US intervention in Iraq now will increase the possibility of terrorism at home not decrease it. The best way to slow terrorism at home is to stop invading countries. If the Iraq Army can’t be bothered to fight why should the US intervene?
Our blowhard Secretary of State says there will be ‘timely decisions’ on Iraq. Our war pigs are determined to have themselves another jolly little war. No matter that the chaos in Iraq is very much due to incompetent, belligerent US meddling and the US invasion was based on lies. Maybe the US will team up with the mullahs in Iran to combat ISIS, even though the US opposes the mullahs, but hey, that was so last week. US ‘foreign policy’ has a long-term strategic view of about two weeks so we can expect much lurching about, teaming up with former enemies to do something, anything, in Iraq to prove how wonderfully exceptional we are. “And it’s 1,2,3 what are we fighting for, don’t ask me I don’t give a damm”, indeed.
Policing and intelligence, rather than military force, should form the backbone f U.S. efforts against al Qa’ida. And U.S. policymakers should end the use of the phrase “war on terrorism” since there is no battlefield solution to defeating al Qa’ida.
Look at Iraq today. Hardcore conservative Islamists have taken over Mosul and Tikrit with more to come. There is now an crescent running through the region run by radical Islamists, from Syria to Iraq. Except these radicals aren’t Shi’a, as Vali Nasr would have us believe, but Sunni. Iran didn’t cause this disaster. The United States of America did.
It’s not even worth saying “I told you so” anymore. The human tragedy is too overwhelming and far too much blood is on our hands.
As ISIS beheads its way to Baghdad, leaving scores of headless bodies of police and soldiers along the roads, and President Obama promises aid, refusing to rule out military engagement, there are lots of questions.
How did the U.S. and its allies not see this coming? It sure didn’t happen overnight.Were the billions of dollars we spent training Iraqi forces just a waste?
For some, this wasn’t a waste at all. Lots of US military contractors got rich off it. DC politicos, think tanks, and the rest of that inbred establishment cement their power base by supporting war.
What the heck is going on with ISIS in Iraq?
The march of ISIS across Iraq and how strategic cities and other locales are being overrun reads like something from James Bond, a G.I. Joe cartoon, the movie Iron Man 2, a video game, or Tom Clancy novel.
It is unbelievable that a group of a few thousand (maximum?), without air support, heavy artillery, armor, or other integrated, organic elements could repeatedly route the Iraqi military and police. Yet, the unbelievable is apparently taking place. Alas, an event is termed “impossible” until it actually transpires.
The West should just stop intervening
The bottom line here is that the Iraqi army collapsed: it did not fight.
Some people want the US to go back in. That is a mistake. The Iraqi government was never likely to survive on its own, as constituted, any more than the Afghan government will survive the American pullout. The Iraqi government was artificial, without an actual power based which believed in it enough to fight for it. The same is true, again, in Afghanistan.
Now Al Qaeda in Iraq, which I remind the reader didn’t exist prior to the US invasion, has essentially taken over 4 major cities. I remind the reader that Saddam Hussein, AKA (Our boy in Iraq) was “not liked” by Al-Qaeda. Therefore by toppling his government, the US opened the door to what we are currently witnessing..
I will also note the route allegedly taken by ISIS. They came via Syria. Why is this important? Because this administration has been supporting Al-Qaeda in Syria in its attempt to overthrow the government of Bashir (another leader who is hated by Al-Qaeda types).