Iraqi Parliament OKs Plan: U.S. 3 More Years in Iraq
After fierce debate, which took many months, the Iraqi parliament agreed to a deal on Thursday that enables U.S. troops to stay in the country for three more years.
The deal came just in time: if it would have taken the two sides a little bit longer the United Nations’ mandate for Iraq, under which the U.S. occupation of Iraq is legal, would come to an end and the U.S. presence would be deemed illegal under international law.
As such, the deal is a winner for George W. Bush and those Iraqis who fear that their country will return to massive chaos if the U.S. were to withdraw its troops suddenly.
What is seldom mentioned at blogs, however, is that the deal is also good news for president-elect Barack Obama. He knows that the U.S. cannot withdraw prematurely from Iraq. Yet, he promised especially the liberal base of his party that troops would be withdrawn within 16 months. He can now defend himself by arguing that the decision was not his to take; a 3-year deal was forced upon him by the Bush and the al-Maliki administration.
The agreement makes sense: the U.S. will withdraw its troops from Iraq’s cities before June 30, 2012, and from the country as a whole by the end of that year. In addition to this, Iraq will finally be firmly on its way to full sovereignty: it will have strict oversight over all U.S. forces.
And so, the war in Iraq continues to be a good source of good news for the Bush administration; ironically, the war that stood at the foundation of the destruction of Bush’s presidency is also the war that may very well cause historians to judge George W. Bush more kindly than many thought only one year ago. He made a lot of mistakes during his presidency, but the decision to implement the now famous surge may very well have a tremendous influence on his legacy.
Meanwhile, president-elect Barack Obama will inherit a more stable Iraq and an economy in recession. The man who first presented himself as the anti-war candidate now has to transform himself into a foreign policy realist and economic miracle worker.
