Loftis in Washington Examiner: The “If Only” Strategy
Robert Loftis, Director of Graduate Studies at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, said that the U. S. did not have the right to station permanent forces in Iraq after 2011.
Loftis made the argument in an August 31 op-ed for the Washington Examiner entitled “The ‘If Only’ Islamic State Strategy.”
From the text of the op-ed:
This is a critical point. The U.S. does not and, especially after sovereignty was restored to Iraq, did not have the authority or the right to unilaterally station armed forces in Iraq without Baghdad’s permission. To suggest otherwise ignores international law and America’s own long-standing practices.
We do not allow our closest allies to exercise and train in this country without our express permission. Absent the agreement of the Iraqi government, after 2011, U.S. forces would have reverted to the status of an invading power and very likely would have found most of their energies engaged in self-defense.
You can read the entire op-ed here.
Loftis served in the State Department and Foreign Service from 1980 to 2012, where he held a wide variety of assignments. In early 2008, Loftis was the lead negotiator for a status of forces agreement with Iraq. Learn more about him here.