Who's Fault is the Iraq Debacle?

Every morning, the local talk radio station here in Cincinnati plays a little thing called An American Story presented by Tom Brokaw.  Usually these things are inane ramblings that are more about the Tom Brokaw story than America.  Often, these little reports are about something done in other countries by non-Americans, so the name of the segment is a mystery to me.

Today Mr. Brokaw set about making everything in Iraq the fault of the George W. Bush administration.  After all, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush said that a democratic government could be set up there, the Iraqi people would have free elections, a constitution would be written, and Iraq would become just like the USA.  This certainly was a best case scenario and, given the history of the region, was a pretty unlikely scenario long-term.  However, anyone would have to admit that Obama's foreign policy decisions to tell the enemy when we would leave and turn over the country to the terrorists contributed greatly to this outcome.

I don't see how there will ever be peace and freedom in Iraq.  Even if a constitutional decree mandates separation of church and state, the people don't want that.  The citizenry feels that anyone that has a different religious affiliation than them is an enemy.  They don't want anyone to have the freedom to believe something different from them.  The majority religion in the country takes over by force or by coup or however they have to do it.  In the case of Iraq, Saddam Hussein oppressed religions that threatened his autonomy.  He used force or threat of force to keep opposing religious factions in check.  Now that Saddam Hussein is gone, the country is quickly dividing on religious lines, and it appears that making two or three countries out of Iraq is the best outcome.  Otherwise the majority faction will take over everything and force their will.

I wish we had never gone there and stuck our nose in other countries' business.  We started out in the first war after Iraq invaded Kuwait when George H. W. Bush was President.  I never got the impression that the Kuwaiti people appreciated what we did back then.  That "good deed" did nothing but put the USA at the top of every hated enemy list in the Middle East.  This was undoubtedly the impetus that drove Al Qaeda to commit the terrorist acts of 9/11/2001.

I think that Obama's reaction recently has been the correct one.  As Iraq falls into chaos, we should stay home and offer no assistance.  We trained and armed one million Iraqi military members.  That military has thrown down its weapons, changed into civilian clothes, and taken off for the hills.  They were prepared to fight for their freedom and their country, but they didn't have the will to do it.  These soldiers weren't willing to die for their country.  Why should we be there dying for something the Iraqis don't seem to care about?

Once again, the MessAPolitico didn't consider a point of view different from their own.  They love their country, are loyal to it, and can't understand why other peoples around the world don't feel that way.  They also don't understand why those people would be put off by our country telling them how to run their government.  I guess foreign policy isn't that much different than the domestic policies.  The government thinks they know what is best for us too.  The will of the majority party elected is shoved down our throats every day.  Why again is America's view of the federal government and politicians in general so low?