Did The U.S. Withdrawal From Iraq Opened The Door For The Islamic State To Walk In?

Washington Times: U.S. troop withdrawal let Islamic State enter Iraq, military leaders say

A number of former and current military leaders who were in power when all U.S. troops left Iraq are saying today that the complete exit left the door open for the Islamic State’s land grab.

The assessment comes from the Army chief of staff, a former Marine commandant, a former U.S. Central Command chief, a former defense secretary and, privately, from the officer now running the war in Iraq against the Islamic State, also known as ISIL and ISIS.

The question is: Will these lessons-learned public comments sway the presidential campaign debate on what should be done to defeat the terrorist army?

The military officials say a residual American air-and-land combat force could have steeled Iraqi Security Forces and blunted the Islamic State’s invasion of northern and western Iraq last winter and spring. The U.S. could have prevented the harm done to Iraq’s command structure by Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister and helped quell bickering among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

WNU Editor: I lost count on how many posts I put up during that time that covered the news and discussions on the pros and cons of keeping a residual U.S. military force in Iraq. Bottom line .... the U.S. and Iraqi military chiefs may have wanted to keep some forces in Iraq, but there was no political will in Washington to keep U.S. forces in Iraq .... and more importantly there was no U.S. public support for such a mission. The same can be said about Iraq .... there was no political will in Iraq nor any support in its civilian population to have the Americans remain .... they wanted the U.S. out, and the sooner the better. With hindsight .... we now know that this was a mistake .... but it is too late .... the Iraqi political class and those who voted for them screwed up the country .... and they are the ones who must now pay the cost for setting things right.