Iran has sent special forces and a unit of elite troops to Iraq to bolster floundering efforts by the Iraqi government to halt the advance of militants from an al-Qaeda splinter group.
Iran has sent special forces and a unit of elite troops to Iraq to bolster floundering efforts by the Iraqi government to halt the advance of militants from an al-Qaeda splinter group.
For this he got a Noble peace prize!
I”m just going to throw this out there…
Did Iran send their troops to Iraq, in order to be seen as a “trusted member” of the international peace keeping / making community? … so they can be seen as a more trusted country, a country worthy of keeping a nuclear reactor, for peaceful purposes of course.
They’ll be saying, “look, we did our part!”
Iran may regret the day it extended its reach beyond its borders.
How many Iraqis remember the war in the Eighties?
Nothing here that hasn’t been predicted. Hope they enjoyed the taste of democracy while it lasted. Afghanistan will follow with carbon copy. Just try turning it around. If we had been invaded and had Sharia law forced down our throats, would we ever stop fighting the insurgents ? Doubt it. We believe in one way of life and they believe in another. Both sides believe theirs is superior. The big difference is that they are willing to die for their beliefs and we are at the point where we have no idea why we were there in the first place. History will not be kind in review. If we really wanted to win we would have turned the country into a parking lot. Even then, there was nothing worth winning.
Valerie Jarrett’s (Iran born Muslim) plan has worked.. Iran takes over Iraq & Afghanistan.. who is next?
The current rulers in Iraq are Shiites as are the Iranians. Bush 41 screwed the Shiites by leaving them under Saddam (a Sunni) for nine years after halting their liberation. Bush 43 then finished the job and screwed the Sunnis who are common Arab Muslims and include al Qaeda, handing it over to the Shiites. Obama is more than likely Sunni Muslim. The net result of the Iraq war was to align Iraq with Iran. What follows is entirely logical. The US tried picking sides again when they should have armed both sides.
How can it be a bad thing to see so many whackjobs shooting at each other?
Not surprising I predicted this elsewhere, if Syria can get grip on the rebels expect to see Hezbollah threatening the western Provinces. Possible the Kurds might declare independence as well.
I feel for the decent Iraqis who just want to get along with their lives but they had a golden chance to escape the madness and pissed it away.
Sure, Obama couldn’t wait to walk away from everything that America had invested there, but it was most Iraqis who didn’t want a continued US presence unless the troops were subject to Iraqi law.
Decisions have consequences. You snubbed the US who left you so much, and now you get to say hello to AQ.
Idealism in the west is shot. We don’t think you’re capable of being more than a violent backwater. We will focus on the tech revolution along with Asia, while you guys keep doing what you’ve always done since 600AD.
Both sides, Iraq and Iran, lost millions, many of them children. in their long war. Iran has always had aspirations of hegemony in the middle east and a weakened, divided Iraq is just too tempting a prize. One that can be taken at minimal cost.
Syria will fall within their clutches next, Assad being a puppet/figurehead, strings pulled by the Mullahs of Tehran. This is going to make Saudi Arabia verrry nervous, with Persians in ascendency and Arabs (with their inherent superiority complex) feeling threatened.
Turks should be wary as well. It’s very unstable there today and with neighbours of Iran, Iraq and Syria, they should expect incursions in their border regions. Yes, Turkey has a huge standing army, but they are growing closer to revolution with a population not wanting to follow the more Islamic path that Erdogan seems to be walking and when push comes to shove, the army may be more with the people than their government.
The most alarming thing is that ISIS has captured both Mosul and Tikrit in one day. These are major centres, and they are pretty far apart. For this to be possible implies a collapse of the Iraqi government. At the first opportunity, the government forces threw away their guns and uniforms and blended into the crowd. In such a situation, ISIS could take the whole country, except for the already well-organized Kurdish regions, before any effective resistance can be formed.
It is, though, likely the Shia south would want to resist, if they can rally fast enough. Iran, it seems, is happy to help. But that leaves the best hope looking like a split of Iraq in three. With two of the three sections held by Islamist militant regimes.
Then, the ISIS-controlled part would serve as an ideal platform with which to prosecute the Syrian civil war—ISIS’s declared programme is a unification of Syria with Iraq (and Lebanon). With the resources of one third of Iraq behind them, they would have to be seen as the new favourites in that conflict.
Then, with the combined resources of Syria and one third of Iraq behind them, they would be well placed to carry out the rest of their declared agenda: to take the rest of Iraq, plus Lebanon, and unite it in one big radical Islamist state.
Our best hope here may be a new war between Iran and Iraq.
Why the Jesus headline. What does He have to do with this story?
The most alarming thing is that ISIS has captured both Mosul and Tikrit in one day. These are major centres, and they are pretty far apart. For this to be possible implies a collapse of the Iraqi government. At the first opportunity, the government forces threw away their guns and uniforms and blended into the crowd. In such a situation, ISIS could take the whole country, except for the already well-organized Kurdish regions, before any effective resistance can be formed.
It is, though, likely the Shia south would want to resist, if they can rally fast enough. Iran, it seems, is happy to help. But that leaves the best hope looking like a split of Iraq in three. With two of the three sections held by Islamist militant regimes.
Then, the ISIS-controlled part would serve as an ideal platform with which to prosecute the Syrian civil war—ISIS’s declared programme is a unification of Syria with Iraq (and Lebanon). With the resources of one third of Iraq behind them, they would have to be seen as the new favourites in that conflict.
Then, with the combined resources of Syria and one third of Iraq behind them, they would be well placed to carry out the rest of their declared agenda: to take the rest of Iraq, plus Lebanon, and unite it in one big radical Islamist state.
Our best hope here may be a new war between Iran and Iraq.
Soooo who do we cheer for again?
I thought it was the rebels/ISIS fighting Assad, who are backed by America’s friend the Saudi’s, but then we find they are a lot of AQ and now they attack Iraq. After Obama told the Iraqi’s “No” to air strikes a few weeks ago, they now turn to Iran. So to support Iraq gov, we need to cheer on Iran against the same groups that are fighting Assad, but not so far as to say Iran can have a nuke or Israel will bomb them and we support Israel. Then Syria/Iran is backed by Putin, who is taking a bit of Ukraine, but we need him to influence those two for the better. Then there is a more pro Islamic Turkey, who is a NATO member and fighting with the kurds, but the kurds might help Iraq against the ISIS, but Turkey may just attack themselves, maybe fighting on the same side as the kurds?? So if all goes well, Assad will control all of Syria again, Iran will have it’s military in Iraq and Russia will be the biggest foreign player in the middle east and that is…. a good thing because the alternative is savages cutting everyone’s heads off and stoning women to death.
Of course even if this happens a NATO member (Turkey) will be in the middle of this rats nest and could plausibly end up in a situation of evoking Article 5 and pulling Western armies back into the sandbox where Iranian, Syrian, Iraqi’s, Israeli’s, Saudi’s, Egyptians, Libyans and Russian’s and others are funding and fighting battles on multiple fronts.
This should end well…..
You would have to be blind not seeing this coming.
Especially after the Iran-Iraq war that raged for years. Iran wants the land the Shiite’s held.
I get the feeling, given the stories I’m seeing about 30,000 Iraqi soldiers breaking and running from 800 attackers, that everything I’ve been told about standing up a new Army of Iraq since 2003 has been complete horse sh1t.
It’s worth mentioning that there was no significant Al Qaeda presence in Iraq prior to the US invasion. Seems US foreign policy attracts AQ like clap to a whore
Yeah, I think Putin did that same humanitarian move in the Crimea.
Good point, Maureen! Exactly my reaction when I saw it. I suppose it’s intended as a swear word.
@Skip: I’m with you Skip but it’s purely an emotional response. None the less, I will vent: let them fight and kill each other. It’s win-win for the world. Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afganistan (and all the other “..stans”). Saudia Arabia and Indonesia too. Kill each other as fast as possible. Give them back the Sarin gas. Provide them with small arms. AND NO MORE REFUGEES!!
I feel a bit better now.
I was wondering the same thing.
Revnant and others are right about this could be seen to be coming.
Skip and David are right. Let them kill each other off.
“Did Iran send their troops to Iraq, in order to be seen as a “trusted member” of the international peace keeping / making community?”
Iran is the base Shia nation. Al Qaeda is a Sunni Salafi/Wahhabi militant group. Sunni’s, particularly Salafi/Wahhabi practitioners, regard the Shia as heretics because Shia’s have other prophets in addition to Muhammad. Iraq has some very important Shia holy sites which an Iraq Al Qaeda Salafi/Wahhabi government would be unlikely to allow pilgrimages to.
Religion is a big motivation behind Muslim actions, you may have noticed.
Hope this helps.
The result of this latest evolution of civilization in the land of the origins of civilization will be the partition of Iraq into the three tribal communities of Kurdistan; Syria; Persia.
This should have taken place in 1919, but France and Britain wanted to extend their Empires and the U.S.A.’s Wilson health deteriorated significantly. Cheers;
It should not come as a surprise to any one that the name JESUS CHRIST often comes up on a golf course, but in a different context than at a Sunday service at your local church.
turkey and the Kurds?, Israel and the Saudis with Egypt eventually weighing in on the Israel Saudis side. Pakistan made feel threatened and pick a side, probably with the Saudis, ah yes, I can see Iran getting cornered in her own land and stupidity, the centrifuges will be spinning faster, the Pakis will be selling some BOMBS, and Obumbles will stumble into his legacy. Interesting times indeed!
jeezus was a semite as are many of these terrorists, and he IS a muslin prophet
What HASN’T been mentioned here is that the Kurds are making their move. Go Kurds go!
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN0EN0RV20140612
NME666:
You forgot to mention that Jesus was also a Jew. In your small anti-Semite mind that should make him suspect of the very worst set of crimes. Be it warped beyond description, don’t lose sight of the mantra of truth ie: “The Joooz are behind it all”.
What a mess thank goodness Canada was never there in significant numbers and America is out. Every dollar spent on the Iraqi government and army was wasted. If these people -ISIS and Iran-end up killing each other, that’s power to us and the Kurds, who are already making their move. They just seized Kirkuk city and will probably take the whole province. The Iraqi surrender army is a joke but the Peshmerga are serious men. Maybe from this disaster an independent Kurdistan will rise. If they are smart they should seize as much land and equipment as they can before ISIS does. Take Mosul.
Wasn’t GWB’s great achievement before 2008 getting the Sunni’s on board and wiping out AQ in Iraq? From a geopolitical standpoint, nothing would influence Iran more than having a strong US military presence in both Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the affirmative action TOTUS threw away this very expensive American achievement and has essentially handed control of the ME to Putin.
While I was opposed to the Iraq war in 2003, my opinion is that once one has committed oneself, the worst thing one can do is to use half measures. In order to rule an artificially created country like Iraq, one needs to use Saddam’s methods as it would take a few more generations before one could even consider bringing up the concept of democracy. What the population there understands is massive force applied liberally when the situation demands it. Right now the US is seen as weak and Obozo is likely viewed with utter contempt in a culture where the ability to use brute force is respected. Given the approximately $2 trillion dollar cost of the Iraq war, Obozo’s traiterous actions should alone be grounds for impeachment.
The only group that’s worth supporting in this tribal mess are the Kurds and they are far far better organized than the Iraqi military which seems to have been an expansion of the US food stamp program to Iraq rather than the construction of a fighting force. The only concern I have is that the Turkish government will attack the Kurds given the huge Kurdish population in adjacent Turkey. Also, Iran has a large Kurdish population and, with the redrawing of borders in that area of the world, the Kurds might decide that the time is right to create a greater Kurdistan.
Given the Russian support of Assad, it’s likely that Iran will have a free hand to eliminate AQ. It will be interesting to see how well captured US military hardware, albeit operated by barely educated goat herders, fares against Russian military hardware, operated by slightly more educated goat herders.
“jeezus was a semite as are many of these terrorists, and he IS a muslin prophet”
Thank you for your comment.
Now, back to your room; the nurse will be along in a minute with your meds.
So you’d have America double down on its expensive loss for ‘influence’, even though it lost most of its influence by being stuck in Iraq? You know that sunken costs are NOT RECOVERABLE right?
Jesus?
He’s the one and only Son of God. I for one am grateful that He died for my sins.
“the Iraqi military which seems to have been an expansion of the US food stamp program”
Exactly, the Obama regime also offered food stamps to Ukraine in the form of rat paks.
MikeSr, you are right, this is exactly what should have happened in 1919, but Lloyd George and Clemenceau were only interested in extending old world empire building and did not listen to T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) and Sheik Ibn Saud. This massive error planted the seeds of all the Al-Qaeda types that want to destroy western civilization. Progressives caused this mess and now want to aid and abet these groups.
Oh I understand the Shia / Sunni thing… other than the Iranians trying to stir things up, I don’t see an upside for their involvement …
Rush this morning was speculating that B. Hussien is willing to watch Iraq fall apart, because to him, it’s obvious that it’s all Bush’s fault. Rush played a recording of him saying just this, from 2-3 years ago…
“let it burn” hopefully, Iran catches fire too.
It’s worth mentioning that there was no significant Al Qaeda presence in Iraq prior to the US invasion. Seems US foreign policy attracts AQ like clap to a whore. occam
It’s also worth mentioning that after the surge, when Bush left office, there was no AQ presence in Iraq, either. A key aspect of the surge was the methodical hunting and killing of every AQ member in Iraq. Every province had been cleansed by the end of 2007, and Shiites and Sunni accepted the US settlement.
The resurgence of AQ, like the bullying of Russia, is a product of Obama’s reset. The world is becoming more and more dangerous to western interests.
Iran is a Russian client state and has been for many decades now.
Russia will not let Iran ‘burn’.
“other than the Iranians trying to stir things up, I don’t see an upside for their involvement …”
As a Russian client state, Iran also has an interest in opposing al Qaeda who is fighting against that other Russian client state, Syria.
Iran has an interest as a Russian client other than it’s primary interest of having continuing pilgrimage access to the holy Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf in Iraq, sites of two of the holiest shrines in Shia Islam.
Maureen – Try to think of it (the Holy Name) as a prayer for a world that seems bent on total destruction. Every generation thinks of themselves as living in the Last Days. We are told that “wise men will wish themselves dead”. In the meantime, though evil seems afoot, we will keep calling out to this Man/God.