UNBELIEVABLE – AT 8:22 A.M. ET:   Where do Field Marshal Obama and Grand Admiral Kerry spin this as a victory?  Only in their heads.  From Reuters:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq may request Russian air strikes against Islamic State on its soil soon and wants Moscow to have a bigger role than the United States in the war against the militant group, the head of parliament's defense and security committee said on Wednesday.

“In the upcoming few days or weeks, I think Iraq will be forced to ask Russia to launch air strikes, and that depends on their success in Syria," Hakim al-Zamili, a leading Shi'ite politician, told Reuters in an interview.

The comments were the clearest signal yet that Baghdad intends to lean on Russia in the war on Islamic State after U.S.-led coalition airstrikes produced limited results.

Russian military action in Iraq would deepen U.S. fears that it is losing more strategic ground in the region as Russia weighs in behind President Bashar al-Assad with airstrikes in Syria and Iran holds deep sway in Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said he would welcome Russian airstrikes on Islamic State militants in Iraq and powerful Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias hope for a partnership with Russia to counter U.S. influence.

"We are seeking to see Russia have a bigger role in Iraq. ... Yes, definitely a bigger role than the Americans," Zamili said.

Shi'ite militias, long mistrustful of the United States, see Russia's intervention as an opportunity to turn the tables.

Russia's drive for more clout in the Middle East includes a new security and intelligence-sharing agreement with Iran, Iraq and Syria with a command center in Baghdad.

"We believe that this center will develop in the near future to be a joint operation command to lead the war against Daesh in Iraq," said Zamili, using a derogatory Arabic acronym for Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL.

COMMENT:  Obama was warned repeatedly not to remove all American troops from Iraq, but to keep a stabilization force in that country.  His refusal to heed the warnings, from his top military advisers, and his own constant, callous denunciations of our military action in Iraq – which must've been loved by families who lost a soldier – have led directly to our essentially being invited out of the country we liberated.

Contrast that, please, with our staying the course in South Korea, through many difficult years.  The result is a vibrant, free, South Korea, an important American ally.

If someone had told me 40 years ago that an American president could do this much damage to his own country, I would have laughed.  I'm not laughing.  Maybe the term, "Manchurian candidate," isn't so far off.

October 8, 2015