(This image of U.S. soldiers patrolling near the Baghdad airport is from LJWorld.com.)"Mission creep" continues to grow in Iraq. When things got hot again in Iraq (with the Sunni vs. Shiite religious civil war growing), President Obama promised Americans that he would not put American "boots on the ground" in that country. He almost immediately violated his promise by sending 300 soldiers to Iraq (saying they were just to advise the Iraqi troops). Then he upped the total, saying that troops were needed to guard the embassy and the Baghdad airport. Now there are around 1400 to 1500 American soldiers in Iraq.
Now the president seems to be completely abandoning his promise. He has authorized the sending of another 1500 troops to Iraq, which will double the number of U.S. soldiers in that country (and be 10 times the number he originally sent). It is now just a sick joke to say there won't be "troops on the ground" -- and the only question left is how many more troops will be sent there (5,000?, 10,000?, 50,000?, more?).
The truth is that we shouldn't have any American soldiers in Iraq. Both parties in Congress, and the president, are trying to paint the Sunni insurgents as posing a threat to the United States. That is a fallacy. They pose no military threat to this country -- and if there is a terrorist threat, this is the wrong way to handle it. Terrorism is a law enforcement, intelligence, and diplomatic problem -- not a military problem.
The situation in Iraq is a religious civil war -- fought by Sunnis and Shiites, both of whom want to control that country, and neither of which is an ally of the United States. Sending American troops to take sides in that religious war may seem smart to U.S. politicians, but it just looks like another christian "crusade" against muslims to those who live in the Middle East -- and it just creates more enemies for this country (and embroils our soldiers in a conflict they cannot win).
Re-engaging in Iraq is an insane policy. We should be bringing the troops there back home -- not doubling their number.
