The Iraqi Wolf in the American Sheepfold

The GIs return to the fold and to foggy assertions about the future of Iraq. Such was the message on Saturday from American President Barack Obama three days before the end of the American forces’ combat missions in Iraq. Indeed, he adjudged that Iraq would be able to “chart its own course,” and he assured Americans about this presupposed news. The planned departure of troops honors one of his major campaign promises: to put an end to the war in Iraq. He declared in his weekly radio address that “the war is ending.”

He said, “On Tuesday, after more than seven years, the United States of America will end its combat mission in Iraq and take an important step forward in responsibly ending the Iraq war. As a candidate for this office, I pledged I would end this war. As president, that is what I’m doing.”

In fact, it’s a taste of what Obama will likely say during the televised speech that he’ll give tomorrow from the Oval Office in the White House on the withdrawal from Iraq. It is a symbolic gesture; previously, the American president would have visited American troops at Fort Bliss in Texas.

Looking closely at the issue, Iraq is invited once more to the American election stakes. The midterm elections will take place at the beginning of November. The Democrats risk losing seats and even their majority in either or both the House and Senate. One can therefore understand the White House’s rush to highlight the positives of Obama’s presidency.

Internally, the issue has already been lost. American growth is stuck in the slowdown. The unemployment rate is barely dipping below the 10 percent mark. To the inner circle strategists, nothing is worth more than the fulfillment of a foreign policy campaign promise to divert the voters from the ghost of internal socio-economic difficulties. In addition, in American opinion, the issue of Iraq is to blame. Most Americans have always been hostile toward the war in Iraq.

Therefore, Obama commits himself to it at his convenience. He reminds us at every opportunity that more than 90,000 soldiers have been brought home from Iraq since he took over as president. He also hammers home that the Iraqis have taken control of security operations in various provinces in the country: “In the months ahead, our troops will continue to support and train Iraqi forces, partner with Iraqis in counter-terrorism missions … but the bottom line is this: The war is ending. Like any sovereign, independent nation, Iraq is free to chart its own course, and by the end of next year, all of our troops will be home.”

In so saying, Obama proceeds by omission. Only this past Wednesday, August 24, at least 62 Iraqis were killed in suicide bombings and attacks targeting precisely the Iraqi security forces. Politically, we’re not out of the woods regarding the paralyzing dissension. More than five months after the elections, the Iraqi political class is still unable to form a government. The country is on the brink of a new wave of bloody violence. All the international and regional forces have gained a foothold via the brazen and vicious monkey business of communities, institutions, parties and even humanitarian associations.

So then, you have to put your trust in the facts. Sooner or later, Iraq will end up catching up with the entire American political class, without distinction of banner. The pernicious aftereffects of the material, social and human costs are going to intensify. They will preside as a profound source of anguish and intra-American divisions. Consequently, invoking Iraq in order to strengthen internal politics is equivalent to bringing the wolf into the sheepfold.