AQI wants Obama to keep his promise on Iraq

Voters weren’t the only people counting on Barack Obama to keep his campaign promises.  Terrorists in Iraq want to see whether Obama will abide by his pledge to get American troops out of their way so that they can get back to the business of slaughtering Iraqis.  That includes al-Qaeda in Iraq:

Two Iraqi insurgent groups called on President-elect Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and abandon the war on terror, an Internet monitoring service reported Friday.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, self-styled head of the al-Qaida front group the Islamic State of Iraq, said in a speech posted on an extremist Web site that it would be better “for you and us” to “withdraw your forces,” according to the SITE Intelligence Group that monitors militant Web sites. …

In a separate statement, the Mujahedeen Army, a Sunni insurgent group, urged Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq or face “days that will be more difficult than the nightmare experienced by his predecessor.”

On Iraq, I think both terrorists and Code Pink will have to deal with some disappointment.  With casualties dropping to almost zero, Iraq is a war that Obama can win easily in the first few months of his term simply by not making any sudden shifts in strategy or personnel.  AQI and the other insurgencies are all but destroyed; the only real damage being done by them now is to their own credibility.

The downside to a sudden pullout could be disastrous for Obama.  If he did pull American forces out on a fast timetable, the security gains may not last with the still-developing Iraqi Army.  A collapse in Iraq following a forced withdrawal by Obama would make him look incompetent and impetuous, and could force us to return to Iraq and take casualties we could have avoided by following the current Bush plan instead.  He can’t risk starting his presidency with that kind of disaster.

By the time the general election rolled around, Iraq stopped being a major issue, and for good reason.  We’ve won the war, and we’ve finally won the peace.  Regardless of which candidate got elected, the policy in the next administration is likely to be the same despite Obama’s rhetoric during the primaries.