Iraq conflict is far from over

The US has withdrawn combat troops from Iraq, but the troops who remain are still carrying out missions and violent attacks by militants are on the rise.

Attorney and former CIA officer Jack Rice argued that the conflict in Iraq is far from over.

There are still about 50,000 US troops in the region and many more thousands off the coast. The Obama administration wants to call this a new operation, but it is not and it is not over, explained Rice.

“We can’t wipe our hands of this. We can’t simply say mission accomplished,” said Rice.

Rice argued that the problems of Iraq’s past are still there. The problems in the Iraqi government and the violence is still present, it hasn’t changed.

“Just because it’s under the surface doesn’t mean it’s disappeared, it’s just that we desperately want it to disappear so we relabel it, shine it up and say mission accomplished,” said Rice.

Rice argued that the administration is looking to gain from the political side of calling the war in Iraq finished. Obama and the Pentagon are seeking to gain political points given the number of other concerns plaguing the US population at this time.

“At the end of the day we can shine this up and say a job well done, mission accomplished, the sacrifice was worth it. But if it’s you burring your child, how much is it worth, have we done the things we should be doing , are there enough soldiers in place to defend those remaining to try and build Iraq itself? I think that when we ask those questions, those really difficult emotional gut wrenching questions, and we don’t have proper answers, that’s when we have to really reconsider what it is we are doing and say, is it really over? And sadly, the answer is no,” said Rice.

Obama campaigned on ending the wars and ending Neocon policies in the Middle East. But, Neocon Frederick Kagan has been brought onboard to work with General David Petraeus to help in implementing an Iraq style surge in Afghanistan.

Rice argued that the idea we can take Iraq surge and drop it into the Afghanistan war is absurd. He explained that the two “are not even slightly related”.

“You cannot fight one the same way you fight the other. At the end of the day with everything that we did in Iraq It will not work in Afghanistan, it simply won’t,” said Rice.

Unfortunately, rice explained, many policy shifts Americans had hoped to see under the Obama administration just turned out to be more of the same.