As we will hear in his speech Obama will make reference to his handling of the Iraq war. Regardless of how you feel about the war in Iraq, this is a slap in the face of reality.

Obama campaigned on ending the war in Iraq. He called was against the war from the start and that is fine. Once he was elected he had the chance to change course in Iraq, leave or bomb it to glass. He chose to stay with the Bush plan. The surge turned that country around and HE OPPOSED IT!

Now things in Iraq are a little chaotic, that is to be expected. But the conditions on the ground are such that we can remove a large portion of our troops. That was made possible by GWB against the wishes of our current leadership. IF Obama stands up and takes credit for Iraq in any way shape or form without mentioning GWB by name in a positive way, Obama will show his true character.

I look for Obama to stand up and say “I’ve ended the war in Iraq, I’ve brought our troops home and I’ve fulfilled my campaign promise” Which is all true. Except We will still have 50k ground troops there, and 2 years into his term, he followed GWB’s plan on withdrawal except for the ending date being put out for the insurgents to hold out for.

Iraq may indeed descend into a civil war, and with only 50k troops there, it will be tough to stop. I’d be willing to bet international pressure will come to bear on the next POTUS to send MORE of our guys back in by 2014 to help squash the violence. So when we elect the next POTUS we need to consider their stance on such a possibility.