Journal 3

Journal 3

This article provided me with information regarding why the US military left Iraq in the first place. It described the Busch agreement that was made with the Iraqi government in which the Americans were to be out of Iraq by December 2011. However, until this time, the American soldiers could not be prosecuted by the Iraqi government, which is kind of contradictory because anybody should be prosecuted if he or she does something wrong. This article explained why the American troops evacuated Iraq, which was important to understand because many argue that we should have never left this area.

This source has responded to Obama’s speech in both agreement and disagreement. The article agrees with Obama and Busch that America did not have a choice of staying in Iraq after December 2011. The author puts blame on politicians who try to tell America that is Obama’s fault the ISIS has become such a huge terrorist group. These politicians, according to this author, are taking the easy way out because they are ignoring the facts that stood in Obama’s way of keeping troops in Iraq. Iraq did not want American Military in their country anymore as the Iraqi government could not punish our men, and they Iraqi people viewed this as insulting. Also, the leader of the military refused to keep soldiers in Iraq who were not going to be protected from being captured and persecuted. The author agrees that the US troops had to be removed by December 2011; however, the article does not provide any thought regarding America’s new presence in Iraq and the author ignores Obama’s four-step plan.

In my opinion, I do think that the American troops should have evacuated Iraq according to the Busch agreement. However, a popular phrase states, “Why wait until the last minute.” I have questions concerning the timing of America’s removal of troops in Iraq. Although the ISIS was not fully established, there was still some disputes going on that the American military knew the Iraqi army could not handle alone. But this comes back to the issue of is it really our job to protect the people of another country. We are back in Iraq today because the ISIS has become an international treat and Obama sees it necessary that we put a stop to this terrorist group. However, we are now risking some of our own men to stop a terrorist group that has not yet directly threatened our nation. This was the exact reason why we evacuated Iraq in the first place; Busch deemed it unconstitutional that our own men would be in Iraq helping but they could be prosecuted and murdered. I do agree with what this article is saying in regards to the Busch agreement and “getting the hell out of there before our own men got hurt,” but today our men could be hurt even though we are only dropping attacks through planes. Is it really our business to step in and help these people or should we focus on problems going on in the United States herself. Why does this terrorist group get special attention compared to all of the other terrorist groups in the world? Also, does this issue come down to just religious differences or is there a great issue that is needed to be resolved in the Middle East.

To further my research, I am still trying to find out what other countries are involved in helping to stop the ISIS.  I also need to find an article that disagrees with Obama and thinks the US troops should have never evacuated Iraq. It is important in my research to stay focused on finding scholarly sources because a lot of my sources are from magazines that do not contain an argument in itself. I also would like to find out what the ISIS is currently doing and what areas in the Middle East this group is occupying. I think it is important to know the future plans in case the four-step plan fails because this terrorist group has the ability to cause great harm.