Posted on 01/08/2012 1:16:02 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Rick Perry established a new gold standard for hawkish foreign policy at Saturday night’s GOP debate in New Hampshire. Not only is he mad President Obama withdrew US forces, he wants to put them back on the ground there immediately.
“I would send troops back into Iraq,” Rick Perry told a New Hampshire audience at Saturday night’s GOP debate, warning that without yet another military operation in Iraq it would fall under the influence of neighboring Iran.
“I think it’s a huge error for us,” he said. “We’re going to see Iran in my opinion, move back in at literally the speed of light. They’re going to move back in. And all of the work we’ve done — every young man that has lost his life in that country will have been for nothing. Because we’ve got a president that does not understand what’s going on in that region.”
US forces were withdrawn at the request of the Iraqi government, who signed an agreement with the Bush administration in 2008 legally requiring them to leave by the end of this year. Perry insisted that Obama could have renegotiated the deal to keep troops there.
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STEPHANOPOULOS: Governor Perry, we know you have differences with President Obama, but who’s got the better of this argument right here between Senator Santorum and Governor Huntsman?
PERRY: Well, I think that you have to -- I would send troops back into Iraq, because I will tell you...
STEPHANOPOULOS: Now?
PERRY: I -- I think we start talking with the Iraqi individuals there. The idea that we allow the Iranians to come back into Iraq and take over that country, with all of the treasure, both in blood and money, that we have spent in Iraq, because this president wants to kowtow to his liberal, leftist base and move out those men and women. He could have renegotiated that timeframe. [***the part that was left out***]
I think it is a huge error for us. We’re going to see Iran, in my opinion, move back in at literally the speed of light. They’re going to move back in, and all of the work that we’ve done, every young man that has lost his life in that country will have been for nothing because we’ve got a president that does not understand what’s going on in that region."
There's never been any Arab people that could ever understand peace, prosperity, freedom, and liberty. (Turkey isn't Arab... and even they require an active, coup prone military to keep it)
The best thing we could have done was to have occupied Iraq, annexed it, placed the Sunnis and Shites into reservations, and opened it up to colonization (with a 40 acres and a tractor).
The Kurds could have remained, possibly as US citizens, if they wanted.
It'd have infuriated the Muslim world, but then... when isn't the Muslim world so infuriated with us that they aren't willing to kill our women and children? Since they are perpetually locked onto permanent ‘insane rage’ mode, there is nothing more they can do.
>>If you wish to make the argument that we should police the world, that it is vital to US interests to have a large military presence in Iraq then make that argument. So far you have not. And if you decide to try and make an argument please address the issue of our 16 trillion dollar debt.<<
I’m not making the argument that we should police the world. I’m arguing with your statement that we ARE policing the “whole fracking world” as you put it. We are doing anything but that under Obama.
And it wouldn’t take “a large military presence in Iraq” to maintain what’s been gained there, but it will take some presence. Obama played it so that we couldn’t even do that and, as Perry rightly stated, that was a mistake that any contender for the GOP candidate for Commander in Chief should make it clear will be reversed should he be elected. We made a serious mistake withdrawing all of our combat troops, and that mistake should be corrected. Rightly or wrongly, we’d already done all the heavy lifting in Iraq, and then Obama goes and throws it all away, a tragic mistake that will soon (not at the speed of light, but quite soon) have tragic consequences in the Middle East, consequences that also have serious implications for our national security in the longer run.
As for the debt, I’d rather endure a hyperinflation to get rid of it than having my grandchildren being required to learn Chinese in a decade or so, or worse, live in a world where despots not only control nuclear weapons, but actually use them. That said, I also believe that a sensible, conservative, management of our finances could still reverse the debt problem and set us on a sound financial course, something so foreign to Obama and his ilk that it’s impossible to do currently.
***a “large” military presence in Iraq***
is NOT what this is about.
Yes, you're right. What Perry said was absurd. I watched. He was serious as a heart attack.
"We Are Sending a Signal To Iran That is A Green Light To Them..It May Prove to Be a Major Political Blunder in the Middle East For the United States"
Lt. General Tom McInerny on Fox News blasts Obama's troop pullout decision as "very dangerous" saying "it may prove to be major political blunder in coming years"..."It may look good now for the election but it could prove to be a major political blunder in the coming years for the Unites States." McInerny also says "If Iraq becomes aligned with Iran, then you have a clear path directly into Israel." I'll take a career military Lt. General's opinion on the Iraq pullout over a community organizer in-over-his-head President with a blank resume anyday of the week.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1234885651001/
Too many people forget that our children and grandchildren will be living and suffering in the world created by this “blunder.”
“Yes, you’re right. What Perry said was absurd. I watched. He was serious as a heart attack”
See? You prove my point. Thanks.
Be that as it may, very judicious presence of American forces has a positive impact.
Exactly. We need our troops to protect OUR borders.
I agree with much of what you say, but I do not agree that the answer is to retire from the field of battle and surrender, just because the issues are complicated, or that the fight is long and hard.
Just my personal opinion.
I think we just need to pick our battles more wisely. Some people have told me that the Chinese getting involved in Africa is going to be driving our increasing involvement in Africa, but even with the military we have right now, we are reaching a point where we are going to be stretched too thin and it will hurt us and probably get a lot of our folks killed.
For whom? Criminal muslim gangsters? The local Cristian population is being ehtnically cleansed and you call that a positive thing?
We centered on the most developed intelligence (mostly from the air) and that was Iraq - mostly from UN resolution satellite intelligence.
The reason I say all of this is in defense our our nation, military, and president. We attacked what we thought was the problem - and it was to a degree. We also simultaneously sent a mission into Afghanistan.
Look, folks. We done good with what we had. Salute President Bush and Dick Cheney. Salute our armed forces. We had sketchy intelligence on the ground. Hell, it is still a bitch to develop intel on the ground in Arab states.
And always will be.
Perry was right.
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