October 21, 2011
President Obama’s announcement on Friday that the last American soldier will leave Iraq by year’s end signals a welcome end to a war that was started under false pretenses and went on far too long — killing more than 4,400 Americans and many more thousands of Iraqis and costing $1 trillion over nearly nine years.
When Mr. Obama took office, there were about 142,000 Americans fighting in Iraq. The president deserves credit for fulfilling his campaign promise to bring the conflict to a close.
Mr. Obama had wanted to leave several thousand troops behind, for a while longer, to keep training Iraqi forces and to help Iraq’s democratically elected but deeply flawed government maintain security. But the Iraqis couldn’t make up their minds, and the debate in Baghdad was growing increasingly bitter. With a Dec. 31 deadline for a full withdrawal — negotiated by President George W. Bush — approaching, Mr. Obama decided the best thing to do was to bring all the troops home. There is still talk between Iraqis and Americans about an ongoing military relationship and future negotiations that could continue Iraqi training in Kuwait, the United States or under NATO auspices.
We share concerns about Iran’s growing influence, continued high levels of violence and doubts about the ability of Iraq’s army and police. Those were reasons to keep a small military force there, with a carefully drawn mission, but only if Iraq agreed.
The problem was that even Iraqi officials who favored the United States and understand their country’s vulnerabilities want the Americans gone. When Iraqi officials refused a demand from the United States to continue granting immunity from legal prosecution to American soldiers, there was no way the Pentagon could accept that.
The announcement triggered some foolish criticism from neo-conservatives — who remain shamefully unapologetic for their role in unleashing this war — accused Mr. Obama of abandoning Iraq now. Mitt Romney, a Republican presidential candidate, said Mr. Obama “unnecessarily put at risk” hard-won victories. Like most of what Mr. Romney says about national security, that was absurd. Would he have Washington ignore the desires of Iraq’s democratic government and stay in Iraq forever?
Oil-producing Iraq is a major regional actor. The United States, which has an embassy with thousands of employees in Baghdad, must remain actively engaged diplomatically, through development and economic cooperation. But Iraq will be in the hands of Iraqis, as it should be.
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