Eight months ago, President Obama ended the “dumb war” in Iraq: a war he and other Democrats claimed we entered into mainly because of the personal desires of George W. Bush rather than any credible threat posed to U.S. interests by Iraq or its leadership.
But now, having pulled our troops out and proclaimed victory, we’re learning that post-U.S. Iraq has been helping Iran circumvent economic sanctions related to their nuclear ambitions.
And while this should come as no surprise to those who remember how Iran was aiding (arming) insurgents in Iraq while U.S. troops were still there, it apparently has surprised many who shared Obama’s view that Iraq was never the threat that Bush said it was to begin with. Thus The New York Times is reporting the Obama administration is “not eager for a public showdown with the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki over Iran.”
Again, that’s understandable, because a showdown with Iraq over its ties to Iran will be the greatest admission to date that the U.S. presence in Iraq may not have been so “dumb” after all.