Surely insofar as there were winners in the Iraq war it was the Shia majority in Iraq and the Kurds and to a certain extent Iran since the Sunni dominated government was replaced to one that is majority Shia with more Iranian influence. However, conflicts are far from over. The Kurd central govt. issue is still unresolved with its problem over sharing oil and control of certain key areas. There is also the problem of Sunni discontent with hundreds of ex-Sunnis being not allowed to run in the upcoming election and many Sunnis calling for a boycott of the elections. It still remains to be seen if the elections will go smoothly and if they do not the timetable for withdrawal might be changed. Even if the timetable is kept there will still be thousands of US troops left and a humungous embassy that will be funded by the US taxpayer. There is not even an oil law federally as yet and most of the winners of productions contracts are non-US.
Cheers, ken hanly Blog: http://kenthink7.blogspot.com/index.html Blog: http://kencan7.blogspot.com/index.html --- On Wed, 1/20/10, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Jim Devine <[email protected]> > Subject: [Pen-l] from Juan Cole: Did Obama Win the Iraq War? > To: "Pen-l" <[email protected]> > Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 12:12 PM > ---------- > Forwarded message ---------- > From: Juan Cole <[email protected]> > > > > > > President Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated a year > ago, and this is a good time to review his major foreign > policy success. > > It is, of course, important that he has repaired the > reputation of the US in much of the world and replenished > the stock of 'soft power' that has been so important > a part of US success and leadership. His approval ratings > in Western Europe and even in Saudi Arabia were in the 80s > and 90s this summer. > Veteran journalist Tom Fenton confirms that he remains > enormously popular in Europe, and that the public there > understands that he could not turn US policy around on a > dime. > > > But Obama's biggest practical foreign policy success > has been in keeping to his withdrawal timetable in Iraq. > Most observers have paid too little attention to this, among > his most important decisions. When he became president, his > top generals, including Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. Ray > Odierno, reportedly came to him and attempted to convince > him to modify the withdrawal timeline adopted by the Iraqi > parliament as part of the Status of Forces Agreement > negotiated shortly before he took office. They did not want > US troops to cease patrolling independently in mid-June > 2009. They did not want to get all combat troops out by > summer 2010. They wanted to finesse the agreement. > Reclassify combat troops under some other heading, they > said. > > > _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
