The President is soon going to be addressing the nation from The Oval Office on the topic of Iraq.
Surely many questions will be answered. Surely many more will be raised.
And it seems as though The White House expects it, as they have provided an app for citizens to ask questions about Iraq over at YouTube.
Here's a question someone might be able to answer...
Bear with me here as I lay out the evidence in support...
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A. Given that General Petraeus has previously declared that Iraqi leaders have not made “sufficient progress” toward national and political reconciliation…
Petraeus, who is preparing to testify to Congress next month on the Iraq war, said in an interview that "no one" in the U.S. and Iraqi governments "feels that there has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation," or in the provision of basic public services.
B. Given that, just months after the Obama/Biden administration coming to office, Vice President Biden was sent to Iraq specifically for the purpose of trying to forge a national and political reconciliation…
Just days after U.S. troops pulled out of Iraqi cities, Vice President Biden landed in Iraq to begin work on encouraging political reconciliation as violence continues.
C. Given that the effort not only failed, but seemingly made the problem worse by arousing doubts and raising questions of trust…
Biden's job is further complicated by the controversy that surrounds him in Iraq. Prime Minister Maliki told Biden earlier this month that "the reconciliation issue is purely an Iraqi issue." Many Iraqis do not trust Biden's motivations because of his past support for a federalism plan that they perceive as a plan to "partition" Iraq along ethnic and sectarian lines.
D. Given that almost a half a year after elections, that yielded no outright winner and no new government, Iraq is stuck in political gridlock…
They also feel let down by their leaders, who are stuck in a political deadlock almost six months after an election that produced no outright winner and as yet no new government.
It is safe to say that there has not been sufficient progress in a move toward reconciliation.
A. Given that reports indicate that Iraqi forces are “rife with sectarian loyalties”…
But there are also other, more worrisome reasons for the poor quality of Iraqi forces. Although the U.S. military has been training and fighting alongside the Iraqis for five years, many American officers and soldiers say they don't trust their Iraqi counterparts. In the main, this is because Iraqi forces are rife with sectarian loyalties.
B. Given that other reports indicate that Iraqi forces “suffer from sectarian divisions”…
Anthony H. Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., writes in an August 2007 report that despite some progress, Iraqi units have significant performance problems; lack resources; and suffer from sectarian divisions.
C. Given that the same reports (and US officials) conclude that part of the ISF have “become a band of over one-hundred thousand armed militiamen, with no central command or oversight”…
Militias continue to pose a major threat to Iraqi security and there are persistent reports of security bodies being infiltrated by them. For example, the Facilities Protection Service (FPS), originally a four-thousand member force tasked with protecting Iraqi property and the country’s ministries, has reportedly (WashPost) become a band of over one-hundred thousand armed militiamen, with no central command or oversight. U.S. officials have described FPS members as militants paying allegiance to the ministries they protect, largely run by Shiites. Authors of the Iraqi Study Group Report concluded the FPS has become complicit in sectarian violence, and is a source of “funding and jobs” for radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army.
D. Given that reports show that Iraqi Security Forces have been infiltrated by sectarian militias…
The Iraqi Security Forces have had problems with militia infiltration of their ranks (especially the Iraqi Police, which has had a large element of Shi'a militia members). This has particularly been the case with Shi'a and Kurdish militias.
E. Given that there has been long-talked-about stories of these same sectarian militia-infiltrated Iraqi Security forces having been infiltrated by al Qaeda as well…
It is safe to say that Iraqi Security Forces have not remained non-sectarian and have instead become sectarian in nature.
A. Given that the continued existence of residual forces in Iraq was predicated, by the President himself, on specific conditions and benchmarks being met…
B. Given that those specific conditions and benchmarks were both:
- A "move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism"
AND…
- Iraqi Security Forces "remaining non-sectarian"
C. Given that those specific conditions have not been met…
It is safe to ask:
How does the President justify keeping a residual force in Iraq despite his own benchmarks for their presence not having been met?
Do you have questions about Iraq? How about taking the time to go ask?
Maybe we’ll get answers…