Yesterday a ceremony was held officially ending the US military involvement in Iraq. There are two more bases to be closed before December 31. The bases house approximately 4,000 military personnel. After December 31, our military presence in Iraq will be limited to a few hundred people working at the US embassy in Bagdad who will assist in training and the procurement of weapons and such.
Now for the crazy part, we are trying to negotiate our way back in with a larger presence. There are concerns there are some holes in Iraq’s security functions. That may well be, but my thinking is that if you have to negotiate with Iraq so it let’s the US help, Iraq really doesn’t want our help.
The US has already spent way too much money and given too many lives to be put in the position of begging to help. If Iraq needs our help, let them ask and then we can supply the help on our terms.
Here’s a link to a New York Times story.
