The War In Iraq Is Over - Time Will Tell

Socialist President Obama, who opposed the nine year war in Iraq, has announced that is is over, taking credit for the freedom the American people have given the people of Iraq.   In doing so, Obama made no mention of President George W Bush and his team that really made all of this happen.  Obama only mentions Bush to blame him for Obama's failures.  

In any case,  Iraq is now a free "democratic" Arab county,  one of few in the Middle East, thanks to the 4,500 young Americans that gave their lives and the 32,000 Americans that were wounded in the fight.   In addition, the American people spent a Trillion Dollars on the war in Iraq.   We have committed significant blood and treasure to give Iraq the gift of freedom and to what effect.  

Without a stabilizing American presence in Iraq,  there is only a 50/50 chance that Iraq will remain a free country.   The Shia majority and the Sunni minority hate each other, so sectarian warfare is likely.   The Kurds in the North, that suffered so much at the hands of Saddam Hussein, would prefer to be a separate country, controlling their own oil wealth.   Who can blame them.  Shia Iran is a destabilizing force in the region and would like nothing better than to take over, or control Iran.   And finally, Sunni Saudi Arabia, Iraq's neighbor, wants nothing to do with a "democratic" Shia Iraq.    

It would have been best to have 5,000 - 10,000 American troops remain in Iraq to solidify gains made there; but in another foreign policy failure, Socialist President Obama could not negotiate a treaty with Iraq that would have provided immunity from criminal prosecution for our soldiers; hence the reason for the hasty pull out.   Since Obama has no credibility with the Iraqi's, there was no reason for them to deal with him.  

So now all the blood and treasure that we have sacrificed creating a democracy in Iraq is at risk.   The only good thing that will come out of Obama's failure is that Iraq will now have to hire private contractors to continue training their armed services, which will save the American people Billions of dollars, unless of course Obama stupidly agrees to pay for these contractors.   Wait and see on that one. 

Beyond all of this, the US is the usual sucker when it comes to expending our blood and treasure overseas.   Very often when locals ended up killed in the line of fire during various wars, we paid their families for their losses.   Why isn't oil rich Iraq required to pay the families of the 4,500 Americans that died in the war and the 32,000 Americans that were wounded.   It would have been  perfectly reasonable to expect such payments to occur as a part of our disengagement negotiations.

And, what about the Trillion Dollars the American people spent to provide Iraqi's their freedom.   Why shouldn't we ask for some repayment of those monies.   This Trillion Dollars is part of our $15 Trillion National Debt since we had to borrow the money to pay for the war in Iraq.  Why shouldn't we expect to get some of this money back to pay down our National Debt. 

We have to take back our country in 2012 and 2014 to restore common sense and prevent the bankruptcy of our nation.   It is good that we got rid of Saddam Hussein, at great cost to the American people, in blood and treasure.   If our elected representatives, including President Obama, were smarter, he should have asked for something in return.   The US cannot continue being the world's patsy. 

At a minimum, oil rich Iraq should have provided compensation to the families of our 4,500 young American soldiers killed in Iraq and the 32,000 wounded during the war.   Whether Iraq remains a democratic country or not, the suffering of these American families is the real tragedy of the war in Iraq.