THE END IN IRAQ – AT 11:05 A.M. ET:  The President announced yesterday that all American troops will be out of Iraq by year's end, essentially terminating the American role in the Iraq war.

Virtually every military expert cautioned that we must have a contingent in Iraq to maintain the country's stability and safeguard the gains we made.  But the Iraq government, reflecting the general lack of gratitude that we get in that region, refused to grant any remaining force legal immunity, meaning an American soldier under charge could be tried in an Iraqi court, rather than by an American court martial.  That is unacceptable to the United States, and so a deal for a continuing American presence collapsed. 

The question is whether all the sacrifice will now go down the drain.  Without American protection, Iraq can easily slip within the Iranian orbit.  The country can itself descend once more into chaos, with the different tribes fighting each other.  It's been pointed out that the Iraq regime has acted badly toward the United States, without whose blood and treasure that very regime would not exist.  American contractors have not received a single oil contract in Iraq.  The contracts have gone to countries like Russia and China. 

Will the Iraq mission eventually fail?  It seems more likely without the protective presence of American troops.  And if it does, it will be very hard to justify any further intervention in the region.  The American people will not accept it, and the Islamists will have won a major victory.

October 22, 2011