This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4332

Obama Regime Well on Way to Losing Iraq and Afghanistan

April 7, 2010

April 5, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - As the Center for Security Policy's director, Frank Gaffney points out in his most recent piece [see, Who Lost Iraq?] that Iraq, which only 18 months ago seemed a very bright spot in a Middle East were the specter of Islamic violence is omnipresent, is, through the misguided policies of the Obama regime, quickly descending into anarchy.

"Sadly...There is an unmistakable vacuum of power being created by President Obama's determination to withdraw U.S. "combat" forces no matter what, starting with the cities a few months ago and in short order from the rest of the country.

Increasingly, that vacuum is being filled by Iran and its proxies on the one hand and, on the other, insurgent Sunni forces, both those aligned with al Qaeda and those that have, at least until recently, been suppressing the AQI. On what might be called the third hand, Iraqi Kurds are experiencing their own internal problems as well as an increasingly ill-concealed inclination to assert their independence from the rest of the country.

The signal of American abandonment was made the more palpable by Team Obama's decision to dispatch Christopher Hill as its ambassador to Iraq. Hill is the diplomat best known for his determination during the Bush 43 years to appease, rather than thwart, the despot most closely enabling the realization of Iran's nuclear ambitions: North Korea's Kim Jong Il. The unreliability of the United States as an ally - a hallmark of the Obama presidency more generally - is reinforcing the sense that it is every man for himself in Iraq."

Gaffney's point is one held by many serious observers of national security matters, at least those not aligned with the current administration, that Obama's stated goal of complete and rapid withdrawal from Iraq and a consequent redeployment of these forces into Afghanistan is corroding the few weak binds which hold Iraq together.

Additionally the author makes clear that this wholesale change from the policy which had been extraordinarily successful - due largely to the surge which Mr. Obama and his vice president vehemently opposed - is akin to the "worst of all possible worlds scenario," in that the forces which are needed in the more strategically located Iraq are being sent to Afghanistan, where - their hands tied by absurd rules of engagement promulgated by Obama - they will be forced to preside over defeat.

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This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4332