campaign Event, Green Bay, Wisconsin, November 1, 2012
Well, at least bin Laden is dead.
In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Flickering Greatness," Maureen Dowd observes that Obama's "future reputation is mortgaged to past neglect." Noting the disdainful response of House Democrats to Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership, Dowd writes:
"The Democrats — even most of the Congressional Black Caucus, which Obama courted agressively [sic] and which has been protective of him — showed their allegience [sic] to themselves, their principles and their labor allies, and not to their aloof president."
Dowd proceeds to explain Obama's disaster in Iraq (yes, I know - this particular debacle did not originate with Obama):
"So Obama failed to keep his foot on the throat of our Shiite puppets, who balked at leaving an American troop presence there, with immunity, and who treated the Sunnis badly to punish them for the decades when Saddam treated the Shiites badly.
Many Sunnis, including Saddam’s former fighters put out of work by the American viceroy Paul Bremer, felt exposed and unprotected and joined up with Al Qaeda and ISIS."
And regarding the president's decision to send 450 more trainers to what is left of this country, Dowd concludes:
"It appears to be a sad, symbolic move by a country and president fed up with endless war and at wit’s end about how to combat the most murderous terrorists on the face of the earth. If we drowned in quicksand going full-bore for a dozen years beside Iraqi soldiers who did not want to fight, what good will 450 more American trainers do?
A lame duck sending sitting ducks to lily pads is not a pretty sight."
Lily pads? As long as those lily pads are not overrun by an ISIS onslaught on Baghdad, placing American soldiers in captivity. You will recall that when Obama ran off to the links after decrying the beheading of James Foley, it didn't add to his luster.
But what Maureen seems to forget is that it's not just Iraq that has unwound while the first invertebrate to occupy the Oval Office dithered. Libya, Yemen and Syria are now also home to some of the world's most notorious terrorist organization, and Lebanon hangs in the balance. Meanwhile, Obama appears determined to provide Iran with a nuclear arsenal, no matter what concessions need be made.
My goodness, the price that America has been forced to pay by a young narcissist consumed by his own wit.
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