Bush agreed to an end to occupation, Obama executed it; ISIS was inevitable either way as part of a 1000 year religious civil war, indiscriminate arms supply in an over estimation of the Iraqi Army's commitment did make the violence worse. Obama's credit is not getting pushed back into the quagmire by misguided hawks with guilt issues. There are no allies for us, no winnable outcomes, no political influence to exert. 100,000 troops for 100 years would just delay the conflict not avert it. War will be a constant state in the Middle East because religion and tribalism are the societal organizers over national unity and multi-religious tolerance. move on man, some **** in this world is not rational or manageable. The scale is too big, the mindset too entrench.
Just so we're clear, we're crediting Obama with continuing Bush's Iraq policy as one of the only accomplishments of his time in office? Fair.
Not crediting or failing, he had to follow the agreement. But, he resists the call to go back in, he is managing our involvement rationally within the limits of what we can do without over-committing US soldiers or money. With the outrage of ISIS's brutality, the natural American mentality is to go in and kill'em all. But the reality is we couldn't do that even if we wanted to expend another 5,000 lives and 3 trillion dollars. Maturing America's worldview is the accomplishment for Mr. Obama's legacy. It's actually a big change from the Bush Team's worldview. Imagine our involvement if Bolton/Cheney were still in charge.
