Vice President Biden Admits That "We're Not Claiming Victory" In Iraq

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq during a news conference in Baghdad on Wednesday. Saad Shalash/Reuters

Biden’s Appalling Statement On Iraq -- Max Boot, Commentary

U.S. troops are rushing pell-mell for the exits in Iraq. Time has almost run out on their presence because the Obama administration–either through incompetence, lack of will, or both–did not renew the treaty that would allow a residual force to remain behind in 2012 and beyond. The Iraqis, as they have repeatedly said, would be open to a training mission, but instead of getting the job done, the administration is pulling out.

The sad coda for our involvement may well have come from Vice President Biden​, who has just recently visited the country we are abandoning:

“We’re not claiming victory,’’ he said. “What we’re claiming here is that we’ve done our job — ending the war we did not start, to end it in a responsible way, (and) to bring Americans home. (We want to) end bleeding both financially and physically that this war has caused, and to leave in place, the prospect of a trained military, a trained security force within democratic institutions. It’s not done yet, but there’s real hope.”

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My Comment: Of course his remarks are appalling, but he is voicing what many Americans now feel .... which is .... let's get out of Iraq ASAP and move on.