Posted on 11/24/2014 5:51:58 PM PST by beaversmom
WASHINGTON -- The Islamic Republic of Iran would like to make one thing clear: We've got this.
Up until June 10, Iranian officials had been content to shape events in Iraq quietly through their hold on local Shiite militias and the prime minister at the time, Nouri al-Maliki.
Then the Iraqi government lost Mosul, the nation's second-largest city, to the growing Sunni extremist force now known as the Islamic State, or ISIS. The U.S. eventually responded: It forced a new government to take power, sent in airpower and military advisers, and launched an international effort against ISIS in both Iraq and Syria.
But months before the U.S. showed that it was willing to invest heavily in the region again, Iran decided the rise of ISIS gave it the chance to stop being coy about its control of the Iraqi government.
The Iranian influence has only grown more visible now that the U.S. is embroiled in Iraq again. Control of the critical Interior Ministry was awarded last month to a representative of the Badr militia, one of the top Iranian proxies in Iraq.
The picture above shows Badr's leader, Hadi al-Amiri, chuckling with General Qassem Suleimani, the commander of Iran's internationally oriented paramilitary Quds Force. The publication of the photograph is a signal from Iran of just how powerful it is in Iraq, a high-ranking U.S. official said. Iran is embracing the Iraqi government and the Shiite militias.
The U.S., meanwhile, is still developing its policy against ISIS -- and it knows, according to administration officials, Syrian opposition figures and outside analysts interviewed by The Huffington Post, that as a latecomer to the game, it has entered an arena in which Tehran's rules dominate.
Suleimani, a favorite of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, plays a big part in setting those...
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
It is a Sunni-Shia World War - pick a side or get out of the region.
The Iraqis that we “TRAINED” defend their country, bugged out like a bunch of scared rabbits, once ISIS soldiers came. They ran and left their weapons(that we supplied them), the most modern tanks (that we supplied them)and now ISIS has them. Now, we are suppose to do the fighting for these IRAQIS. Oh they more than willing to hold our coats, while we fight ISIS. There is something wrong with this picture With all the oil money that they have, they can hire mercenaries to get rid of these ISIS Muslims. But they’d rather use our men and women to bleed for them, not mentioning our treasure.
May both sides lose. The best case scenario would be mutual and total destruction.
They’re like the French. Always there when they need us.
The good old days.
Damn straight.
And the Iraqis we ‘trained’ would just as soon be lopping off heads and creating mayhem if they got the upper hand.
Whichever sect has the upper hand in that region is going to use it against their fellow Muslims.
And none of them are our friends. They’ll slit our throats just as much as any other group (after they’ve extracted all the money and equipment and ‘training’ we can provide of course)
That can’t happen if we keep intervening to save some Muslims from other Muslims.
The best case is a long long war that results in a stalemate...
From what I read, oil production and export is pretty much uninterrupted. Everybody needs the dough.
That is why he took so long to take any action against them. We trained and armed them, but the trainers used were better than the ones to train the Iraqi's.
Both initially armed by us. Just Isis made better use of the training against the Iraqi's. They probably got field manuals on all the weapons and vehicles the captured from the Iraqi's. So it was no problem for them.
Yep, everything you say about the use of hydrogen is true. You know what?, they probably said the same thing about the use of gasoline and other fuels we are now using. Until it took some INVENTIVE MIND to figure it out. It is still true, that when necessary, some one will come up with a solution.
This reminds me of a true “JOKE”, that happened in the late 50’s. NATO was holding war games in Europe. There were the US, BRITS, Germans, French, Italian. Then a German General made a statement about Italian Tanks, with one gear forward and four gears for reverse. Pissed the Italians off. TRUE STORY, BY THE WAY
You know, of course, why the Champs Élysées is lined with all those beautiful trees...the Germans hate having their victory parades in the hot sun!
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