Kerry: "The fight belongs to the Iraqis"

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Fox News: Obama administration under pressure to turn attention back to Iraq​

WASHINGTON – As Al Qaeda-aligned insurgents make unprecedented post-war gains in Iraq, U.S. military officials and others in the Obama administration are keeping their distance -- despite mounting calls to ratchet up involvement amid fears the country is teetering on the brink of civil war.

Administration officials are now trying to find some middle ground, which so far includes sending additional shipments of Hellfire missiles to Baghdad, as well as surveillance drones. Lawmakers, though, claim it's clear the administration could be doing more.

"There's not a lot we can do, but there's some," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told Fox News, urging the administration to send over high-level advisers to assist Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, for starters. A relatively small contingent of military advisers reportedly has been in Iraq since combat forces withdrew.

So, we kick Saddam out, help them establish a democratically elected government, then change presidents, strategies, and priorities. And what are the Iraqi people supposed to do? The vast majority of them want a free country, a democratic government. It is the fanatical minority that want Sha'riah law and a theocracy. The problem is, it is that nutball minority that has all the weapons, because immediately after we left, Iran started smuggling the weapons in to the al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist groups.

It has been suggested that we could fast-track F-16s -- an obsolete aircraft from our standpoint -- and Apache helicopters to the Iraqi military, but the administration "doesn't want to get entrenched that deeply." So essentially, in "reversing" Bush foreign policy, we've told our friends "tough -- learn to defend yourselves."

Great policy.