"US keeps distance from growing Iraqi political crisis" by Helene Cooper and Thom Shanker New York Times / December 25, 2011
Sectarian violence and political turmoil in Iraq escalated within days of the US military’s withdrawal, but US officials said in interviews that President Obama had no intention of sending troops back into the country, even if it devolved into civil war.
The United States, without troops on the ground or any direct influence over Iraq’s affairs, has lost much of its leverage there. And so the latest crisis is being treated in much the same way that the United States would treat any other diplomatic emergency abroad.
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U.S. keeps Iraq at arm's length with troops out" December 25, 2011 | By Helene Cooper and Thom Shanker, The New York Times
WASHINGTON -- As Iraq erupted in recent days, Vice President Joe Biden was in constant phone contact with the leaders of the country's dueling sects. He called the Shiite prime minister and the Sunni speaker of the Parliament on Tuesday, and the Kurdish leader on Thursday, urging them to try to resolve the deepening political crisis.
And for the United States, that is where the U.S. intervention in Iraq officially stops.
Sectarian violence and political turmoil in Iraq escalated within days of the U.S. military's withdrawal, but U.S. officials said in interviews that President Barack Obama had no intention of sending troops back into the country, even if it devolved into civil war.
The U.S., without troops on the ground or any direct influence over Iraq's affairs, has lost much of its leverage there. And so the latest crisis, a rapid descent into sectarian distrust and hostility that was punctuated by a bombing in Baghdad on Thursday that killed more than 60 people, is being treated in much the same way that the United States would treat any other diplomatic emergency abroad.
Mr. Obama, his aides said, is adamant that the U.S. will not send troops back to Iraq. At Fort Bragg, N.C., on Dec. 14, he told returning troops that he had left Iraq in the hands of the Iraqi people, and in private conversations at the White House, he has told aides that the U.S. gave Iraqis an opportunity; what they do with that opportunity is up to them.
Though the president has been heralding the end of the Iraq war as a victory, and a fulfillment of his campaign promise to bring U.S. troops home, the sudden crisis could quickly become a political problem for Mr. Obama, foreign policy experts said.
"Right now, Iraq, along with getting Osama bin Laden, succeeding in Libya, and restoring the U.S. reputation in the world, is a clear plus for Obama," said David Rothkopf, a former official in the administration of Bill Clinton and a national security expert. "He kept his promise and got out. But the story could turn on him very rapidly."
For instance, Mr. Rothkopf and other national security experts said, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq is swiftly adopting policies that are setting off deep divisions among Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites. If Iraq fragments, if Iran starts to assert more visible influence or if a civil war breaks out, "the president could be blamed," Mr. Rothkopf said. "He would be remembered not for leaving Iraq but for how he left it."
Already, Mr. Obama is coming under political fire. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that Mr. Obama's decision to pull U.S. troops out had "unraveled." Appearing on CBS News on Thursday, Mr. McCain said that "we are paying a very heavy price in Baghdad because of our failure to have a residual force there," adding that while he was disturbed by what had happened in the past week, he was not surprised.
WASHINGTON -- As Iraq erupted in recent days, Vice President Joe Biden was in constant phone contact with the leaders of the country's dueling sects. He called the Shiite prime minister and the Sunni speaker of the Parliament on Tuesday, and the Kurdish leader on Thursday, urging them to try to resolve the deepening political crisis.
And for the United States, that is where the U.S. intervention in Iraq officially stops.
Sectarian violence and political turmoil in Iraq escalated within days of the U.S. military's withdrawal, but U.S. officials said in interviews that President Barack Obama had no intention of sending troops back into the country, even if it devolved into civil war.
The U.S., without troops on the ground or any direct influence over Iraq's affairs, has lost much of its leverage there. And so the latest crisis, a rapid descent into sectarian distrust and hostility that was punctuated by a bombing in Baghdad on Thursday that killed more than 60 people, is being treated in much the same way that the United States would treat any other diplomatic emergency abroad.
Mr. Obama, his aides said, is adamant that the U.S. will not send troops back to Iraq. At Fort Bragg, N.C., on Dec. 14, he told returning troops that he had left Iraq in the hands of the Iraqi people, and in private conversations at the White House, he has told aides that the U.S. gave Iraqis an opportunity; what they do with that opportunity is up to them.
Though the president has been heralding the end of the Iraq war as a victory, and a fulfillment of his campaign promise to bring U.S. troops home, the sudden crisis could quickly become a political problem for Mr. Obama, foreign policy experts said.
"Right now, Iraq, along with getting Osama bin Laden, succeeding in Libya, and restoring the U.S. reputation in the world, is a clear plus for Obama," said David Rothkopf, a former official in the administration of Bill Clinton and a national security expert. "He kept his promise and got out. But the story could turn on him very rapidly."
For instance, Mr. Rothkopf and other national security experts said, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq is swiftly adopting policies that are setting off deep divisions among Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites. If Iraq fragments, if Iran starts to assert more visible influence or if a civil war breaks out, "the president could be blamed," Mr. Rothkopf said. "He would be remembered not for leaving Iraq but for how he left it."
Already, Mr. Obama is coming under political fire. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that Mr. Obama's decision to pull U.S. troops out had "unraveled." Appearing on CBS News on Thursday, Mr. McCain said that "we are paying a very heavy price in Baghdad because of our failure to have a residual force there," adding that while he was disturbed by what had happened in the past week, he was not surprised.
Administration officials, for their part, countered that it was difficult to see how U.S. troops could have prevented either the political crisis or the coordinated attacks in Iraq.
"These crises before happened when there were tens of thousands of American troops in Iraq, and they all got resolved, but resolved by Iraqis through the political process," said Antony J. Blinken, Mr. Biden's national security adviser. "The test will be whether, with our diplomatic help, they continue to use politics to overcome their differences, pursue power sharing and get to a better place."
The only American military personnel remaining in Iraq today are the fewer than 200 members of an Office of Security Cooperation that operates within the American Embassy to coordinate military relations between Washington and Baghdad, particularly arms sales....
That's what the printed Globe gave me.
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