Obama's Iraq Disaster

When Obama evacuated our troops from Iraq for no other reason beyond political considerations, I knew the situation there would go south.  I am very surprised however at how quickly it's turning ugly.  The Sunni Vice President, one of our closest political allies, has a warrant out for his arrest in what appears to be a power play by the Shiite Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki.  Eli Lake has a great piece on it:

Hashemi in a phone interview from the Kurdish city of Irbil told the Daily Beast Tuesday that he could not return to Baghdad because his offices and home were seized by security forces that had taken his files and computers. And he accused the Obama administration of failing to be more forceful to stop a political crisis that could explode into worse tensions.

"We are really disappointed and frustrated with the Americans, they have done zero in terms of these problems. I am not betting on them doing anything. They tell us they will try their best, but we think this means nothing," he said.

...

While Iraqi television has run interviews with men who claim to be bodyguards to Hashemi claiming that he has ties to terrorists, Hashemi told The Daily Beast that he has not even seen the charges against him.

"Three of my brothers have been killed because of my participation in building a new Iraq, regardless of all I have done, I am now accused by the prime minister who says I have a link to terrorism, this is really unbelievable," he said.

Asked if he believed Iraq could disintegrate into three countries—Sunni, Shiite and Kurdistan—as many analysts feared at the height of the Iraqi civil war in 2006, Hashemi said, "I hope not, but believe it or not, all options are in front of Iraqis."

"The situation is really deteriorating, all possibilities now could happen.  I hope this won't happen. But if you ask my expectation, we have a gloomy picture," Hashemi said.

Great job Obama.  I have a feeling that history will not look to kindly on what you did in Iraq.