Posted on 01/05/2014 3:01:08 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry voiced confidence on Sunday the Iraqi government and tribes would be successful in their fight against al Qaeda, and said Washington was not considering sending troops back to Iraq.
Sectarian and ethnic tensions have risen in Iraq since the U.S. withdrawal in December 2011, inflamed by the conflict in neighboring Syria, where mainly Sunni rebels are trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Shi'ite Iran.
The Iraqi army has joined forces with local tribesmen to battle al Qaeda, which has teamed up with groups of Syrian rebels to try to create across the Iraqi-Syrian border a state based on strict medieval Sunni Islamic practice.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Guess where the scumbag that blew up the towers in NY went after the dirty deed....Iraq.
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but Saddam reportedly gave 25k to families of Palestinian suicide bombers.
TRANSLATION: Kerry and Obama intend to finance any future wars in Itaq with US taxpayer dollars!!
Which part of my comment didn’t you understand, Einstein?
He did and Fox News reported it.
Irrelevant. Our troops did the job and paid the price. To say their sacrifice was in vain is disrespectful. The Surge worked remarkably well. The problem came when Obama -- against the advice of generals and Pentagon chiefs -- refused to leave any troops behind to prevent Al Queda filling the vaccum. OBAMA is the issue here, not Bush or our troops past actions. That you wish to make that your focus , makes me suspicious of your motives.
Well I don’t think you should be suspicious of a right-wing senior citizen and veteran.
I don’t believe in useless military activity, especially when one reflects on the Korean (my war) and Vietnam Wars and the fact that we left one in an eternal stalemate and the other in a disgraceful retreat.
I could go on and on about our involvement in foreign wars and military actions subsequent to 1917, but then there are a plethora of books on the subject which I feel certain you have read your share of them.
But chew on this factoid: we don’t even defend our borders and have literally shredded what this Republic once stood for. How can we continue to build larger embassies, schools, hospitals, roads and airports in foreign countries when we are as bankrupt as Zimbabwe?
So true. The greatest threat to civilization today is radical islam. In the middle east, who were the two biggest obstacles to the spread of radical islam?
The Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein.
Carter did radical islam a great favor by removing the Shah. Bush II did radical islam a great favor by removing Saddam.
We will eventually pay very dearly for both of those idiotic moves.
Seems to me he rained missiles on Israel while being evicted from Kuwait.
That was due to the inability/unwillingness of DoS to negotiate immunity for US soldiers/contractors after the signing of the of the US/Iraq Status of Forces Agreement. No one wants to see an American end up in a foreign jail as "payback" for activities in a foreign country, and that was a real possibility in Iraq. The "government" we rebuilt for them is a petulant child looking for revenge.
Yes, the troops did their job, but I agree with IBJensen, we should never went into Iraq to begin with. We should have expended the effort on Saudi Arabia.
Our Department of State has been rudderless for decades and it would be better off if we’d just eliminate the position of SOS because with Clinton and now Kerry in charge our position in world affairs can go nowhere but down.
BAM! Off the top rope, and I wholeheartedly agree with the entire post. DoS is ineffective and incompetent.
The only thing I am unsure of is whether BO wanted out completely, and acted as he did to put the blame on the Iraqis, or whether he and his advisers are really too dull witted to under stand the situation.
Immunity for the troops/contractors was not in the US /Iraqi SOFA, but the negotiations were done almost as an afterthought. I was contracting there, and we were harassed incessantly by those b*******. It come down to the point where we wouldn't eave base because we were disarmed by our own. The Iraqi's would constantly pull the landing rights of civilian charters at Baghdad Int'l, and when those charters were allowed to land did, the Iraqi's would charge us excessively for their precious visa. That tomfoolery is the State Dept's purview, but I guess they were all too busy partying.
I was an unfan of Foggy Bottom for decades before the Hildabeast went to work there, but what happened in Iraq is not State's fault. Would you agree that there were many Iraqis who disliked the US and wanted us out? In addition to the Iraqis who were trying to inflate their own egos and line their own pockets by screwing over Americans at every opportunity?
The Iraqi Government would have been happy to face down those who wanted the US out if it something big in return -- like a US military presence large enough and active enough to make a real difference in fighting the jihadists. But BO was offering a small force, that he would probably keep confined to post (as it appears you basically were at the end). That did not provide enough military muscle - much less enough opportunity for shakedowns -- to make it worth the Iraqi Government's while. If they weren't going to have a robust American military presence to hide behind, the Iraqi Government wasn't going to take the flak for allowing the Americans to stay.
I don't doubt that State screwed up a lot of things in Iraq, but it could not change the fact that the Iraqi leaders were not prepared to bet their careers -- and lives -- on BO bailing them out when the sort of events we see today occurred.
Huh?
Did it take you a week to think up that response general?
Gosh you’re dumb.
Almost everything you’ve listed is either flat out wrong, hyperbole and myopia.
Excactly what type “clout and political cover” was bestowed upon Iran as a result of our invasion of Iraq? Considering that Iran has received nuclear plant development support from Russia and Pakistan since the ‘70s your assertion is groundless and absurd.
Likewise your claim that Egypt and Syria are Alqaeda states is also absurd as both nations are in vigorous confrontation with Alqaeda.
And Alqaeda is a negligible threat to Israel. When was the last time the Israeli and Alqaeda air forces clashed vs. clashes by Israeli and Syrian air force?
Most conspicuous is the fact you’re conveniently forgetting the previous extensive support of Alqueda by the “secular governments” you bemoan which are now under pressure by the Arab Spring. Instead of supporting terrorists they now have to fight them in their own countries. This is due to mass public opposition to their dictatorship by citizens desiring the same sort of self-representation Iraq now has.
So you want the good ‘ole days of state-sponsored terrorism, attacks within Israel and regional wars every 10 years eh? Here’s a hint. Since the beginning of the Arab Spring Israel has enjoyed unprecedented peace within and on it’s borders. The terrorists for the most part have lost their state sponsors and are now attacking the prior benefactors under the cover of the popular opposition to those states’ dictatorships by those wanting representative governance as in Iraq.
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