An Important Announcement From The Ministry Of Truth: Obama Always Wanted To Leave Troops In Iraq

Obama had a very odd press conference on the White House lawn before heading off on his vacation this morning.

He seemed totally detached for the decision to use air strikes against ISIL, almost apologetic. He really has sympathy for whoever the President is who has to do this and is glad he's not in that guy's shoes.

The only time he was engaged and showed any personnel commitment to the situation was when he was asked if he made a mistake in pulling all troops out of Iraq.

It's at this point you need to pay attention to the appropriate understanding of New History.

Q Mr. President, do you have any second thoughts about pulling all ground troops out of Iraq? And does it give you pause as the U.S. -- is it doing the same thing in Afghanistan?

THE PRESIDENT: What I just find interesting is the degree to which this issue keeps on coming up, as if this was my decision. Under the previous administration, we had turned over the country to a sovereign, democratically elected Iraqi government. In order for us to maintain troops in Iraq, we needed the invitation of the Iraqi government and we needed assurances that our personnel would be immune from prosecution if, for example, they were protecting themselves and ended up getting in a firefight with Iraqis, that they wouldn’t be hauled before an Iraqi judicial system.

"As if it were my decision". See Obama apparently wanted to leave troops behind but those mean Iraqis wouldn't let him. That's the new and approved version of events.

Old History is a little bit different.

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. As a candidate for President, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end -- for the sake of our national security and to strengthen American leadership around the world. After taking office, I announced a new strategy that would end our combat mission in Iraq and remove all of our troops by the end of 2011. As Commander-in-Chief, ensuring the success of this strategy has been one of my highest national security priorities. Last year, I announced the end to our combat mission in Iraq. And to date, we’ve removed more than 100,000 troops. Iraqis have taken full responsibility for their country’s security.

A few hours ago I spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki. I reaffirmed that the United States keeps its commitments. He spoke of the determination of the Iraqi people to forge their own future. We are in full agreement about how to move forward.

So today, I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year. After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over.

Huh. Nothing in that second statement from late October in 2011 about Obama really, really wanting to keep troops there but there was a lot about campaign promises kept.

Please update your language accordingly.

Oh, not even Vox's foreign policy juiceboxer is buying this.

This new Obama line “I never wanted to leave Iraq, Maliki made me” strikes me as maybe not 1000% accurate.

— Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) August 9, 2014

posted by DrewM. at 02:12 PM

| Access Comments