End of the Iraq War – Some Thoughts on an Unstable and Divided Land!

Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday, American flags came down on bases signaling the end of our involvement in the Iraq War.  We are grateful that the men and women who are serving in Iraq are coming home. Appropriately there was no “Mission Accomplish” banners or bravado rhetoric by any officials.  We are not sure what was accomplished and are concerned about what the future holds.  There is an op-ed piece in today’s New York Times by Reidar Visser, a research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, and the author of “A Responsible End? The United States and the Iraqi Transition, 2005-2010.”  His sobering analysis is that:

“WHEN the last remaining American forces withdraw from Iraq at the end of this month, they will be leaving behind a country that is politically unstable, increasingly volatile, and at risk of descending into the sort of sectarian fighting that killed thousands in 2006 and 2007…. [Furthermore] American officials overlooked opportunities that once existed in Iraq but are now gone. Thanks to their own flawed policies, the Iraq they are leaving behind is more similar to the desperate and divided country of 2006 than to the optimistic Iraq of early 2009.”

We surely hope that this is not the case.  We also hope that our president, whoever that may be, exercises extreme caution in the future in deciding whether we need to be involved in or are capable of building the Iraqi nation.

Tony

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