To: i-node who wrote (922890 ) 2/24/2016 1:07:41 PM From: Alighieri Read Replies (4) | Respond to Why do you see the Iraq War as such a mistake but you flatly refuse to acknowledge that the mess of the Middle East today is because of Barack Obama's mistakes? From the Iran Uprisings, through the "Arab Spring", and most recently the absurd "deal" with Iran, Obama has been a totally incompetent fool. A bull in a china shop. And there is no way in hell Bush would have made those mistakes. Condoleezza Rice, who served as Bush’s secretary of state, wrote in her 2011 book, “ No Higher Honor ,” that Bush did not want to set a deadline “in order to allow conditions on the ground to dictate our decisions.” She wrote that she met with Maliki in August 2008 and secured what she thought was an agreement for a residual force of 40,000 U.S. troops. But she said Maliki soon “reneged” and insisted on “the withdrawal of all U.S. forces by the end of 2011.” She said Bush “swallowed hard” and agreed to what she called “suitable language” to do just that. Rice, “No Higher Honor,” 2011: We’d given quite a lot of ground on issues such as a withdrawal timetable, consenting to the removal of all U.S. forces by the end of 2011, and we even conceded a limited level of Iraqi legal jurisdiction over our troops. … Ultimately, the compromises we made proved beneficial because the resulting [Status of Forces Agreement] put the end of the war in sight and left the new U.S. president a firm foundation for a successful conclusion of our presence there. I have bias, but I'm moderate.
