Iraqis and Afghans must fight their own battles and determine their own futures

Iraqis and Afghans must fight their own battles and determine their own futures

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2015/02/25/Dan-Simpson-It-s-time-to-let-go-in-Iraq-and-Afghanistan/stories/201502240041

February 25, 2015

By Dan Simpson

One spring when I was in Lebanon, its various militias were preparing to fight again as soon as the weather cleared.
The Department of State asked those of us at the U.S. embassy in Beirut why they were doing that, since nobody was going to win. Risking Washington’s fury, my initial response was that it was just what they did in the spring. Their sap was up, they were rested from the winter, the weather was tolerable — not too cold, not too much mud to bog down the tanks — and so, why not?
Now, I am asking myself what has got into Washington?
I am referring to the announcement — yes, an announcement, alerting “the enemy” — that the rag-tag collection of forces on the government side in Iraq, until now the epitome of “the gang that couldn’t shoot straight,” are going to mount an offensive this spring to retake Mosul, held since June by forces of the Islamic State group.
And, by the way, the Iraqi forces will be “supported” by the U.S. military. According to Washington war-makers, this may require adding more U.S. troops to the 3,000 already back in Iraq, even though, in principle, all our forces were withdrawn from the country at the end of 2011.
My first question is, what does it matter to the United States who holds Mosul? It, like Kobane in Syria, which we just “liberated” by bombing it into the Stone Age, is a place of no interest whatsoever to America. The Baghdad government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi would like to have it back, but why should the United States care? If Iraqis would like to control Mosul, let them fight to take it back. We have buried at least $26 billion to train Iraqi government troops. Why should we now do more, risking loss of U.S. life, more money, more equipment and “face?”
I thought this Iraq war had run from 2003 to 2011. Now, if the project to retake Mosul is an example, we risk being there until 2073. (We have 100,000 troops in Germany and Japan 70 years after the end of World War II.)ttp://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2015/02/25/Dan-Simpson-It-s-time-to-let-go-in-Iraq-and-Afghanistan/stories/201502240041