Insightful Analysis on the Foriegn Policy Heaches Facing Obama

The more I read it, the more I like the analysis done by the History News Network blog. In this post he lays out some of the foreign policy problems facing Obama as well as some possible solutions. I'm not sure I totally agree with all of this, but it's an interesting take.

First, in Iraq, contrary to what most Americans have assumed, Obama has not called for the withdrawal of all American forces from Iraq. Rather, he has called for the more limited withdrawal of combat troops, a policy that ultimately differs little from those advocated by President Bush and Senator McCain. All would leave tens of thousands of American soldiers permanently stationed in Iraq, much as they are in Germany, Qatar or South Korea.

Such a normalization of the occupation is morally and politically unacceptable to most of the world, including most Iraqis and a large percentage of the American public, all of whom expect American forces to withdraw fully from Iraq in a timely manner.