In response to reader Jay Hilgartner's letter, Bud Adams asserts that the "disaster of nation building in Iraq" occurred when President Obama removed all U.S. troops from the country in 2011, against the advice of his military advisers and at a time when the country was calm and stable ("Republican letter to Iran is a disgrace," March 11).
Mr. Adams is certainly purveying a shocking lie. Mr. Obama had no choice but to remove troops from Iraq due to the Status of Forces Agreement negotiated by his predecessor. To do otherwise would expose remaining U.S. troops to prosecution by Iraqi courts.
The only way troops could have remained in Iraq was through the invitation and consent of the Iraqi parliament — which had seen quite enough of our so-called nation building.
Putting aside the SOFA — which many Republicans subscribing to the "Obama lost Iraq" revisionist fantasy ignore — there is a good case to be made that Mr. Obama was elected because he was consistent even before the Iraq war started that the invasion was an act of national insanity.
That is why I voted for him and not Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary in 2008. Mr. Obama was the first viable candidate for president who believed the war in Iraq was a lost cause and who could be counted on to do what voters wanted, namely bring our troops home and ending the carnage. To say Mr. Obama somehow "lost Iraq" is nonsense.
Paul R. Schlitz Jr., Baltimore