Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced a new timeline for American combat operations in Afghanistan—or did he?

The question of the moment is not “Who lost Iraq?” but rather “Is Iraq definitely lost?”

We interrupt President Obama’s celebration of keeping a campaign promise to bring you news from Iraq, where a political crisis has been unfolding since just hours after Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta departed on Thursday.

The drawdown in Afghanistan may be afoot, but racing for the exits will leave large parts of the country -- especially around Kabul in the east -- infested with insurgent havens.

This vision of relations will seem palatable to Americans and Iraqis who want to believe that all will be well after the withdrawal of U.S. troops. But the image is a mirage.

President Obama’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops is the mother of all disasters.

The American withdrawal, which comes after the administration's failure to secure a new agreement that would have allowed troops to remain in Iraq, won't be good for ordinary Iraqis nor for the region. But it will unquestionably benefit Iran.

The humiliation of Obama's retreat is compounded by the dishonesty of its presentation. The president has failed to achieve any of the objectives that he established as his own policy in February 2009 — apart, of course, from withdrawing U.S. military forces.