Obama: Pulling All U.S. Troops Out of Iraq Was Not ‘My Decision'

Iraq never agreed to extend the stay of American troops in Iraq, so technically, it isn't Obama's fault for removing all US troops. That is especially so considering the agreement was already confirmed under Bush.

I'm sure if Obama had it his way, he would have retained a presence in the country.

President Barack Obama’s announcement on Friday that all 40,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq will leave the country by New Year’s Eve will, inevitably, draw howls of derision from GOP presidential hopefuls — this is, after all, early election season. But the decision to leave Iraq by that date was not actually taken by President Obama — it was taken by President George W. Bush, and by the Iraqi government.

In one of his final acts in office, President Bush in December of 2008 had signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the Iraqi government that set the clock ticking on ending the war he’d launched in March of 2003. The SOFA provided a legal basis for the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq after the United Nations Security Council mandate for the occupation mission expired at the end of 2008. But it required that all U.S. forces be gone from Iraq by January 1, 2012, unless the Iraqi government was willing to negotiate a new agreement that would extend their mandate. And as Middle East historian Juan Cole has noted, “Bush had to sign what the [Iraqi] parliament gave him or face the prospect that U.S. troops would have to leave by 31 December, 2008, something that would have been interpreted as a defeat… Bush and his generals clearly expected, however, that over time Washington would be able to wriggle out of the treaty and would find a way to keep a division or so in Iraq past that deadline.”

But ending the U.S. troop presence in Iraq was an overwhelmingly popular demand among Iraqis, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki appears to have been unwilling to take the political risk of extending it. While he was inclined to see a small number of American soldiers stay behind to continue mentoring Iraqi forces, the likes of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, on whose support Maliki’s ruling coalition depends, were having none of it. Even the Obama Administration’s plan to keep some 3,000 trainers behind failed because the Iraqis were unwilling to grant them the legal immunity from local prosecution that is common to SOF agreements in most countries where U.S. forces are based.

world.time.com...

originally posted by: xuenchen
Technically maybe not Obama's "decision" as the "agreement" to pull out of Iraq was made under Bush.

But Obama did take "credit" before current events seem to have changed the interpretations.

When he was running for re-election in 2012, President Barack Obama repeatedly took credit for ending the war in Iraq and bringing all U.S. troops home from that country. At the White House on Saturday, however, when talking about his decision to use military force against the al-Qaida-related ISIS terrorist group in Iraq, Obama said removing all U.S. troops from Iraq was not “my decision.”

“You know I say what I mean and I mean what I say,” Obama said in Hollywood, Florida on Nov. 4, 2012. “I said I'd end the war in Iraq. I ended it.”

On Dec. 14, 2011, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama delivered speeches at Fort Bragg, North Carolina that the White House posted under the headline: “Remarks by the President and First Lady on the End of the War in Iraq.”

“Now, Iraq is not a perfect place, Obama said. “It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We’re building a new partnership between our nations. And we are ending a war not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home.

“This is an extraordinary achievement, nearly nine years in the making,” said Obama.

Obama: Pulling All U.S. Troops Out of Iraq Was Not ‘My Decision'

What's the big issues in Iraq and Syria anyway ?

Religions ? ... Natural Gas Pipelines ? ... Both?

Who does Obama "back" now ?

Yeah I was going to say.. He sure as hell took credit for it. I recall pointing out that it was an agreed upon date when people were harping on about how Obama had ended the war. So he can take credit for it when it gets him points and then disclaim it when it hurts him?
Not even Bush was that ballsy.

a reply to: xuenchen

He's got a pen and phone. He could easily have kept some troops in Iraq.

originally posted by: Variable
a reply to: xuenchen

But Obama did take "credit" before current events seem to have changed the interpretations

Obama's ego barely fits in the White House, it's only out done by his apathy for world affairs. He is going to do the bare minimum as far as intervention is concerned. The world thought they got an enlightened leader of a super power and what they got was a European style isolationist, maybe comparable to Frances last socialist leader. It's what Europe SAID they always wanted, the US to stay out of things, be more of a pro UN type - basically ineffectual.

Obama think he is a great leader, but he is really simply an absent one. It's like he is coasting, I think he is going to do a # load of executive orders before he leaves. Really enact some crazy left wing stuff because he knows whats best, he just is stymied by those pesky Republicans.
V

That's the greatest lot of hogwash I have ever heard for my ears!
You want to make your own history, okay go ahead. So, by default then you are saying, OBL isn't with the daisies, at least in this presidency, nor are the drone attacks in Pakistan, along with substantial collateral damage real, nor are the attacks now on ISIS/IS in Iraq real. That makes no sense man, unless none of it happened, no room to pick and choose like Obama did this but didn't do that.
As for, "European style isolationist" that's pure comedic.

a reply to: xuenchen

Whhaaaa? I would think someone who presumes to be such an expert on "all things Obama", would be aware!

That our soldiers had immunity in the war. If an American soldier was defending himself, and an Iraqi was killed in the process, he could not be charged and taken to an Iraqi court. The Iraqi government refused to accept that.

It had become mostly an occupation. We were informed to leave. A gentleman always knows when it's time to go. lol.

Here ya go:
www.google.com...

a reply to: angeldoll

Thanks.

I just wanted your view.

Good deal.

Psychopaths never take credit for anything if something goes wrong. Also, if caught in a lie, it doesn't matter at all, they just tell another lie.a reply to: xuenchen

One report about numbers of US troops currently in Iraq…

VICE

personally I think its kind of low. What about the air bases there? And all the troops that were renamed "contractors" some time back?

a reply to: xuenchen

I'm so glad Obama is casting blame away from himself. Really. It's not like he does this 14 times a friggin' day.

But what are you going to do NOW, MR. President?

Here's a chance to show the world what kind of leader you are.

*crosses arms, taps foot*

We'll be watching and waiting. It's your show now.

(Hey Obama, feel the pucker factor yet?)

Non-Issue. We needed to get out of there. The failings are with the government of Iraq. We put in a week government that alienated half the population. To blame Obama in any way for the Iraq mess is laughable. Only a fool would do that.

originally posted by: amazing
Non-Issue. We needed to get out of there. The failings are with the government of Iraq. We put in a week government that alienated half the population. To blame Obama in any way for the Iraq mess is laughable. Only a fool would do that.

we did and look what happens.
he is blameing bush, AGAIN! lol.

obama has had more time with maliki than bush.

4 yrs of hillary in the mid-east, no surprise IS sprung up.

originally posted by: LDragonFire
Obama hasn't done any worst than Bush did, however the next president will have to deal with Iraq because of Bush, he is why we were there.

Blame Bush if it makes you feel better but our meddling in the middle east started WAY, WAY before Bush.

Read up on some history and you will see the problem we helped create goes a lot further back. We keep trying to fix problems we started way back in the day and each time it only makes it worse.

I know there are people there that really need help but somewhere, sometime we have to make a break and get out and stay out. Quit meddling in their affairs. Whatever happens happens.

a reply to: mwood

Good post. Yeah, I'm not willing to balme Bush for continuing policies that go way back, but at some point you have to learn the lessons of history and change the plan. All these great, civil rights minded, states like the US and many in Europe came from local people demanding a better form of government for themselves, not from invaders from other continents. I'm convinced that quality, stable governments can only come from similar processes in the middle east. US can play a supportive role from a distance, as France did in the US revolutionary war... But if Napoleon had driven out the British instead of US colonists, I'm convinced it only would have resulted in a second US war of independance against the French. People will do ridiculous things to prove to themselves that they are free, but thats who we are. We have to be willing to let middle east people settle their own differences and decide their own political destinies.

For something that was 'not' his decision.

Sure has taken alot of credit for it.

Either way the guy looks incompetent.

The 'decision' to pull out was made because of politics.

Remember now ?

That is how he got 'elected', and how the world would be a 'better' place.

Hows is that working out for us, and the rest of the world?

Obama promised to pull out all combat troops within 16 months of taking office the first time he ran for POTUS.
He failed to do that, so he amended his promise to 'troop reduction' in Iraq.
When he finally did pull them out, he bragged about it.

Now he is blaming it all on Bush.

Yeah, he is a stand up guy.

I distinctly remember it was one of his campaign promises to withdraw our troops from Iraq. I wouldn't be surprised if all the dems have conveniently forgotten about his by now though.

originally posted by: butcherguy
Obama promised to pull out all combat troops within 16 months of taking office the first time he ran for POTUS.

Bush had already started the process so it was an easy statement for Obummer to make.

He failed to do that, so he amended his promise to 'troop reduction' in Iraq.

The new Iraqi Government didn't make it easy

When he finally did pull them out, he bragged about it.

He's a politician, did you expect anything else from him?

Now he is blaming it all on Bush.

He's a politician, did you expect anything else from him?

Yeah, he is a stand up guy.

He's a politician

I want video if him saying this.

Until then, I'm calling this horse crap. And a real video not one of ya'lls over dubbed fakes you like to post.

I swear that two Obamas exist, the real Obama, and the one that conservatives make up.

a reply to: SLAYER69

Bush had already started the process so it was an easy statement for Obummer to make.

And he still failed to do as promised.

The new Iraqi Government didn't make it easy

Who said the job was easy.
Promises and brags about things you screw up are easy.
I wasn't aware that they called the shots for the C-I-C.

He's a politician, did you expect anything else from him?

Of course not.
But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't point his failures out.

He's a politician

So was Andrew Jackson, but he was a stand up guy... IMO.

I'd like to add a small observation, if I may.....

Bush started this mess, Indeed. No question. Most of us were there to see it, and many of us were in eager support at the time. I was one of those people. Bush and Co. managed to pull one over on a good part of the Government, as well as the population. He got his war and the Bush family got their settlement on the Saddam issue, open from 1991.

Obama then inherited this....and yes, inherited is how I'd put it, to his credit. He didn't make it and he didn't want it. That is clear enough and fair enough there. How many Presidents actually look to thank their predecessor for a crap sandwich left on the Oval Office desk for them to arrive to?

That's where Bush's blame ends and a new Command and Chief enters with his own policies. If Obama wanted change in Iraq.......perhaps keeping Bush's Secretary of Defense clear into 2010 wasn't the best way to go about it? If we wanted troops in-country, could the US not have found a way to make terms...or was the US simply luke warm AT BEST to even trying to find a path to extending troop presence?

C'mon guys..... This isn't a game. Kids and innocents are dying and knowing only that they didn't answer a question correctly or their parents raised them, for their few short years in life, in a way these other adults hate and now murder them because of.

There are few who dislike Obama as much as I do, and I'll never make bones or excuses about that. I have my reasons which I share when it comes up. However.............Obama happens to be the man giving the orders and this is a lethal crisis stacking bodies by the DAY. One day spent bickering is another xxx dead kids and innocents who didn't have to be that way.

Lets forget the past when the present is a living hell in a land we MUST take some responsibility for the outcome with, and get to solving the ISIS problem.

It would be better before it's a problem close enough to demand individual solutions from each of us. We can always return to our previously scheduled political cat fights.....when the current nightmare has concluded IMHO.