On the President's Desk: Iraq
General Colin Powell, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and later Secretary of State, once likened Iraq to an item in the retail chain store Pottery Barn, stating "you break it, you buy it." Powell had a history with Iraq, going back at least to 1990 when President George H. W. Bush organized a coalition of nations to participate in an invasion of Iraq pursuant to a United Nations resolution. What first appeared to be a brief intervention has resulted in a problem that has been smoldering on every subsequent president's desk. Some candidates for president have promised an early withdrawal from the region, only to learn after being elected that it isn't as easy as just pulling out the troops.
On August 2, 1990, Iraq, then led by Saddam Hussein, invaded its oil-rich neighbor to the south, Kuwait. The first President Bush condemned the invasion and began organizing opposition to Iraq among European, Asian, and Middle Eastern allies. His Secretary of Defense. future Vice-President Dick Cheney, traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Fahd who requested US military aid in the matter, concerned about a possible invasion of his country as well. Iraq tried to negotiate a deal that would allow the country to take control of half of Kuwait, but Bush rejected this proposal and demanded a complete withdrawal of Iraqi forces.
Planning of a ground operation by US-led coalition forces began in September 1990. Bush spoke before a joint session of the U.S. Congress regarding the authorization of air and land attacks, laying out four immediate objectives:
1. Iraq had to withdraw from Kuwait completely, immediately, and unconditionally
2. Kuwait's legitimate government had to be restored.
3. The Persian Gulf had to become secure and stable.
4. American citizens in the region must be protected.
After the United Nations Security Council sanctioned the plan, Congress authorized the use of military force with a set goal of returning control of Kuwait to the Kuwaiti government, and protecting America's interests abroad.
On the morning of January 17, 1991, allied forces launched the first attack, which included more than 4,000 bombing runs by coalition aircraft. This continued for the next four weeks, until a ground invasion was launched on February 24, 1991. Allied forces broke through Iraqi lines and pushed toward Kuwait City while on the west side of the country, forces were intercepting the retreating Iraqi army.
Bush made the decision to stop the offensive after a mere 100 hours. At the time he was criticized for this decision, but the passage of time soon demonstrated the wisdom of this decision. Bush said that he wanted to minimize U.S. casualties. He said that he did not give the order to overthrow the Iraqi government because, in his words, we would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq."
The United Nations Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 requiring Iraq to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction and allow inspectors from the United Nations Special Commission (UNS-COM) to monitor the country's adherence to the agreement. No-fly zones over Iraq were established by the U.S. and its allies to protect the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Shiites in southern Iraq from aerial attacks by the Iraqi government. On June 26, 1993, President Bill Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack on the Iraqi Intelligence Service's principal command and control complex in Baghdad. This was announced as retaliation for the assassination attempt by the IIS on former President George H. W. Bush while he was visiting Kuwait in April of that year to commemorate a coalition victory over Iraq in the Gulf War. Fourteen cruise missiles were launched from the USS Peterson and nine more from the USS Chancellorsville. Sixteen of these hit their target. Three struck a residential area, killing nine civilians and wounding 12 others. Four missiles were unaccounted for.
In October 1994, Baghdad once again began mobilizing around 64,000 Iraqi troops near the Kuwaiti border. In response, the U.S. begins to deploy troops in the Persian Gulf. This caused Iraq to withdraw these troops. In September 1996, Clinton ordered Operation Desert Strike. 44 cruise missiles were launched against Iraqi air defense targets in southern Iraq in two waves. The missiles hit targets in and around Kut, Iskandariyah, Nasiriyah, and Tallil. This was done in response to Saddam Hussein attempting to launch a military offensive campaign in the Kurdish town of Arbil.
Clinton spoke of the danger of chemical and biological weapons in his 1998 State of the Union Address, adding that "Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade, and much of his nation's wealth, not on providing for the Iraqi people, but on developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them." He spoke of Hussein's efforts to impede United Nations weapons inspectors, and said:
"I know I speak for everyone in this chamber, Republicans and Democrats, when I say to Saddam Hussein, 'You cannot defy the will of the world', and when I say to him, 'You have used weapons of mass destruction before; we are determined to deny you the capacity to use them again.'"
The UN weapons inspectors continued to encounter resistance from Iraq. Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act into law on October 31, 1998, which instituted a policy of "regime change" against Iraq. Between December 16 and 19, 1998, Clinton ordered four-day period of concentrated air attacks against military installations in Iraq in response to Saddam's refusal to cooperate with UN inspectors. After the bombing, Hussein blocked any further UN inspections and announced its attempt to shoot down Coalition aircraft in the no-fly zones over Iraq. U.S. and Coalition aircraft routinely attacked hostile Iraqi defense installations in Iraq, in response to provocation by the Iraqi military.
The UN sanctions against Iraq that the United Nations Security Council imposed after the Gulf War remained in place during the Clinton administration. By the end of 2001, while the war in Afghanistan was ongoing, the administration of President George W. Bush began drawing up military plans for an invasion of Iraq.
In his 2002 State of the Union Address, Bush identified Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the "axis of evil" due to their WMD programs and sponsorship of terrorism. In what became known as "the Bush Doctrine", preemptive military action was considered justified against states planning or aiding terrorist attacks on the United States. In September 2002, the Bush administration mounted a campaignto win popular and congressional support for military action against Iraq. Most congressional Republicans supported fell in line behind Bush, while leading Democrats like Hillary Clinton urged Bush to seek international support before going to war.
In October 2002, Congress approved the Iraq Resolution, authorizing the use of force against Iraq. Congressional Republicans gave almost unanimous supported the measure, while congressional Democrats were split. Bush tried to win the approval of the United Nations before launching an attack on Iraq. In November 2002, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 was passed, calling on Iraq to dismantle its WMD program. In December 2002, Iraq issued a report stating that it did not have a WMD program, but the U.S. rejected the report as false. A U.N. weapons inspections team led by Hans Blix, as well as another team led by Mohamed ElBaradei, failed to find evidence of an Iraqi WMD program, and Bush's proposed regime change in Iraq faced growng international opposition. Germany, China, France, and Russia disagreed about the need for regime change. British Prime Minister Tony Blair supported Bush but hoped for more international cooperation, Bush dispatched Powell to the U.N. to make the case to the Security Council that Iraq maintained an active WMD program. Powell failed to convince the French, Russians, or Germans. In spite of this Bush asserted in a March 17 public address that there was "no doubt" that the Iraqi regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Two days later, he authorized Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the Iraq War began on March 20, 2003.
Allied forces, led by General Tommy Franks, launched a simultaneous air and land attack on Iraq on March 20, 2003, in what the American media called "shock and awe." With 145,000 soldiers, the ground force quickly overcome most Iraqi resistance, and thousands of Iraqi soldiers deserted. On April 7, the U.S. captured the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Saddam Hussein escaped and went into hiding. While the U.S. and its allies had quickly achieved military success, the invasion was strongly criticized by many countries. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called the invasion was a violation of international law and of the U.N. Charter.
On May 1, 2003, Bush delivered the "Mission Accomplished speech," in which Bush declared the end of "major combat operations" in Iraq. Despite the failure to find evidence of an ongoing WMD program or an operational relationship between Hussein and al-Qaeda, Bush declared in his speech that the removal of Hussein from power "removed an ally of al-Qaeda" and ended the threat that Iraq would supply weapons of mass destruction a terrorist organization."
Bush and Franks planned for a reduction to 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq by August 2003. But after the fall of Baghdad, Iraqis began looting their own capital, presenting one of the first of many challenges the U.S. would face in keeping the peace in Iraq. Bush appointed Paul Bremer to lead the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which was charged with overseeing the transition to self-government in Iraq. Bremer announced a policy of de-Ba'athification, which denied government and military jobs to members of Hussein's Ba'ath Party. This policy angered many of Iraq's Sunnis, many of whom belonged to the Ba'ath Party.
Bremer's second major order disbanded the Iraqi military and police services, leaving over 600,000 Iraqi soldiers and government employees without jobs. Bremer also insisted that the CPA remain in control of Iraq until the country held elections. These decisions contributed to the beginning of the Iraqi insurgency opposed to the continuing U.S. presence. General John Abizaid ordered the end of the planned reduction in the number of troops, leaving over 130,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
The U.S. captured Saddam Hussein in December 2003, but the occupation force continued to suffer casualties. By the invasion and the end of 2003, 580 U.S. soldiers had died, with two thirds of those casualties occurring after Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech.
After 2003, more and more Iraqis began to see the U.S. as an occupying force. Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr encouraged many Shia Muslims to oppose the CPA. Sunni and Shia insurgents engaged in a campaign of guerilla warfare against the United Statesand as fighting in Iraq continued, domestic opposition to the war also strengthened. Many anti-war activists held protests against the Iraq War.
Bremer left Iraq in June 2004, transferring power to the Iraqi Interim Government, which was led by Ayad Allawi. In January 2005, the Iraqi people voted on representatives for the Iraqi National Assembly, and the Shia United Iraqi Alliance formed a governing coalition led by Ibrahim al-Jaafari. In October 2005, the Iraqis ratified a new constitution that created a decentralized governmental structure dividing Iraq into communities of Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, and Kurds. After another election, Jafari was succeeded as prime minister by another Shia, Nouri al-Maliki. But the elections failed to end the insurgency, and hundreds of U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq were killed in the fighting in 2005 and 2006. Sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias also intensified.
As the violence mounted in 2006, US military leaders called for further troop reductions in Iraq, but many within in the administration argued that the U.S. should maintain its troop levels. Bush rejected the notion of troop reductions. After the elections, Bush replaced Defense Secretary Rumsfeld with Robert Gates, while David Petraeus became military commander in the region. Bush approved a plan to "double down" in Iraq, increasing the number of U.S. soldiers in hopes of establishing a stable democracy. Maliki publicly announced his support for an increase of U.S. soldiers, and Bush announced in January 2007 that the U.S. would send an additional 20,000 soldiers to Iraq as part of a "surge" of forces.
In April 2007, Congress, now controlled by Democrats, passed a bill that called for a total withdrawal of all U.S. troops by April 2008, but Bush vetoed the bill. Opponents in Congress lacked the votes to override the veto. Congress passed a bill that continued to fund the war but also included the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, which increased the federal minimum wage.
U.S. and Iraqi casualties declined after May 2007, and in September Bush declared that the surge had been a success. He subsequently ordered a reduction of troops, and the number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq declined from 168,000 in September 2007 to 145,000 when Bush left office. Muqtada al-Sadr's decision to order his followers to cooperate with the Iraqi government. In 2008, Bush signed the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which promised complete withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2011.
During the 2008 presidential election, candidate Barack Obama strongly criticized the Iraq War. On taking office, Obama announced that U.S. combat forces would leave Iraq by August 2010, with 35,000–50,000 American soldiers remaining in Iraq as advisers and trainers. Obama attempted to convince Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to allow U.S. soldiers to stay past 2011, but the large presence of American soldiers was unpopular with most Iraqis. By late-December 2011, only 150 American soldiers remained in Iraq to serve at the US embassy.
In 2014, the U.S. began a campaign against ISIL, an Islamic extremist terrorist group operating in Iraq and Syria. This terrorist organization grew dramatically after the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq. By June 2015, there were about 3500 American soldiers in Iraq serving as advisers to anti-ISIL forces in the Iraqi Civil War.
Like Obama, President Donald Trump Trump took office, having been elected on a promise to get US forces out of foreign entanglements such as Iraq. The United States remained involved in a military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS, ). ISIL had gained control of parts of Iraq and Syria following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. There were roughly 4,500 American soldiers in Iraq as of February 2016. Under President Obama, the United States also backed the Free Syrian Army against the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.[639]
In the first unilateral military action by the United States targeting Ba'athist Syrian government forces during the Syrian Civil War,Trump authorizes a missile strike against Shayrat Airbase in direct response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, an attack which took place on April 4, 2017 on the town of Khan Shaykhun in Syria. The town was the target of an airstrike by government forces, in which toxic gas, which included sarin, was released, killing at least 74 people and injured more than 557.
In August 2017, senior State Department official Brett H. McGurk claimed that the Trump administration had "dramatically accelerated" the U.S.–led campaign against ISIL. He cited estimates that almost one-third of the territory taken from ISIL has been recovered in the past six months and he favorably credited "steps President Trump has taken, including delegating decision–making authority from the White House to commanders in the field" for this progress.
A review of the history of US involvement in Iraq demonstrates the difficult issues that presidents of both parties have struggled with. Left unchecked, Saddam Hussein posed a significant threat to American security. Some believe that intervention was premature, while others expressed concern that taking no action could have been catastrophic. As former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once said, "you don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud". Even with the benefit of hindsight, it is difficult to clearly see whether or not the first President Bush should have pressed for regime change. It is clearer to pinpoint errors in the transition after regime change was accomplished.
The perplexing question remaining on the president's desk is what level of continued US presence in Iraq is necessary to manage any ongoing security risks. Too much will cultivate further anti-American resentment in the region, while too little with leave the actions of ISIL unchecked. Critics of either position who propose sound-byte solutions fail to show an appreciation of the complexity of the problem and the risks associated with getting it wrong.
On August 2, 1990, Iraq, then led by Saddam Hussein, invaded its oil-rich neighbor to the south, Kuwait. The first President Bush condemned the invasion and began organizing opposition to Iraq among European, Asian, and Middle Eastern allies. His Secretary of Defense. future Vice-President Dick Cheney, traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Fahd who requested US military aid in the matter, concerned about a possible invasion of his country as well. Iraq tried to negotiate a deal that would allow the country to take control of half of Kuwait, but Bush rejected this proposal and demanded a complete withdrawal of Iraqi forces.
Planning of a ground operation by US-led coalition forces began in September 1990. Bush spoke before a joint session of the U.S. Congress regarding the authorization of air and land attacks, laying out four immediate objectives:
1. Iraq had to withdraw from Kuwait completely, immediately, and unconditionally
2. Kuwait's legitimate government had to be restored.
3. The Persian Gulf had to become secure and stable.
4. American citizens in the region must be protected.
After the United Nations Security Council sanctioned the plan, Congress authorized the use of military force with a set goal of returning control of Kuwait to the Kuwaiti government, and protecting America's interests abroad.
On the morning of January 17, 1991, allied forces launched the first attack, which included more than 4,000 bombing runs by coalition aircraft. This continued for the next four weeks, until a ground invasion was launched on February 24, 1991. Allied forces broke through Iraqi lines and pushed toward Kuwait City while on the west side of the country, forces were intercepting the retreating Iraqi army.
Bush made the decision to stop the offensive after a mere 100 hours. At the time he was criticized for this decision, but the passage of time soon demonstrated the wisdom of this decision. Bush said that he wanted to minimize U.S. casualties. He said that he did not give the order to overthrow the Iraqi government because, in his words, we would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq."
The United Nations Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 requiring Iraq to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction and allow inspectors from the United Nations Special Commission (UNS-COM) to monitor the country's adherence to the agreement. No-fly zones over Iraq were established by the U.S. and its allies to protect the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Shiites in southern Iraq from aerial attacks by the Iraqi government. On June 26, 1993, President Bill Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack on the Iraqi Intelligence Service's principal command and control complex in Baghdad. This was announced as retaliation for the assassination attempt by the IIS on former President George H. W. Bush while he was visiting Kuwait in April of that year to commemorate a coalition victory over Iraq in the Gulf War. Fourteen cruise missiles were launched from the USS Peterson and nine more from the USS Chancellorsville. Sixteen of these hit their target. Three struck a residential area, killing nine civilians and wounding 12 others. Four missiles were unaccounted for.
In October 1994, Baghdad once again began mobilizing around 64,000 Iraqi troops near the Kuwaiti border. In response, the U.S. begins to deploy troops in the Persian Gulf. This caused Iraq to withdraw these troops. In September 1996, Clinton ordered Operation Desert Strike. 44 cruise missiles were launched against Iraqi air defense targets in southern Iraq in two waves. The missiles hit targets in and around Kut, Iskandariyah, Nasiriyah, and Tallil. This was done in response to Saddam Hussein attempting to launch a military offensive campaign in the Kurdish town of Arbil.
Clinton spoke of the danger of chemical and biological weapons in his 1998 State of the Union Address, adding that "Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade, and much of his nation's wealth, not on providing for the Iraqi people, but on developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them." He spoke of Hussein's efforts to impede United Nations weapons inspectors, and said:
"I know I speak for everyone in this chamber, Republicans and Democrats, when I say to Saddam Hussein, 'You cannot defy the will of the world', and when I say to him, 'You have used weapons of mass destruction before; we are determined to deny you the capacity to use them again.'"
The UN weapons inspectors continued to encounter resistance from Iraq. Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act into law on October 31, 1998, which instituted a policy of "regime change" against Iraq. Between December 16 and 19, 1998, Clinton ordered four-day period of concentrated air attacks against military installations in Iraq in response to Saddam's refusal to cooperate with UN inspectors. After the bombing, Hussein blocked any further UN inspections and announced its attempt to shoot down Coalition aircraft in the no-fly zones over Iraq. U.S. and Coalition aircraft routinely attacked hostile Iraqi defense installations in Iraq, in response to provocation by the Iraqi military.
The UN sanctions against Iraq that the United Nations Security Council imposed after the Gulf War remained in place during the Clinton administration. By the end of 2001, while the war in Afghanistan was ongoing, the administration of President George W. Bush began drawing up military plans for an invasion of Iraq.
In his 2002 State of the Union Address, Bush identified Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the "axis of evil" due to their WMD programs and sponsorship of terrorism. In what became known as "the Bush Doctrine", preemptive military action was considered justified against states planning or aiding terrorist attacks on the United States. In September 2002, the Bush administration mounted a campaignto win popular and congressional support for military action against Iraq. Most congressional Republicans supported fell in line behind Bush, while leading Democrats like Hillary Clinton urged Bush to seek international support before going to war.
In October 2002, Congress approved the Iraq Resolution, authorizing the use of force against Iraq. Congressional Republicans gave almost unanimous supported the measure, while congressional Democrats were split. Bush tried to win the approval of the United Nations before launching an attack on Iraq. In November 2002, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 was passed, calling on Iraq to dismantle its WMD program. In December 2002, Iraq issued a report stating that it did not have a WMD program, but the U.S. rejected the report as false. A U.N. weapons inspections team led by Hans Blix, as well as another team led by Mohamed ElBaradei, failed to find evidence of an Iraqi WMD program, and Bush's proposed regime change in Iraq faced growng international opposition. Germany, China, France, and Russia disagreed about the need for regime change. British Prime Minister Tony Blair supported Bush but hoped for more international cooperation, Bush dispatched Powell to the U.N. to make the case to the Security Council that Iraq maintained an active WMD program. Powell failed to convince the French, Russians, or Germans. In spite of this Bush asserted in a March 17 public address that there was "no doubt" that the Iraqi regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Two days later, he authorized Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the Iraq War began on March 20, 2003.
Allied forces, led by General Tommy Franks, launched a simultaneous air and land attack on Iraq on March 20, 2003, in what the American media called "shock and awe." With 145,000 soldiers, the ground force quickly overcome most Iraqi resistance, and thousands of Iraqi soldiers deserted. On April 7, the U.S. captured the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Saddam Hussein escaped and went into hiding. While the U.S. and its allies had quickly achieved military success, the invasion was strongly criticized by many countries. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called the invasion was a violation of international law and of the U.N. Charter.
On May 1, 2003, Bush delivered the "Mission Accomplished speech," in which Bush declared the end of "major combat operations" in Iraq. Despite the failure to find evidence of an ongoing WMD program or an operational relationship between Hussein and al-Qaeda, Bush declared in his speech that the removal of Hussein from power "removed an ally of al-Qaeda" and ended the threat that Iraq would supply weapons of mass destruction a terrorist organization."
Bush and Franks planned for a reduction to 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq by August 2003. But after the fall of Baghdad, Iraqis began looting their own capital, presenting one of the first of many challenges the U.S. would face in keeping the peace in Iraq. Bush appointed Paul Bremer to lead the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which was charged with overseeing the transition to self-government in Iraq. Bremer announced a policy of de-Ba'athification, which denied government and military jobs to members of Hussein's Ba'ath Party. This policy angered many of Iraq's Sunnis, many of whom belonged to the Ba'ath Party.
Bremer's second major order disbanded the Iraqi military and police services, leaving over 600,000 Iraqi soldiers and government employees without jobs. Bremer also insisted that the CPA remain in control of Iraq until the country held elections. These decisions contributed to the beginning of the Iraqi insurgency opposed to the continuing U.S. presence. General John Abizaid ordered the end of the planned reduction in the number of troops, leaving over 130,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
The U.S. captured Saddam Hussein in December 2003, but the occupation force continued to suffer casualties. By the invasion and the end of 2003, 580 U.S. soldiers had died, with two thirds of those casualties occurring after Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech.
After 2003, more and more Iraqis began to see the U.S. as an occupying force. Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr encouraged many Shia Muslims to oppose the CPA. Sunni and Shia insurgents engaged in a campaign of guerilla warfare against the United Statesand as fighting in Iraq continued, domestic opposition to the war also strengthened. Many anti-war activists held protests against the Iraq War.
Bremer left Iraq in June 2004, transferring power to the Iraqi Interim Government, which was led by Ayad Allawi. In January 2005, the Iraqi people voted on representatives for the Iraqi National Assembly, and the Shia United Iraqi Alliance formed a governing coalition led by Ibrahim al-Jaafari. In October 2005, the Iraqis ratified a new constitution that created a decentralized governmental structure dividing Iraq into communities of Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, and Kurds. After another election, Jafari was succeeded as prime minister by another Shia, Nouri al-Maliki. But the elections failed to end the insurgency, and hundreds of U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq were killed in the fighting in 2005 and 2006. Sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias also intensified.
As the violence mounted in 2006, US military leaders called for further troop reductions in Iraq, but many within in the administration argued that the U.S. should maintain its troop levels. Bush rejected the notion of troop reductions. After the elections, Bush replaced Defense Secretary Rumsfeld with Robert Gates, while David Petraeus became military commander in the region. Bush approved a plan to "double down" in Iraq, increasing the number of U.S. soldiers in hopes of establishing a stable democracy. Maliki publicly announced his support for an increase of U.S. soldiers, and Bush announced in January 2007 that the U.S. would send an additional 20,000 soldiers to Iraq as part of a "surge" of forces.
In April 2007, Congress, now controlled by Democrats, passed a bill that called for a total withdrawal of all U.S. troops by April 2008, but Bush vetoed the bill. Opponents in Congress lacked the votes to override the veto. Congress passed a bill that continued to fund the war but also included the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, which increased the federal minimum wage.
U.S. and Iraqi casualties declined after May 2007, and in September Bush declared that the surge had been a success. He subsequently ordered a reduction of troops, and the number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq declined from 168,000 in September 2007 to 145,000 when Bush left office. Muqtada al-Sadr's decision to order his followers to cooperate with the Iraqi government. In 2008, Bush signed the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, which promised complete withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2011.
During the 2008 presidential election, candidate Barack Obama strongly criticized the Iraq War. On taking office, Obama announced that U.S. combat forces would leave Iraq by August 2010, with 35,000–50,000 American soldiers remaining in Iraq as advisers and trainers. Obama attempted to convince Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to allow U.S. soldiers to stay past 2011, but the large presence of American soldiers was unpopular with most Iraqis. By late-December 2011, only 150 American soldiers remained in Iraq to serve at the US embassy.
In 2014, the U.S. began a campaign against ISIL, an Islamic extremist terrorist group operating in Iraq and Syria. This terrorist organization grew dramatically after the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq. By June 2015, there were about 3500 American soldiers in Iraq serving as advisers to anti-ISIL forces in the Iraqi Civil War.
Like Obama, President Donald Trump Trump took office, having been elected on a promise to get US forces out of foreign entanglements such as Iraq. The United States remained involved in a military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS, ). ISIL had gained control of parts of Iraq and Syria following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. There were roughly 4,500 American soldiers in Iraq as of February 2016. Under President Obama, the United States also backed the Free Syrian Army against the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.[639]
In the first unilateral military action by the United States targeting Ba'athist Syrian government forces during the Syrian Civil War,Trump authorizes a missile strike against Shayrat Airbase in direct response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, an attack which took place on April 4, 2017 on the town of Khan Shaykhun in Syria. The town was the target of an airstrike by government forces, in which toxic gas, which included sarin, was released, killing at least 74 people and injured more than 557.
In August 2017, senior State Department official Brett H. McGurk claimed that the Trump administration had "dramatically accelerated" the U.S.–led campaign against ISIL. He cited estimates that almost one-third of the territory taken from ISIL has been recovered in the past six months and he favorably credited "steps President Trump has taken, including delegating decision–making authority from the White House to commanders in the field" for this progress.
A review of the history of US involvement in Iraq demonstrates the difficult issues that presidents of both parties have struggled with. Left unchecked, Saddam Hussein posed a significant threat to American security. Some believe that intervention was premature, while others expressed concern that taking no action could have been catastrophic. As former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once said, "you don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud". Even with the benefit of hindsight, it is difficult to clearly see whether or not the first President Bush should have pressed for regime change. It is clearer to pinpoint errors in the transition after regime change was accomplished.
The perplexing question remaining on the president's desk is what level of continued US presence in Iraq is necessary to manage any ongoing security risks. Too much will cultivate further anti-American resentment in the region, while too little with leave the actions of ISIL unchecked. Critics of either position who propose sound-byte solutions fail to show an appreciation of the complexity of the problem and the risks associated with getting it wrong.