America won the Iraq War. Yes, we did. Hopefully we aren't bugging out with a Biden administration decision to remove combat troops from Iraq.
Other than American special forces that probably spend most of their time focused on eastern Syria, I didn't think we had direct combat troops in Iraq. So this seems fine:
Top Iraqi and U.S. officials plan to issue a statement calling for U.S. combat troops to leave Iraq by year-end, both nations’ officials said, but would reaffirm the need for a U.S. military presence to help Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic State.
Perhaps this force reduction just includes artillery units. Further, the troop level will remain the same.
And my understanding is that special forces are considered separately from our official troop presence.
Given that we rotate a heavy brigade through Kuwait, we still have powerful ground troops nearby just in case. Plus usually a Marine battalion afloat. And an airborne brigade in Italy.
Iraq is far more important to hold than Afghanistan--although it obviously has a role in whether or not jihadis have a sanctuary to attack America--for the purpose of supporting a win by the normals over the nutballs in the Islamic civil war.
So get over your antique views on the war. Fingers crossed.
UPDATE: Yeah, this sounds right:
As much as some observers might wish otherwise, this doesn’t signal a larger strategy shift. It looks to be more an act of political expediency.
Our impending exodus is basically a symbolic political favor for the Iraqi government, which is trying to straddle a difficult balance between Iranian and American influence – and to survive the upcoming parliamentarian elections in October.
But is Biden serious about defending our gains in Iraq, despite this deal which works fine? Isn't the Iran deal a way to lose the war against Iran inside Iraq, as I too discussed?
