Uh oh...Iraq

[acro2008]

Also, we have seen the deterioration of the mainstream media in foriegn affairs to now be little more than a mouth piece for the corrupt State department. The good hard working American people have been lied to over and over with government using incompetence as an excuse, yet after bending the public over many still come back for more and get played.

Edited June 13, 2014 by acro2008

[Lhalo]

The Kurdish independence thing was all about keeping Turkey a happy member of NATO.

Well I wonder how Turkey feels now that ISIS is in control of a huge area along their border? They're probably moving troops to that area as I type.

The Wall Street Journal posted a decent article about the situation and the role of the United States involvement. It's worth a read.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/islamist-militants-aim-to-redraw-map-of-the-middle-east-1402620168

[Tank]

Good Morning America reporting this morning that we could see gas prices increase by 5-10 cents per gallon because of all of this Iraqi trouble. Awesome.

[TobiasFunke]

Not like it wasn't going to go up anyways because of some BS excuse

[fan_since79]

So, Obama will decide in the "days ahead" what military options to choose in defending Iraq.

 

That may be too late at the rate this is going.

[Hollyw00d]

Mission Re-Accomplished?

[fan_since79]

It's mind-boggling to me how a ragtag force of 500-800 fighters can so easily take a city defended by some 30,000 troops.

 

The total number of ISIS "troops" is estimated at 4,000...and there's NOTHING the Iraqi army can do about it?! Or the U.S.?!

 

Obama is going to take a few days to think about "options" while these maniacs overrun the country and kill everyone in their path. This is absurd!

[Don]

It's mind-boggling to me how a ragtag force of 500-800 fighters can so easily take a city defended by some 30,000 troops.

 

The total number of ISIS "troops" is estimated at 4,000...and there's NOTHING the Iraqi army can do about it?! Or the U.S.?!

 

Obama is going to take a few days to think about "options" while these maniacs overrun the country and kill everyone in their path. This is absurd!

There's really not much we can do. Sunni extremists are on the offensive all over the Middle East. Kill 4,000 in Iraq now, and we're just delaying the inevitable for a few months. We just need to consider our actions in Iraq failed and moved on. Short of killing every living thing between Lebanon and Pakistan, there's nothing we can do.

[Jason]

Maybe if we leave them alone they'll stop hating and plotting against us and our allies.

[HaloMagic]

It's mind-boggling to me how a ragtag force of 500-800 fighters can so easily take a city defended by some 30,000 troops.

The total number of ISIS "troops" is estimated at 4,000...and there's NOTHING the Iraqi army can do about it?! Or the U.S.?!

Obama is going to take a few days to think about "options" while these maniacs overrun the country and kill everyone in their path. This is absurd!

What should we do?

[TobiasFunke]

It's mind-boggling to me how a ragtag force of 500-800 fighters can so easily take a city defended by some 30,000 troops.

 

The total number of ISIS "troops" is estimated at 4,000...and there's NOTHING the Iraqi army can do about it?! Or the U.S.?!

 

Obama is going to take a few days to think about "options" while these maniacs overrun the country and kill everyone in their path. This is absurd!

It sounds like you are for another Iraq campaign. You do remember what happened the last time around right?

Edited June 14, 2014 by TobiasFunke

[fan_since79]

It sounds like you are for another Iraq campaign. You do remember what happened the last time around right?

 

No, I'm for locating this little group and bombing the hell out of it. No ground troops necessary.

 

[TobiasFunke]

As if all they did was drive around the desert in a column of vehicles all day

[Blarg]

No, I'm for locating this little group and bombing the hell out of it. No ground troops necessary.

 

 

Looks like they are really happy about the fleet deal they got at the local Toyota dealership.

[Hollyw00d]

No, I'm for locating this little group and bombing the hell out of it. No ground troops necessary.

 

Someone slept through world history

[Kevin]

I won't get into the whole WMD thing. We all know that story and the consequences of basing a war off of it.

We spent almost nine years there fighting the Sunnis, al-Qaeda, and any other weekend warrior that crossed the border from Iran, Syria, and other middle eastern countries. As many as we killed, they continued to emerge. How many of our soldiers died or were maimed for life? Or the civilians that were caught in the crossfire we may never know. Not to mention how many civilians were butchered by terrorists in car or suicide bombings or targeted because they practiced Islam different. Throw in the cost that it took to wage this war financially.

Lastly, how much time, money, and blood was spent in training an Iraqi force to defend itself? And one of the first things they do is run away. A lot of sacrifice was wasted.

I admire fan wanting to help and try to do what seems right. The problem is sometimes what seems right isn't and there is no need to get involved. Glad we didn't get involved, as of now, in Syria. Hope the same will be said for Iraq.

[fan_since79]

According to one source, the Marines are going in. ISIS terrorists are closing in on Baghdad.

 

Jake Tapper ✔ @jaketapper State Dept:bc of instability/violence, additional security personnel to be added at Embassy Baghdad; other staff to be temporarily relocated The marines are going in..... In other words, they are there to get them all out before it goes to kaka.

 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

It's as if in the rush to topple Saddam Hussein no one in Washington stopped to consider the vacuum that his removal would leave and the consequences of suddenly liberating scores of factions who were repressed under his regime. There is no question that Hussein was a brutal leader who killed his own people. The question remains, do we have the right to remove the government of another country by military force? Iraq did not attack us or declare war on us. They invaded Kuwait, the coalition forces pushed them out, end of story - or so it should have been.

 

I won't go into all the deception and false information that went into selling us on this war in the first place, since that is a separate issue. The French were right. Freedom fries, my ass.

[fan_since79]

Seeing reports now of a large explosion at the Baghdad airport.

 

Also, 50-100 Marines have reportedly been sent in to guard the embassy.

 

Obama spent the weekend in SoCal playing golf, attending party fundraisers, and speaking at UCI commencement.

[HaloMagic]

Obama spent the weekend in SoCal playing golf, attending party fundraisers, and speaking at UCI commencement.

He also spent it authorizing 50-100 Marines to enter and secure the embassy. According to you, at least.

Sorry he wasn't at the front of the column leading the way.

[fan_since79]

He also spent it authorizing 50-100 Marines to enter and secure the embassy. According to you, at least.

Sorry he wasn't at the front of the column leading the way.

 

Even money says Valerie Jarrett took care of that little detail.

Edited June 16, 2014 by fan_since79

[UndertheHalo]

the story of Iraq is in a lot of ways very similar to the story on the former Yugoslavia. Iraq is not a homogenous population and getting all these groups to work together is just not a simple proposition.  Unless there is a Shiite leader out there that will not be an Iranian puppet and is willing to legitimately bring the Sunni into the Iraqi governing fold the only chance for peace in Balkanization.  There are many many Sunni in Iraq, dare I say the massive majority who are much more aligned with Arab nationalism concepts (of the baathist) then that of the Islamist ISIS.  The problem is that we participated in the terrible decision of marginalizing this important segment of the population when we toppled Saddam.  Banning the former Baathist was a mistake.  When the "surge" happened we somewhat did bring the sunni groups in to combat the insurgency and it worked.  Maliki has undone all that with his policies that leave them out in the cold. Into the chaos of the Sunni vaccum of power comes the fundamentalist ISIS.  History buffs here will know that we have seen this story play out before.  Simply, fundamentalism thrives in chaos and unrest.  See Afghanistan, see Somalia, see Syria in the parts controlled by the ISIS.  Its not that most Sunni Iraqis buy into their bullshit, its that in the absence of order the fundamentalists stamp out everyone else.  

Edited June 16, 2014 by UndertheHalo

[AngelsLongBall]

It's as if in the rush to topple Saddam Hussein no one in Washington stopped to consider the vacuum that his removal would leave and the consequences of suddenly liberating scores of factions who were repressed under his regime. There is no question that Hussein was a brutal leader who killed his own people. The question remains, do we have the right to remove the government of another country by military force? Iraq did not attack us or declare war on us. They invaded Kuwait, the coalition forces pushed them out, end of story - or so it should have been.

I won't go into all the deception and false information that went into selling us on this war in the first place, since that is a separate issue. The French were right. Freedom fries, my ass.

I always thought that disbanding the Iraqi army was a mistake. You put scores of trained troops who were making money in to the streets, disgruntled and penniless, which I would imagine only fueled the insurgency. Imagine if they had a stable security force. Granted, it could have all dissolved into a factional civil war, but we already have that

[arch stanton]

With such a divided population it should have been constitutionally mandated that the minorities get a decent level of autonomy and representation in the government. Leaving them out in the cold made it inevitable that they would either be bullied into submission or fight back. This was a built-in fail and cannot come as a surprise to anyone who was paying attention.

[HaloFan85]

The US economy would have a big problem too. Most of the US cash cow opium orginates from Afghanistan. Roughly 14 years ago the Taliban started burning the poppy fields. It's all about money, drugs and petrodollars(Saudi Arabia); always has been. If it was about Terrorism the Saudis would have gotten the first bullet to the head.

The petrodollar is the #1 reason for all these wars.  In 2002, Saddam nationalized his oil and was going to switch to the Euro.  We invaded in 2003 and once Saddam was removed, Iraq's oil was privatized and continued using petrodollar.  The same thing happened in Libya.  Gaddafi announced he was moving to the gold dinar and encouraged other African nations to do the same.  A few months later, Gaddafi was killed and Libya's oil continued using the petrodollar.

 

Ever since Putin said Russia and China would move away from the petrodollar with their new gas deal, the assault on Eastern Ukraine escalated and NATO positioned themselves on Russia's doorstep.  At the same time, the US announced plans to populate the South China Sea with its Navy.  Those aren't coincidences.  The US is gearing up for the next petrodollar war.  The only difference this time, is it could turn into WWIII.