U.S. withdraws from Iraq

After the pull out did the US finish on Iraq's grille?

 

Iran will be occupying that Taj Mahal embassy by March.

 

This isn't as momentous as the fall of Saigon or the Wall.... but only just. This was probably the last large-scale conventional war we'll ever see and it showed the limits of the greatest (or cost-per-kill most expensive, take your pick) armed forces in history.

It leaves us in a markedly weaker position and Iran much stronger. Most Iraqi women lost out (back to the veil!) and the Shia fanatics are in the driver's seat. The Kurds got their own little enclave, which won't last but will give them something to be nostalgic about whenever Turkey or whoever decides to crush them again.

In the long run, though, this might be good. Once the specter of America is gone from the scene, we could see a second Middle Eastern spring. Maybe ordinary Iraqis and Iranians will think, well, we've got oil and we should be rich. Why do we have to keep rallying around some version of a 9th century theocracy?

 

Conventional? Nothing conventional about it. It's as asymmetrical as it can be.

 

Was it worth it?

 

Should never have been there. Thanks a lot, Niger!

 

No.

 

State Department is really growing quite the military force of its own: