Obama Ending Combat Mission in Iraq: For Economy or for Freedom?

On August 31, Obama delivered a speech at the White House, officially announcing the end of America’s seven-year-long combat mission in Iraq. He told the Americans, who are already tired of wars, that America’s core mission in the future is to recover the economy.

“Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country,” said Obama. “Through this remarkable chapter in the history of the United States and Iraq, we have met our responsibility. Now, it’s time to turn the page.”

What Obama should have done in his speech was pacify the American soldiers who have made great sacrifice for America’s national interest and the common value and explain to Americans why he ended the war and how America will ensure her leadership in the free world.

The whole world objected, and there were long-drawn-out diplomatic struggles when former President Bush decided to wage war against Iraq in 2003. Although it caused rifts in the Western coalition in which America takes the lead, Britain, as America’s special friend, still closely followed behind America’s policy, while France and Germany took the opposite side. Americans took on a fierce debate over whether to start the war, and in the end, Bush won. “A war to disarm a state became a fight against an insurgency.”

The war in Iraq lasted for seven and a half years, taking 4,000 American soldiers’ lives and 100,000 Iraqi lives. America has paid gravely for being bogged down in this war —politically, economically, militarily and diplomatically. Obama has given a description of the aftermath of this war in his speech: “Terrorism and sectarian warfare threatened to tear Iraq apart. Thousands of Americans gave their lives; tens of thousands have been wounded. Our relations abroad were strained. Our unity at home was tested.”

Though against this war personally, Mr. Obama, as the American president, still spoke in its defense. He argued that the reason America waged this war was that “throughout our history, America has been willing to bear the burden of promoting liberty and human dignity overseas, understanding its link to our own liberty and security. … Those Americans gave their lives for the values that have lived in the hearts of our people for over two centuries” and helped the Iraqis find hope. The American army “defeated a regime that had terrorized its people. Together with Iraqis and coalition partners who made huge sacrifices of their own, our troops fought block by block to help Iraq seize the chance for a better future. They shifted tactics to protect the Iraqi people, trained Iraqi Security Forces and took out terrorist leaders. Because of our troops and civilians — and because of the resilience of the Iraqi people — Iraq has the opportunity to embrace a new destiny, even though many challenges remain.”

Obama also mentioned that though the Afghanistan war still continues for the time being, America will start to hand duties back to the Afghans in July 2011. A non-combat army will be sent in the interim period to Iraq to “train Iraqi soldiers, assist with reconstruction work,” and help Iraq “resolve political disputes,” in the hope of building close, long-term partnerships with Iraq and offering support as a friend.

The huge cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has urged America to rethink how to “sustain and strengthen our leadership in this young century.”

On closer inspection of Obama’s speech, the main reason for the end of the wars is that America’s ability to “sustain and strengthen [her] leadership in this young century” has been challenged. Obama has analyzed, domestically and internationally, the possibility of America losing her leadership in the free world.

America has been seriously affected by the financial crisis. “We’ve endured a long and painful recession. And sometimes in the midst of these storms, the future that we’re trying to build for our nation — a future of lasting peace and long-term prosperity — may seem beyond our reach.” Obama thinks that “our nation’s strength and influence abroad must be firmly anchored in our prosperity at home. And the bedrock of that prosperity must be a growing middle class.”

“Unfortunately, over the last decade, we’ve not done what is necessary to shore up the foundation of our own prosperity. … For too long, we have put off tough decisions on everything from our manufacturing base to our energy policy to education reform. As a result, too many middle-class families find themselves working harder for less, while our nation’s long-term competitiveness is put at risk.” Therefore, for America, their most urgent task is to “restore our economy, and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work” and “to strengthen our middle class.”

Viewing the whole situation from an international perspective, “old adversaries are at peace, and emerging democracies are potential partners,” and “billions of young people want to move beyond the shackles of poverty and conflict.” America, as the leader of the free world, has much more to do than merely defeating the enemies who brought hatred and destruction. America also needs to lead those who would like to work with her to promote freedom and opportunity.

“One of the lessons of our effort in Iraq is that American influence around the world is not a function of military force alone. We must use all elements of our power — including our diplomacy, our economic strength, and the power of America’s example — to secure our interests and stand by our allies,” said Obama.

The international challenge America is facing right now puts her at risk of losing her global leadership. Obama drew conclusions from the previous wars America has fought — that without approaches in diplomacy, economy, politics and ideology, war alone is not enough to ensure America’s interest or keep her allies. On one hand, America has promoted her interest by waging the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, even if at a huge cost; on the other, under the new historical situation of old adversaries and emerging democracies getting stronger —such as India, Russia and especially China — Asia’s rise in stature, which has become the major tune of the time, has posted a great challenge to America’s leadership in the world. War against these countries will only do harm to both sides, so it is becoming America’s top choice in its rivalry with these powers to establish new strategies, with military power being the foundation, consisting of diplomatic, economic and political approaches.

America ended the Iraq war first, will soon end the Afghanistan war and continues to deploy massive military forces in the Far East, and hence posts great pressure to China. Meanwhile, America used political, economic and diplomatic means to hold back China’s influence on her neighboring regions and her momentum in influencing the world, and tries hard to take China under the world political system with America being the boss, to ensure America is the real leader of the world.