Paul McLeary of Defense News writes that the administration has a way of accounting for what went wrong in Iraq. According to Deputy National Security Adviser Anthony Blinken (a rare “top administration official” willing to go on record):
… the Obama administration had in fact “sought to leave behind a residual force and a counterterrorism presence to help Iraqis develop intelligence” on al-Qaida while also stationing an F-16 squadron to protect Iraq’s airspace. But “the Iraqi body politic did not want us to stay in Iraq. That’s what happened.”
And since:
… violence had decreased to such levels that Iraqi officials felt their own security forces could handle it.
So:
“We were also, to some extent, the victim of success,” [Blinken] said, since violence had come down so significantly from its height during the “surge” years of 2007-2008.
Thus:
“… we had to leave in order to find a way back on the security side, and gradually build up our engagement.”
