Disbelief, nausea, anger, a "gut punch"... hard to fault them.
Iraq refused to sign a status of forces agreement making U.S. soldiers chargeable for war crimes. I believe that under U.S. law forces must operate under a status of forces agreement if they aren't acting under a declaration of war.
Leading up to the failure to renegotiate a status of forces agreement every commentator I heard said that if they Iraqis wouldn't sign then the U.S. would be forced to leave the country.
I don't think Obama had that near as much to do with it as Iraqi politics did.
You don't hear anyone really admitting that we got kicked out of Iraq aside from deep military wonks but that is pretty much what happened.
I have no idea about how the political situation here has affected the reality on the ground there. I think it's impossible for any of us to know. Do I think generally that Obama's wishy-washiness has led to some big clusterfucks? Yes. I just have no idea if this is one of them. Either way you're right; it's a huge lose/lose.
In what ways do you think he was "wishy-washy?"
Seems to me that he gave all three of his major conflicts a pretty hefty push before he got kicked out of Iraq and decided to call it in Afghanistan. He is still aggressively pushing drone strikes, murder and surveillance in his third campaign against terrorism and decency.
but thats the thing. What was there to ever WIN exactly? How do we wage "war" on a concept, an idea, like "terrorism?" I have trouble grasping the concept..