In an Oct. 31 Wall Street Journal article, Max Boot lays out exactly what I said last week. If we don't gain the strategic victory in Iraq, it is because our leaders did not make the effort to meet with, and communicate with, al-Maliki and other Iraqi officials. From the article:
So why was it possible for the Bush administration to reach a deal with the Iraqis but not for the Obama administration?
Quite simply it was a matter of will: President Bush really wanted to get a deal done, whereas Mr. Obama did not. Mr. Bush spoke weekly with Mr. Maliki by video teleconference. Mr. Obama had not spoken with Mr. Maliki for months before calling him in late October to announce the end of negotiations. Mr. Obama and his senior aides did not even bother to meet with Iraqi officials at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Incompetence or indifference, I don't know for certain, but it appears that they just didn't want to do the messy work of relationship building. Withdrawal from Iraq, despite the risk of overall failure there, is the primary concern of the administration.
I still believe strategic victory is possible, and I believe that the military leaders now in place will do everything they can to make it so, but the administration's negligence in Iraq is disappointing.
