海角大神

President Obama鈥檚 announcement this week that he would be sending 300 US troops back to Iraq to 鈥渁dvise and assist鈥� Iraqi soldiers has become something of an 鈥淚 told you so鈥� moment for those who had opposed the pullout of US forces in the first place.

The surge of US troops in 2007 won the war in Iraq, and Mr. Obama created a 鈥渃olossal failure鈥� by failing to push hard enough to keep them in the country, goes the standard narrative dusted off by Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona this week.聽

鈥淩arely has a US president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many,鈥� former Vice President Dick Cheney wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, joining the聽blame game.聽

鈥淲hich president was he talking about?鈥� was White House spokesman Jay Carney鈥檚 riposte 鈥� a reference to the Bush administration鈥檚 push to invade Iraq in 2003 based upon what turned out to be wrong reasoning.

Mr. Carney had some cause for aplomb, given that polls show Americans have little appetite for returning to Iraq.聽

Roughly 54 percent of Americans say they agree more with the president on Iraq, versus 28 percent who side with Senator McCain鈥檚 calls for more robust US action in the country, according to a Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel pushed back against criticisms of the administration on Capitol Hill聽Thursday, noting that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wouldn鈥檛 grant US troops the legal immunity that the United States required in order to sign a status of forces agreement (SOFA) that would have left more US troops in Iraq.

鈥淚 go back to, we can only do so much,鈥� Secretary Hagel said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have a presence in Iraq because the Iraqis would not give us the immunity.鈥澛�

Obama stressed that the 300 troops would not be combat forces, but rather advisers to their Iraqi counterparts. Some wondered, however, whether this was a preview of some sort of 鈥渂oots on the ground鈥� scenario yet to come.聽

鈥淚 think we always have to guard against mission creep,鈥� Obama acknowledged, before ruling out combat troops fighting in Iraq again.

鈥淲e do not have the ability to simply solve this problem by sending in tens of thousands of troops and committing the kinds of blood and treasure that has already been expended in Iraq,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 clear from the last decade is the need for the United States to ask hard questions before we take action abroad 鈥� particularly military action.鈥�

America鈥檚 top military officer acknowledged that he had been a supporter of leaving more troops in Iraq.

鈥淚 stand by that recommendation, and I was part of it years ago,鈥� Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers聽Thursday. 鈥淏ut remember that our partnership was on the basis of increasing their tactical capability, their logistics capability, their ability to budget, to be a responsible institution of the government.鈥澛�

鈥淭he problem today is that the government has not acted responsibly in Iraq,鈥� Dempsey said. 鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 know that the presence of US military personnel uniquely would have changed the outcome.鈥�