Destruction of Raqqa exceeds that of Mosul, Aleppo: BBC correspondent

AMN (al Masdar News) ^ | 18/09/2017 | Andrew Illingworth

[BeauBo]

“You are totally insane if you think we could have stayed in Iraq. You again fail to think realistically about how people react to foreign soldiers from another race and religion occupying their country. Why didn’t you address that point?”

Let’s just look at the simple fact that thousands of US troops are in Iraq today (and have been for years). Perhaps you are too insane to recognize this reality? Mobs of zombie-like Arabs motivated by race or religion have not swarmed over the walls. To the contrary, our contribution to the fight against ISIS gets better press in Iraq than in the US today.

I served in Iraq (more than once), and know of what I speak.

There were/are groups there (Iranian surrogate militias, and Wahabbi terrorists) who strongly wanted the US out. They killed people, and staged media events toward that end. Like Black Lives Matter or Occupy Wall Street, they were far from the majority. Don’t buy into their propaganda.

Most Iraqis want a modern society with freedom and peace. Compared to most of the Arab world, they tend to be well educated and urban (Kurds are less concentrated in urban areas, 90% of Arabs live within walking distance of the Tigris or Euphrates). Baghdad has long been the literary capital of the Arabic speaking world. The cities bristle with satellite TV dishes since liberation. Many families (especially Sunnis) have family members in other countries, especially the US and UK. More are bi-lingual there than here (almost all Kurds speak more than on language). They are aware of how things can be elsewhere, and how Iraq stacks up. They want that freedom for themselves and their families.

Yes there is butt-hurt over how we have smacked down their military in such a humiliating manner, and yes, many family members were put in their graves by the US military. That is why it not so PC to come out vocally in support of an American presence (and more significantly, fear of Iranian-backed or Wahabbi violence). But they can see the options side by side, and they know very clearly that we try to be fair (like Boy Scouts), and that many of the other options are truly monsters - there is no real comparison. Their biggest concern is not to be on record saying something that that offends one of the crazed monsters that live in their neighborhoods.

[WatchungEagle]

Right now, Iraq is allowing US soldiers in their country to fight ISIS, which is largely an indirect creation of US policies. When ISIS is gone, they will demand American soldiers leave again.

“There were/are groups there (Iranian surrogate militias, and Wahabbi terrorists) who strongly wanted the US out. They killed people, and staged media events toward that end. Like Black Lives Matter or Occupy Wall Street, they were far from the majority.”

Terrible analogy. Black Lives Matter supporters are the strong majority among black Americans. That’s the relevant comparison. The same is true among Iraqi Arabs. A LARGE majority support some kind of Sunni or Shiite militia/terrorist group in their hearts. Arabs may want Western material wealth, they do not want to live in a culturally Western society.

You are engaging in classic white man’s burden colonial era thinking. If you were right, India would still be part of the British Empire. How come all those Indians wanted the British soldiers to leave their country? Were they being threatened by terrorists?

If your theory were right, George Washington was a butthurt terrorist who intimidated the residents of the thirteen colonies so much, they were afraid to express their love for the benevolent British Empire.