NORMAN — Tuesday night, ... President Barack Obama announced the end of combat operations for American forces in Iraq. ... He described an end to a war that hasn’t really ended, one that he never wanted to occur in the first place, yet one that he has had to lead ...
There could be no “mission accomplished” exultations, yet Obama had to exude strength ... We sensed that this was not the speech that Obama would have liked to give. Were he not the leader of the free world, perhaps he would have been free to tell it more like it is.
That would have included how he and many others believe that Iraq was invaded seven and a half years ago under false pretenses, that no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, that the reasons for the war kept changing, from battling an almost non-existent al-Qaida in Iraq to building a democracy ... And how more than 4,000 Americans lost their lives unnecessarily and how many more were injured and will have mental health issues for the rest of their lives.
But he couldn’t say all that. ... Obama showed what we believe is a sincere respect for the troops who have fought the battles and continue to serve in Iraq. ... Mr. Obama wanted to appear presidential. In this, he succeeded. How that could help him deal with the challenges to come ... is yet to be determined.
— The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
