Obama opposed the war, but when he became commander in chief the terrible price had already been paid in blood and treasure. His obligation was to make something of that sacrifice, to secure the strategic gains that sacrifice had already achieved.
He did not, failing at precisely what this administration so flatters itself for doing so well: diplomacy. After years of allegedly clumsy brutish force, Obama was to usher in an era of not hard power, not soft power, but smart power.
Which turns out in Iraq to be . . . no power. Years from now, we will be asking not “Who lost Iraq?” — that already is clear — but “Why?”
Seriously, the president's finger prints are all over Iraq. If something happens, he has no alibi. Nobody will doubt who lost Iraq. Surely, even our Obama-compliant press will ask how we blew what Vice President Biden boasted about Iraq becoming the administration's greatest success.
But hey, maybe I'm just not nuanced enough to see the grand opportunities if we let let Iraq go to Hell, invoke responsibility to protect, and lead a coalition from behind to bomb Iraq into a rose-colored revolution to solve the problem.
Sigh. I truly wish it was my failure to see the brilliance. But it really is the rock-pounding stupidity that it appears to be.
UPDATE: Try to remember some of the things we achieved in this war that we are risking.
