HotAir.com’s Mary Katharine Ham did some great reporting in a post where she took excerpts from a speech given by Obama at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on December 14, 2011. Here are the first five of Obama’s remarks that Ham lists:
1. This one, in which Obama concedes that you’d take post-surge 2011 Iraq over pretty much any other major country in the Middle East post Arab Spring and Obama presidency:
“It’s harder to end a war than begin one. Indeed, everything that American troops have done in Iraq -– all the fighting and all the dying, the bleeding and the building, and the training and the partnering -– all of it has led to this moment of success. Now, Iraq is not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We’re building a new partnership between our nations.”
2. This one where Obama describes just how much we’ve lost.
“This is an extraordinary achievement, nearly nine years in the making.”
3. Then, he enumerated our victories, which our withdrawal swiftly turned into losses, one by one, starting with the insurgency.
“We remember the grind of the insurgency -– the roadside bombs, the sniper fire, the suicide attacks. From the ‘triangle of death’ to the fight for Ramadi; from Mosul in the north to Basra in the south -– your will proved stronger than the terror of those who tried to break it.”
4. The sectarian violence.
“We remember the specter of sectarian violence -– al Qaeda’s attacks on mosques and pilgrims, militias that carried out campaigns of intimidation and campaigns of assassination. And in the face of ancient divisions, you stood firm to help those Iraqis who put their faith in the future.”
[Here is Ham’s response:] Sure, sectarian divides would not have disappeared entirely, and Maliki is to blame for alienating Sunnis, but this was not inevitable. A residual force would have ameliorated the divides, kept Maliki in check to some extent, and given moderates breathing room to make the political compromises Obama is now demanding they make in the middle of chaos.
5. The Surge.
“We remember the surge and we remember the Awakening -– when the abyss of chaos turned toward the promise of reconciliation. By battling and building block by block in Baghdad, by bringing tribes into the fold and partnering with the Iraqi army and police, you helped turn the tide toward peace.”
Read the other 4 quotes and Mary Katharine Ham’s conclusion at HotAir.com. Those who read this report will have reason to be disgusted at Obama’s blaming President Bush for what’s taking place in Iraq right now. In December, 2011, Obama called Bush’s efforts in Iraq “an extraordinary achievement.”
