No Victory in Iraq

Sully commenting on the new meme that we have achieved "victory" in Iraq as the June 30 deadline in the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) for removal of foreign troops from urban areas nears. I fear he may be on point, but still hope that Obama will show the constancy of mission to keep us on the path to winding down this misguided venture.

After three years of total fiasco, there has been a competent counter-insurgency operation with 130,000 foreign troops. In that time, the critical political deals that were the criteria for the surge's alleged success were not made. Now, Maliki is bragging about throwing the Americans out, and looks as if he's slowly acquiring the trappings of a Shiite tough guy. The Sunni resistance - not integrated into the security forces - will no doubt respond. The neocons will blame Obama; and he will either have to hunker down and face betrayal of the core reason for his candidacy or get out and watch the place explode again.

Of course, I hope I'm proven wrong in this gloomy prognosis (and I was proven wrong in under-estimating the capacity of Petraeus to restore minimal order in 2007). But Iraq - like so much else - is yet another albatross bequeathed by Bush-Cheney, strangling American tax-payers and presidents for years to come.