Iraq Headed For Civil War With U.S. Troops Gone?

When U.S.  troops pulled out of Iraq in Dec. 2011, as Obama had promised, there was no pomp and circumstance, only a seemingly Vietnam War-like end to the war Obama had long ago labeled a “dumb war.” 

But with the U.S. gone, even the quasi-stability the Iraqi people had come to enjoy under George W. Bush is gone as well. Thus the Washington Times is reporting that various factions in Iraq may soon plunge that country into civil war. 

There is simply an untenable level of violence in that country where at least two deadly shooting or bombing rampages take place each week, and where the deadliest month on record took place last month: six months after the U.S. withdrew its troops. This violence is due to insurgents who are taking “advantage of the power struggle between the country’s ethnic and sectarian factions,” and causing chaos as a result.

The table is set for a bloody struggle in Iraq that will only amplify the struggles we’re currently seeing in Syria. But to date, the Obama administration’s concerns remain pragmatic. They are worried that if Iraq does enter into civil war, “the decision to withdraw troops [from that country] will be seen as a mistake.”