Overlooked Facts About the U.S. Withdrawal From Iraq

By Robert Pisapia
Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Your editorial “The Battle for Mosul So Far” (Oct. 25) states: “The U.S. squandered much of its influence with Baghdad after President Obama’s disastrous withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2011.” We hear the same rhetoric from Donald Trump. There are overlooked facts about the withdrawal. First, in 2008 the U.S. under President George W. Bush negotiated a Status of Forces Agreement that required our forces to leave by the end of 2011. In May 2007 more than half of the Iraqi parliament rejected the continued occupation of their country. This position was being pushed by Tehran. The last three prime ministers of Iraq had close ties to Iran. Ibrahim al-Jaafari moved to Tehran in 1980 to join the Iraqi opposition group backed by Iran. Nouri al-Maliki also fled to Iran where he developed close ties. He supported the ouster of Saddam Hussein. Haider al-Abadi opposed the occupation and wanted strict conditions. He was not willing to give up immunity for U.S. personnel who commit crimes. The U.S. has never agreed to this with any country.

All three prime ministers are members of the Islamic Dawa Party. In the Iraqi parliamentary guide the opening comment reads: The Iraqi people “refuse the military occupation of Iraq whatsoever.”

These facts explain why Tehran had the effective influence, not President Obama, and why we had to withdraw.

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/overlooked-facts-about-the-u-s-withdrawal-from-iraq-1478289224