Obama’s Pledge: A Responsible End to War in Iraq?
Obama’s Pledge: A Responsible End to War in Iraq?
by Bob Tollast
Download the Full Article: Obama’s Pledge: A Responsible End to War in Iraq?
At the beginning of May, the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan presented CWC report 4 to Congress, detailing the forthcoming State Department mission in Iraq. It lays bare the challenges in what will be an historic mission, in uncharted waters. It also raises serious questions about Obama’s pledge to bring the war to a responsible end, and whether this will be fully resourced.
With Operation New Dawn coming to an end, two security firms, Triple Canopy and Global Strategies Group are already approved to provide over 5,500 contractors to support the biggest State Department Mission in history, joining 6 other firms- a current total of 10 billion dollars’ worth of security contracts. The CWC report however, highlights the tight budgetary restrictions the mission will have to operate under. Since then, the Jaish Al Mahdi has been all but re-activated, raising the unwelcome spectre of widespread, renewed Shia violence. This is against a backdrop of a horrific spike in American casualties, with Leon Pannetta only being the latest to indict Iranian involvement. The recent ISF offensive against Special Groups- and possibly JAM itself in the JAM stronghold of Maysan, has so far shown indeterminate results.
At stake now are America’s military, economic and growing cultural exchanges with Iraq- in short, everything that has been achieved so far and the very future of Iraq itself. The viability of this civilian led mission depends perilously on assuming a continued status quo. Yet the past few months have seen a sharp increase in violence against Americans. If his recent announcement to the B.B.C Arabic service is anything to go by, Moqtada Al Sadr is explicitly claiming credit for these attacks.
Iraq certainly has a lot in the running that could yet make it a peaceful, prosperous place. Numerous oil funded reconstruction projects will be underway this year and the IMF recently forecast Iraq’s oil fueled economic growth could rival the rate of China’s expansion. But funding depends largely on fragile oil infrastructure, with major pipelines and refineries in the volatile Kirkuk region. Iraq’s involvement in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, an international scheme to combat oil and gas related corruption, has yet to show results.
While the majority of oil projects are in Southern Iraq where security incidents are low overall, the situation is tenuous. The current attacks against U.S forces mean foreign civilian interests in Iraq will have to hope this is not a sign of things to come. While many nations are opening consulates across Iraq, none have the interests at stake that America does. As the CWC report emphasizes
Given that Congress has appropriated more than $1 trillion for U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, the prospect of jeopardizing the gains in Iraq and U.S. interests in the region to save a small fraction of that sum looks like false economy indeed.
Download the Full Article: Obama’s Pledge: A Responsible End to War in Iraq?
Robert Tollast is an English Literature Graduate from Royal Holloway University of London, and he is a periodic contributor to Small Wars Journal.
