Gary:

re, the Iraq War:

“The Bush administration left Mr. Obama or Mr. McCain had he won, with a fabricated war that was cooked up by them for their own agendas . . . .”

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Well, I don’t believe that and, based on the fact that Obama plans to maintain 50,000 troops in Iraq after his so-called “withdrawal,” I suspect he doesn’t believe it either.

Here are a few reasons why:

First, making a stand in Iraq has forced Al Qaeda (and their like minded allies) to marshall their forces across the region. Because its virtually impossible to engage such a diffuse, anonymous enemy, this “call to arms” has effectively neutralized one of Al Qaeda’s primary tactical advantages – while simultaneously solving one of our primary disadvantages. Stated simply, terrorists who show up in Iraq stand a good chance of being apprehended or shot, just like all the terrorists who showed up before them – and that’s very good thing.

Second, after declaring Iraq the “central front” in its war against the kaffir and massively marshalling its forces (as described above), Al Qaeda and their ilk proved themselves to be first class butchers – of other muslims no less – and wholly incapable of preventing free elections. In short, they suffered a massive, public, humiliating defeat while generally alienating the population of one of the largest middle Eastern countries in the world. A free Iraq is a testament to that defeat.

Third, Iran is about to become a nuclear power. When dealing with a burgeoning and hostile nuclear power it’s always a good idea to place a large military contingent on their flank (and directly upwind from their territory in the event of fall out). It tends to make them more amenable to negotiation.

Fourth, Iraq – a vast territory that we now largely control – squarely separates Iran from its nasty little proxies in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza (i.e. Hezbollah and Hamas) making communication and resupply more difficult and potentially more vulnerable.

Fifth, oil. Oil is power in the middle East, and if we didn’t have control of those northern fields, those much, much worse than us would.

Sixth, Iraq is now an ally. It’s a genuine, though fragile, democracy in sea of tyrrants. We have full access to its territory and will have profound need of it given the war in Afghanistan and the possibility of future conflict on the immediate horizon.

These a few of the reasons why Obama will keep us in iraq now (and for the foreseeable future).