Obama and Success in Iraq

On Feb 10, 2010, Vice President Joe Biden was on with Larry King. During the conversation Vice President Biden, a cut-and-runner, said that Iraq was one of the great accomplishments of the Obama Administration.

BIDEN: "Well, you’ve heard me say that for the last 10 years. I think it’s the — it’s a big country. It has nuclear weapons that are able to be deployed. It has a real significant minority of radicalized population. It is — it is not a completely functional democracy in the sense we think about it. And so it’s — it — that’s my greatest concern.

I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer.

You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government. I spent — I’ve been there 17 times now. I go about every two months — three months. I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society.

It’s impressed me. I’ve been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences."

Can't believe that he actually said that. Obama likes to talk about inheriting 2 wars. Prior to leaving office, Bush signed the Force Agreement with Iraq, removing the US from any active, independent, military role-we would be there to assist in Iraqi led operations. Seems that would have basically ended the war. (Although Obama violated that agreement and meddled in Iraqi sovereignty:)

http://ayfs.wordpress.com/2009/07/25/iraq-investigates-obama-administration-meetings-violated-iraqi-sovereignty-and-showed-tolerance-for-terrorists/

On a related front, it is beginning to look like the recession may have ended in July, 2009. At this point, we have had 2 quarters of growth. Now, I understand that Obama supporters are right in saying that it takes time to change direction and fix problems. But if the recession ended in July, 2009, less than 6 months after Obama took office, should he get any credit for ending it? What measures did he take to end it? I guess that the $787 billion stimulus had an impact but to this day I am hearing that hardly any of that money has been spent even now. How much of it was spent prior to July, 2009 and could this realistically have a impact that soon on the economy?