The new War in Iraq begs the question, can Obama ever manage to get out of his own way?

Flopping Aces ^ | 06-28-14 | Richard H. Lee

[Starman417]

The reignited war in Iraq is the latest result of a long string of incompetent decisions made by President Barack Obama. His premature decision to withdraw from Iraq left a power vacuum that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is happy to fill.

ISIS is taking over Iraq with a speed and efficiency reminiscent of the Nazi blitzkrieg across Europe in World War II. Al Jazeera is reporting that ISIS has taken an oil refinery along with an airbase and has also seized the western Anbar town of Rutba, adding that at least 70% of Anbar province is now under the control of ISIS. In fact, ISIS now holds nearly one-third of Iraq.

And the war is spreading-Syrian Air Force jets on Tuesday attacked ISIS near the town of al-Qaim, in northwestern Iraq no more than ten miles from the Syrian border.

The US still has troops in Germany so many decades after World War II, so why did Obama not keep enough soldiers in Iraq to keep the peace? Now, America’s worst nightmare might come true - an anti-American Taliban type state in Iraq that gives shelter to America’s enemies.

Speaking on Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that President Barack Obama has prepared "a range of options for Iraq.” But if history is any indicator, the Obama White House will just drop the ball again and leave the Iraqi people in the cross hairs.

The heavy lifting in the Iraq War was done by George Bush and the US military, and it takes sheer stupidity to be able to pull defeat out of the jaws of victory.

Add in his empty threat of a ‘red’ line in Syria which emboldened America’s enemies, his disastrous Obamacare roll-out, the lackluster economy after a $1 trillion stimulus package, his failed reset with Russia, the failed green initiative as exemplified by Solyndra and Obama has failure written all over his face.

Now the other shoe is about to drop. The pullout of US forces from Afghanistan is likely to achieve the same abysmal result as in Iraq.

Russia has taken note of the weakness of America’s president. The result was annexation of the Crimea. Meanwhile, China is pressing its territorial claims against smaller Asian countries. American withdrawal from the world arena has led to more upheavals and a more dangerous world.

[Dilbert San Diego]

the liberal view is already that Bush is to blame. Reason being, since liberals decided we should not have invaded in 2003 in the first place, that anything that happens in Iraq after that is due to the invasion.

And, remember, in the Era of Obama, nothing can be blamed on the policies or actions of this administration. Since Obama cannot be blamed for anything, and his policies cannot be blamed for anything, then the liberal view is that someone else, or some outside force, is to blame for anything bad which happens during the Era of Obama.

[joethedrummer]

“The US still has troops in Germany so many decades after World War II, so why did Obama not keep enough soldiers in Iraq to keep the peace?”

Because lefties ALWAYS do this crap: “be NICE to our enemies and they’ll leave us alone!...” -to appease the idiot leftist voters in this country.

But even more than that, in obamas case: “...I will STAND WITH THE MUSLIMS...” He’s ONE of them.

He is ALL ABOUT giving them a ‘State’ from which to empower themselves. Only he’s too stupid to realize what he’s REALLY doing - until they are raping and decapitating HIS wife and daughters before giving him the same treatment.

Then he’ll be asking them “why? I was your friend!?”

Low-life, naive, ignoramus that he is.

[Dick Bachert]

I don’t want him to ever get out of his way. I’ll just make sure I’ll stay out of his so he can finish destroying himself and the demonrat party.

And when he’s done, let’s just pray there’s enough left of America that we might be able to salvage something.

[zeestephen]

Re: “Can Obama ever manage to get out of his own way?”

Does the author really not understand that Obama is deliberately and maliciously destroying the few remaining things that made America an exceptional nation?

[tinyowl]

Richard - I enjoy reading your pieces/posts. Since I'm usually in line with where you're at, no comments on this specifically, except I'm preaching to the choir saying it's amazing that what's in your list isn't major, major news.

I imagine you've seen this, I post it only because it appears as though ISIS is sweeping Iraq with the sense of inevitability which ... well ... we ... swept through Iraq years ago, only to know that in the aftermath of the sweep, the job is governing the people - or 'can you govern.'

... And that ISIS will be up against it's own version of that - including its own cultural issues. This is not in refutation of anything you wrote or your ideas, but it's an important attendant set of thoughts to the mix.

From NRO: ISIS is Dysfunctional

Thanks for continued writing!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Starman417.

It's almost as if Soetero doesn't work for us.

[SunkenCiv]

from that NRO piece:

> Let’s be clear: The crisis in Iraq isn’t about general Sunni-vs.-Shia sectarianism. Instead, it’s the consequence of a blood feud between Salafi jihadists and Iran.

It’s neither one. Just like all the jihadist movements in the past — including the current regime in Iran — the ISIS jihadists have the grandiose dream of taking over the world, beginning with where they’re fighting now. Jihad is the natural result of Islam, and the way to get rid of jihad is to rid the world of Islam.

Currently ISIS is opposed by Iran; a new Daniel Pipes piece that someone recently posted claims that the main line of supply and ingress for the ISIS jihadists is through Turkey, which isn’t geographically surprising, since Turkey borders parts of the area ISIS now controls, and entering Turkey from the EU (where a number of ISIS recruits come from) is easy.

ISIS’ funding comes from the same types of sources that the Taliban, AQ, Boko Haram, and the Somalian mass-murderers comes from — any and every rich muzzie with a few million burning a jihadist hole in his robes, and Iran. The idea that Iran can only hope to gain control over all of Iraq at last makes it easy to see that the rise of ISIS is yet another cruel necessity, and ISIS’ fight with AQ is just laying a little PR groundwork.

[SunkenCiv]

> In the cities that ISIS now rules, the collapse of government services has cut access to electricity and water. This is an especially big problem in Iraq... Mosul’s temperature is 113 degrees Fahrenheit. ISIS is good at torturing people and seizing refineries, but it lacks the technical skills and bureaucratic temperament to support populations.

IOW, you want water and electricity? We have that now. Don’t want to toe the line? Die.