It is perfectly fair to blame George W. Bush for the dismal conditions of Iraq between 2003 and 2007. Indeed even Jeb Bush said that, knowing what he now knew, he would not have ordered the invasion of Iraq. But it is quite a stretch to blame George W. Bush for the failure to renew the SOFA more than two years after he left office. The decision to pull out U.S. troops rather than trying harder to win a renewal of their mandate — something that I and many other close observers of Iraqi politics believe would have been perfectly possible — was made by Barack Obama, not George W. Bush.
Read Full Article »
