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Failed Efforts and Challenges of Americaâs Last Months in Iraq
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Lt. Gen Trainor and Michael Gordon describe the situation during the last months of U.S. presence in Iraq. President Obama is ambivalent about the size of the military presence he would like to leave, settling for 3000 troops and a few F-16's from a inital figure of 10,000. Obama sees the presidential election approaching and sets an objective of keeping it minimal. The military cooperation treaty with Iraq has to be approved by a Iraqi parliament with different factions in parliament not likely to approve it. Prime Minister Malliki decides not to move ahead. In the end no military cooperation treaty is signed after 8 years of war and a date is set for a complete withdrawal. Iraqi airspace is used by Iran to ship supplies to Syria's Assad regime, and the U.S. has less leverage in the region as the Arab world goes through a transition to popular government and elections. The Obama administration shifts most of its attention to Afghanistan where the U.S. has no vital stake in the long run compared to the Middle East region, with its large population, growing economies, move towards democracy and meeting the aspirations of hundreds of millions of young people. One Middle Eastern leader says the U.S. had no long term policy under the Obama administration for Iraq, and this applies also to the rest of the Middle East region, and mostly reacted to events as they happened. The Obama administration's committment to the war in Afghanistan, just as it focussed on winding down the war in Iraq, responded to the American public's waning support for the war in Iraq. It did not reduce the total cost of the conflicts because of the initial escalation of the war in Afghanistan and later slow progress towards a negoiated settlement to that conflict. A negotiated settlement is the best the U.S. could achieve, and the best desired objective considering the limited interests in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan most of the dynamics would be determined in the long run by the situation in Pakistan, and India-Pakistan relations, which the U.S. could influence constructively only through dialogue, promoting cooperation between the two countries, and economic relations.
Michael Gordon and Lt. Gen. Trainor on the Endgame in Iraq and how the U.S. has fallen short of its objectives
09/04/2012
President Obama's overriding objective was winding down the war in Iraq. The Iraq the U.S. leaves behind falls short of other objectives such as maintaining a cooperation arrangement with the government and a presence in the region. Gordon and Trainor describe this in their new book.
Grouped Articles
Sectarian Attacks Return With a Roar to Iraq, Rattling a Capital Already on Edge
New York Times 08/17/2013
Surge in Iraqi Violence Reunites Maliki and Obama
New York Times 11/01/2013
Gates Faults Obama Over Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal 01/08/2014
Fledgling Iraqi Military Is Outmatched on Battlefield
Wall Street Journal 04/28/2014
U.S. Said to Rebuff Iraqi Request to Strike Militants
New York Times 06/11/2014
Veterans Watch as Gains Their Friends Died for Are Erased by Insurgents
New York Times 06/13/2014
Nouri-al-Maliki's second term as prime minister of Iraq
12/21/2010
Iraq after the American withdrawal and the uncertain future.
Grouped Articles
Iraq's Vote Looks Set to Deepen, Not Heal, Rifts
Wall Street Journal 04/19/2013
Clashes Carry Worries of a New Civil War
New York Times 04/28/2013
Sectarian Attacks Return With a Roar to Iraq, Rattling a Capital Already on Edge
New York Times 08/17/2013
Senators warn Obama that Maliki may be leading Iraq back toward civil war - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/30/2013
The Iraqi Prime Ministerâs Plea to Americans
New York Times 10/29/2013
Surge in Iraqi Violence Reunites Maliki and Obama
New York Times 11/01/2013
The Iraq War- Looking Back
01/05/2009
The U.S. withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 and a look back at the long war and the uncertain road ahead.
Grouped Articles
U.S. Said to Rebuff Iraqi Request to Strike Militants
New York Times 06/11/2014
Obama Finds He Can’t Put Iraq War Behind Him
New York Times 06/13/2014
Diplomatic Note Promises Immunity From Iraqi Law for U.S. Advisory Troops
New York Times 06/23/2014
Iraq’s Military Seen as Unlikely to Turn the Tide
New York Times 06/22/2014
Relief Over U.S. Exit From Iraq Fades as Reality Overtakes Hope
New York Times 06/22/2014
Wall Street Journal 10/22/2011
Costs of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq reach $1 trillion by 2010.
07/24/2010
Estimate by the Congressional Research Service.
Grouped Articles
The Wars That America Forgot About
New York Times 10/17/2010
The War: A Trillion Can Be Cheap
New York Times 07/24/2010
Rethinking the Afghanistan Warâs What-Ifs
New York Times 07/31/2010
New York Times 07/31/2010
Wall Street Journal 08/11/2010
Afghanistan's troubled national army: Fixing the unfixable
Economist 08/21/2010
Iraq- history and geography
03/06/2012
Grouped Articles
Would New Borders Mean Less Conflict in the Middle East?
Wall Street Journal 04/12/2015
Wall Street Journal 09/25/2015
New York Times 03/06/2012
Failed Efforts and Challenges of Americaâs Last Months in Iraq
New York Times 09/22/2012
Islamic State and the crisis in Iraq and Syria in maps - BBC News
BBC News 12/07/2016
An assessment of the Obama adminstration's foreign policy for 2008-2016
11/15/2009
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/05/2013
Fouad Ajami: When the Obama Magic Died
Wall Street Journal 11/15/2013
‘America Must Always Lead,’ Obama Tells West Point Graduates
New York Times 05/28/2014
Obama Defends U.S. Policy Based Less on Military Might
Wall Street Journal 05/29/2014
Notable & Quotable: Obama at West Point
Wall Street Journal 05/29/2014
Rebutting Critics, Obama Seeks Higher Bar for Military Action
New York Times 05/28/2014
Obama and Holbrooke: A Missed Opportunity
01/04/2008
Holbrooke grasped from his long experience in overseas conflicts what the best solution would be for Afghanistan- a negotiated settlement with the Taliban and Pakistan's army. The lack of White House support to the negotiator of the Dayton Peace accords in Bosnia, will remain a puzzling aspect of a landscape in America's costly involvement in two wars. Holbrooke's larger than life personality and style was the same under President Clinton who tapped Holbrooke's skills in America's interest and ignored posssible distractions. The failure of Obama to do the same and accomodate the personality to tap the vast trove of experience and wisdom of Holbrooke in a national crisis of two ongoing wars, is a comment on the nature of the leadership offered by the two presidents. It is a loss for America that goes unnoticed.
Grouped Articles
Pakistan to Release Senior Taliban Leader
Wall Street Journal 09/11/2013
Ex-Envoy Says Misunderstanding Runs on Both Sides of U.S.-Pakistan Ties
New York Times 10/22/2013
Sharif and Karzai Try to Repair Ties
Wall Street Journal 10/30/2013
Leader of Pakistani Taliban Killed in Drone Strike
Wall Street Journal 11/02/2013
Gates Faults Obama Over Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal 01/08/2014
Back on World Stage, a Larger-Than-Life Holbrooke
New York Times 02/08/2009
Richard Holbrooke, negotiator of the Bosnia accords, and U.S. diplomacy
02/08/2009
Holbrooke was US negotiator in South Asia, with focus on setting up peace accords in Afghanistan, at the time of his death in 2010.
Grouped Articles
Ex-Envoy Says Misunderstanding Runs on Both Sides of U.S.-Pakistan Ties
New York Times 10/22/2013
Back on World Stage, a Larger-Than-Life Holbrooke
New York Times 02/08/2009
Wall Street Journal 04/11/2009
Richard C. Holbrooke’s Diary of Disagreement With Obama Administration
New York Times 04/22/2015
Pope Francis Urges a Divided Bosnia to Heal, Declaring ‘War Never Again!’
New York Times 06/06/2015
Brokered accord in Bosnia, sought peace in Afghanistan
Washington Post 12/14/2010
Nouri al-Maliki on Iraq's future as a sovereign state after 2011
12/05/2011
Iraq's future as a democracy in an Arab region with democratic governments in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and other countries in the Middle East, its relations with Iran, and its relations with the U.S. Iraq after the American withdrawal in 2011 and the uncertain road ahead.
Grouped Articles
Iraq's Vote Looks Set to Deepen, Not Heal, Rifts
Wall Street Journal 04/19/2013
Clashes Carry Worries of a New Civil War
New York Times 04/28/2013
Senators warn Obama that Maliki may be leading Iraq back toward civil war - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/30/2013
The Iraqi Prime Ministerâs Plea to Americans
New York Times 10/29/2013
Surge in Iraqi Violence Reunites Maliki and Obama
New York Times 11/01/2013
In Climate of Growing Fear, Iraqis Flee to Safer Ground
Wall Street Journal 01/02/2014
Iraq after the American withdrawal and processes to bring peace and economic progress to the country.
01/29/2009
The post American withdrawal period and its fragility for the future of Iraq as a peaceful, democratic, modernizing country.
Grouped Articles
Iraq's Vote Looks Set to Deepen, Not Heal, Rifts
Wall Street Journal 04/19/2013
Surge in Iraqi Violence Reunites Maliki and Obama
New York Times 11/01/2013
Fledgling Iraqi Military Is Outmatched on Battlefield
Wall Street Journal 04/28/2014
Obama Finds He Can’t Put Iraq War Behind Him
New York Times 06/13/2014
Diplomatic Note Promises Immunity From Iraqi Law for U.S. Advisory Troops
New York Times 06/23/2014
Iraq’s Military Seen as Unlikely to Turn the Tide
New York Times 06/22/2014
Two scenes-of Gates and Sgt. Hyland- and the knot that ties them together.
01/05/2009
Two scenes stay in one's memory. One on a rainy night in March with Defense Sec. Gates at an airforce base in Delaware. The other with 5 amputees returning to locations in Diyala province, near Baghdad, which they left in agony or unconscious. And Sgt. Hyland kneeling in the battalion hall in front of a picture of Specialist Jonathan who saved his life and breaking out in tears. The sacrifices of U.S. military families in the 2 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Grouped Articles
Gates Faults Obama Over Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal 01/08/2014
Foreign Affairs 01/05/2009
Former Defense Secretary Gates Is Elected President of the Boy Scouts
New York Times 05/22/2014
Iraq’s Military Seen as Unlikely to Turn the Tide
New York Times 06/22/2014
Relief Over U.S. Exit From Iraq Fades as Reality Overtakes Hope
New York Times 06/22/2014
The U.S. Has No Global Strategy
Wall Street Journal 02/01/2016
Iran's relations with Iraq and the sanctions
08/18/2012
Grouped Articles
Clashes Carry Worries of a New Civil War
New York Times 04/28/2013
Iran Seeks Respite From Sanctions in Iraq
Wall Street Journal 07/23/2013
Sanctions Eased, Iran Gets Feelers From Old Trading Partners
New York Times 01/17/2014
Iraq Crisis: Nouri al-Maliki Quits
Wall Street Journal 08/15/2014
U.S. Strategy in Iraq Increasingly Relies on Iran
New York Times 03/05/2015
U.N. Moves to Lift Iran Sanctions After Nuclear Deal, Setting Up a Clash in Congress
New York Times 07/20/2015
Iraq and the need for sectarian unity after American withdrawal in 2011
12/15/2011
Grouped Articles
Iraq's Vote Looks Set to Deepen, Not Heal, Rifts
Wall Street Journal 04/19/2013
Clashes Carry Worries of a New Civil War
New York Times 04/28/2013
Sectarian Attacks Return With a Roar to Iraq, Rattling a Capital Already on Edge
New York Times 08/17/2013
Surge in Iraqi Violence Reunites Maliki and Obama
New York Times 11/01/2013
In Climate of Growing Fear, Iraqis Flee to Safer Ground
Wall Street Journal 01/02/2014
We Iraqis Need Equality, Not Apaches
Wall Street Journal 01/14/2014
An assessment of the Obama administration's policies in the Middle East and the India-Pakistan region
01/01/2011
Grouped Articles
âBeyond War,â by David Rohde
New York Times 05/03/2013
Ex-Envoy Says Misunderstanding Runs on Both Sides of U.S.-Pakistan Ties
New York Times 10/22/2013
Fouad Ajami: When the Obama Magic Died
Wall Street Journal 11/15/2013
Wall Street Journal 09/20/2014
Voters’ Second Thoughts on Hope and Change
New York Times 11/04/2014
New York Times 02/07/2015
Richard Holbrooke and America's policy in Pakistan and Afghanistan
01/04/2008
Kristof of the New York Times brings out some of Holbrooke's ideas and understanding of the conflicts in South Asia which have never before been disclosed. Holbrooke preferred a diplomatic settlement and reconciliation policy for the region and believed this was the only policy that would work. He saw the emphasis on the military in the Obama administration's approach, first with Gen. McChrystal and then with Gen. Petraeus, as the wrong way to bring peace to the region. Throughout his diplomacy he earned the respect of Pakistanis he worked with, as he worked to find a diplomatic solution similiar to the one he helped build in the .ethnically fragmented Yugoslavia.
Grouped Articles
Pakistan to Release Senior Taliban Leader
Wall Street Journal 09/11/2013
Ex-Envoy Says Misunderstanding Runs on Both Sides of U.S.-Pakistan Ties
New York Times 10/22/2013
Sharif and Karzai Try to Repair Ties
Wall Street Journal 10/30/2013
Leader of Pakistani Taliban Killed in Drone Strike
Wall Street Journal 11/02/2013
New York Times 06/11/2010
McChrystal article renews attention to split with Biden over Afghanistan
Washington Post 06/23/2010
Obama and Holbrooke: Missed Opportunities
11/13/2011
Linked Articles
Failed Efforts and Challenges of Americaâs Last Months in Iraq
New York Times 09/22/2012
Book review: ‘The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke in the World’ - The Washington Post
Washington Post 11/13/2011
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