It’s Time For The US To Declare Victory And Go Home

U.S. soldiers in Baghdad. Ahmad Al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Col. Timothy Reese: ‘It’s Time for the US to Declare Victory and Go Home’ -- Washington Independent

As the old saying goes, “guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.” Since the signing of the 2009 Security Agreement, we are guests in Iraq, and after six years in Iraq, we now smell bad to the Iraqi nose. Today the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are good enough to keep the Government of Iraq (GOI) from being overthrown by the actions of Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), the Baathists, and the Shia violent extremists that might have toppled it a year or two ago. Iraq may well collapse into chaos of other causes, but we have made the ISF strong enough for the internal security mission. Perhaps it is one of those infamous paradoxes of counterinsurgency that while the ISF is not good in any objective sense, it is good enough for Iraq in 2009. Despite this foreboding disclaimer about an unstable future for Iraq, the United States has achieved our objectives in Iraq. Prime Minister (PM) Maliki hailed June 30th as a “great victory,” implying the victory was over the US. Leaving aside his childish chest pounding, he was more right than he knew. We too ought to declare victory and bring our combat forces home. Due to our tendency to look after the tactical details and miss the proverbial forest for the trees, this critically important strategic realization is in danger of being missed.

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More News On The Possibility Of U.S. Forces Leaving Iraq Earlier Than Planned

Out of Iraq by Next Year? -- New York Times
US Adviser To Iraqi Military Urges Early US Exit -- AP
Army Colonel: U.S. Should Leave Iraq, ASAP -- Danger Room
Military Adviser: Time For U.S. to Leave Iraq -- CBS News
It's Time to Declare Victory and Go Home -- Foreign Policy
US should declare victory and leave Iraq, says top military officer -- The Guardian
Text of Colonel Reese’s Memo -- New York Times

My Comment: US Army Col. Timothy R. Reese has some valid points .... it is probably the time to declare victory and plan the next phase.

In the end that is what is going to happen. A few thousand U.S. military personnel will be in the desert to train and develop Iraq's air force and military .... and the other 100,000+ will be back home.