How the Iraq War Was Won and Lost | 5 Minute Video
What if people have the war in Iraq backwards? What if George W. Bush and the U.S. military won it, and Barack Obama and the Democrats gave it away? Well, we don’t have to wonder what if, because Pete Hegseth, who served in Iraq, explains what happened.
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Script:
The Iraq War was an absolute disaster – a historic mistake.
That’s probably what most Americans – not to mention most people around the world – would say. But is it true?
President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003 is subject to fair debate. But it’s important to recall that, at the time, the war had overwhelming bi-partisan support in the House and Senate. Dozens of allied countries joined the coalition. That support, however, quickly faded as casualties mounted and the war started to bog down.
Criticism then turned to blame when the weapons of mass destruction that were expected to be found were not. Nothing seemed to be going right. I know – I was there, serving as a lieutenant in the United States Army.
As 2007 dawned, President Bush faced a near total collapse in both public and political support for the war. He had to make an impossibly difficult decision: accept strategic defeat and leave Iraq in chaos, or send even more troops into battle. He chose the latter, a decision that came to be known as “The Surge.”
The Democrats predicted disaster. Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader at the time, said, “This war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything.” Senators Joe Biden, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton agreed.
They were all wrong.
Led by General David Petraeus, and supplemented by 30,000 additional troops, American forces and their Iraqi counterparts reversed the course of the war. It was one of the most stunning and successful turnabouts in modern military history.
In 2008, I returned to the country to see for myself. I had seen the “before.” I could hardly believe the “after.”
Attacks on US forces were down 90%. American casualties were rare. Baghdad’s most dangerous neighborhoods were secure. Al Qaeda in Iraq was decimated. The oil was flowing again. Iraqis were rebuilding. And new elections were held.
This was the Iraq that President Barack Obama inherited when he took the oath of office on January 20, 2009.
Now, Iraq was certainly no Western-style democracy, but it was—as General Petraeus dubbed it—a functioning “Iraqracy.” So much so that, in a February 2009 speech to Marines at Camp Lejeune, President Obama said: “The relative peace and strong participation in January’s provincial elections sent a powerful message to the world about how far Iraqis have come.”
Vice President Joe Biden was even more enthusiastic a year later, when he said in February 2010: “I am very optimistic about Iraq. I think it’s going to be one of the greatest achievements of this administration.”
To put it mildly, it wasn’t.
So, what went wrong?
It started when the Obama Administration got into a dispute with the Iraqi government over something called a “Status of Forces Agreement.” The Iraqis said they wanted to be able to prosecute American soldiers who broke Iraqi law. Appropriately, the Obama Administration said no; we will prosecute our own law-breakers. But instead of continuing to work towards an agreement, the president, against the advice of his own generals, ended negotiations.
President Obama had said during his campaign that he would bring all the troops home, and the status-of-forces dispute gave him the perfect excuse to do just that.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/how-iraq-was-won-and-lost
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Conservatives carry a butthole inside their heads instead of a brain, even the times of the troop surge, insurgents were able to kill everybody and perpetrate every attack they wished to…
'We lost the war as soon as the Democrats took power.'
That's literally every war.
War starts for valid reasons. War is terrible. Hippies at home cry about it. Democrats get elected. Boom, fall of Saigon, Iraq War, Joe Biden gives 85 billion in weapons and tech to the Taliban, need I go on?
After all of this, I must say only this: the Middle East is a complicated area.
There's one battle that we, the common people from all continents, are always losing: the one against alienated western "leaders".
America's "mortal enemy" Iran. Oh? According to whom? Israel?
The Surge Myth – someone needs to go through and debunk this nonsense. All the Iraqi enemies did was run away and hide and wait us out. This whole narrative is shameful and ridiculous. Look what happened the moment we left! And now it's all Obama's fault?
Seeing the retreat of Afghanistan recently. It seems like history, repeating itself.
Did you ever ask why the US took military action in Iraq to begin with? You are trying to mislead by reading the history from a fake starting point.
3:08 The Status of Forces Agreement was signed by Bush in 2008 which included the withdrawl until December 31, 2011. I guess Obama is at fault for Iraq by withdrawing the troops early … by December 18th 2011? Surely those two weeks would have transformed Iraq into a functioning democracy.
Three Arrows squad checking in.
Honously Saddam could learn something from the propoganda that comes from this channel. As if the Iraqi's weren't waiting in line to join forces with Iran. And didn't US air raids help defeat ISIS?
This video is just one long: ''Thanks Obama''
OMG, why are you STILL defending this war:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E_TDQo9Zpv8&t=3740
There's no excuse. Bush, Cheny, Blaire et al are war criminals.
One million dead Iraqi's, because of lies.
Isis was in it for the long-term America for the short-term
They knew it would be costly to keep so much soldiers on foreign soil… They jus bid their time and are taking over now
I like George W. Bush but he got played by Rumsfeld & NSA/CIA swine. Good for him for firing Rumsfeld in cold blood.
PUT BACK TRUM*P IN THE CHAIR FOR GOD'S SAKE!! 😭🙏
Excellent.
https://youtu.be/c3a54QEkXVk
2:15 oh so now you admit it
"Oil was flowing". Yep, that explains everything in this nonsensical video.
I'm a NATIONAL iraqi and I support toppling Saddam.
Your mistake is that you pulled out unfortunately
Also you're 100% right, Obama was a disaster.
I'm surprised no one wants to acknowledge the mass graves that were uncovered. But, I guess that shows how ignorant even the conservatives are on this channel.
Iraqis are a free country so they can ask to arrest our soldiers… Obama did the right thing . Afganistan attacked the west with bib Laden . Not Iraq . Saddam was under a no flight zone in his country…
George w bush is a guy who dodged service in Vietnam by joining the national guard… I'll say this the biggest mistake of the Iraq war was going in on bs intelligence. Collin Powell destroyed his reputation at the UN . If NATO doesn't come along u have a serious problem. Iraq was attacked illegally… U talk about Isis?? Without a us invasion there is NO Isis there . Saddam would've collasped in Arab Spring . Seriously Saddam hated terriosism .
I'm a Canadian and we didn't even come lol. Thankfully we had a liberal government . Conservative Stephen Harper would've ran in as Bush's lap dog….
Dozens of countries ??? If u can not get NATO to come ur in trouble.
How about we just bomb afganistan and send special forces to get bin Laden and save millions . If George Bush won the war … Than Obama left in victory . Simple
This is typical right wing propaganda. Exactly what you'd expect from a propaganda channel like PragerU.
if you love america and are sane , you would not say iraq war was good . It wasted trillions of hard earned money of ordinary americans and life's. It gave a great opportunity for US rival – China to grow powerful quietly while us is busy with this crap
This guy looks like he was insulted by some Iraqi refugee, then he went home and angrily made this video.
didn't they confirm in another video that they found WMD
and then rejected it in this vid
Actually Donald Trump Say that Iraq Was Better Under Saddam Hussein because Saddam Hussein will imidiately kill the terrorist