Yeah, too late to lament now, also completely useless and very popular. Mr. Obama is president because he wanted the job. He knew in advance that the situation in Iraq and had a responsibility to own it when he took over. He certainly inherited a mess but then, it came with the office. It is unfair to blame him for all of the problems left to him, but it is fair to expect him to improve things rather than let them go from bad to worse.
What is happening in Iraq is due to two things, a weak Iraqi military, and a strong ISIS. Mr. Obama's policies have some responsibility for both of these. The ISIS became a competent army due to their experience in Syria. Mr. Obama has had a remarkably ineffective policy there which contributed to their growth at the expense of what started out, years ago, as a peaceful and moderate protest movement. I'm sure the warnings of increasing radicalization and that the war in Syria was destabilizing the region were considered carefully by the White House, it just seems that nothing was done to mitigate this. Well, now we're seeing the results of this failure.
Bush certainly shares some responsibility for Iraq. If Saddam was still in power, I'm sure we'd all agree that the ISIS wouldn't stand a chance, they'd have been gassed and the survivors would be being tortured as we write... or something similar. This is not the case however. Even with the ISIS' growth in Syria, we continued to draw down our presence in Iraq, leaving them vulnerable. The US shares some responsibility for this part for decisions made after 2003... and 2009.
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Date: 13/6/14 03:29 (UTC)What is happening in Iraq is due to two things, a weak Iraqi military, and a strong ISIS. Mr. Obama's policies have some responsibility for both of these. The ISIS became a competent army due to their experience in Syria. Mr. Obama has had a remarkably ineffective policy there which contributed to their growth at the expense of what started out, years ago, as a peaceful and moderate protest movement. I'm sure the warnings of increasing radicalization and that the war in Syria was destabilizing the region were considered carefully by the White House, it just seems that nothing was done to mitigate this. Well, now we're seeing the results of this failure.
Bush certainly shares some responsibility for Iraq. If Saddam was still in power, I'm sure we'd all agree that the ISIS wouldn't stand a chance, they'd have been gassed and the survivors would be being tortured as we write... or something similar. This is not the case however. Even with the ISIS' growth in Syria, we continued to draw down our presence in Iraq, leaving them vulnerable. The US shares some responsibility for this part for decisions made after 2003... and 2009.