The US started its Iraq operation in 2000 and has now begun its retreat. The battleground has shifted from Iraq and the Iraq war will now be fought inside the US. The Republicans and the Democrats will vie with each other in claiming credit for starting the war and then terminating it. The drums are being heard announcing the elections of 2012. The Democrats will claim that since they started the war and ended it, the kudos should go to them. The Republicans may argue that President Barack Obama has decided to pull out US troops from Iraq too early. The situation in Iraq is likely to deteriorate. In that event, the Democrats under Obama will be hard put to counter the Republican logic. The US has left very little in Iraq to guarantee that the situation there will not deteriorate. Baghdad has a democratic government but it is a minority government, entirely dependent on sectarian support. Violence is rampant in the streets. Iraqi forces trained by the US cannot cope with it. No remnants of the previous political or social institutions have survived.
Obama of course has a lot to say in his favour. He has ended a war which was disliked by a majority of the people in his country. Precious resources of the US will no longer be wasted in Iraq. Its decision has put an end to the procession of body bags. The US can now focus attention on Afghanistan though it is pulling out of that theatre too. On the other hand, intervention in Iraq has discredited US foreign policy-in Iran and in Israel. The Arab world is already protesting against Washington’s policy. Obama has to explain the negative aspects of Democrat West Asian policy in the last decade.