Iraq Coda 0

The attempts of the US administration to put the best face possible on the withdrawal from Iraq does not hide the crucial fact that the Great and Glorious Patriotic War for a Lie in Iraq has

• done nothing to further peace and stability in the Middle East or in the world as a whole,
• failed to find the weapons of mass destruction that the Bush administration sold as a reason for war, because they never existed, and
• increased the stature of Iran as a Middle Eastern power.

The proximate cause of the end was rooted the Iraq Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by the President George the Worst and the Iraq government in 2006 and 2007; the deadline had arrived.

Asia Times summarizes how the this came about. Here’s a snippet from a lengthy exploration of the events:

The real story behind the US withdrawal is how a clever strategy of deception and diplomacy adopted by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in cooperation with Iran outmaneuvered Bush and the US military leadership and got the US to sign the US-Iraq withdrawal agreement.

A central element of the Maliki-Iran strategy was the common interest that Maliki, Iran and anti-American Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr shared in ending the US occupation, despite their differences over other issues.al-Sadr shared in ending the US occupation, despite their differences over other issues.

I have no doubt that the Bush administration expected the Iraqi government to be much more malleable than it turned out to be, its having been, after all, an American creation.

No doubt some will try to use the timing of the withdrawal, coming under President Obama, to start a “Who lost China” who-shot-John.

Nevertheless, the prints, indeed, the DNA of President Bush and his circle pervades The Great and Glorious Patriotic War for a Lie, from its conception in arrogance, through its promotion with deceipt and its pursuit with incompetence, to its conclusion in confusion.