It is no secret that I think that the foreign policy of the US is antiquated at best…..we have continued to use 19th century tactics to solve emerging problems…….it does not work!
I never thought that I would live long enough to see Americans have a “man crush” on a Russian leader…..the Right has proved me mistaken……oops! I digress!
I have been fortunate in my life to be able to travel and work in foreign lands…..since those days I keep a close eye on the countries and regions that I have visited. I was in Iraq a few months before the Iran-Iraq War began in August of 1980…..parts of the country were absolutely beautiful….Baghdad, you could eat off the streets it was so clean…..and then came the US with their promise of democracy and freedom.
I will be honest, the latest trip into Iraq was not for oil…….but it was ABOUT oil. Why else would the only government offices to be protected were those of the oil ministry? There rest of the country was allowed tobe destroyed, plundered to include the museums and their irreplaceable artifacts……
But all the promises made to the American people and especially the Iraqis were lies…….we promised with Saddam gone the country would be stable and prosperous….crock of CRAP!
AQ who Saddam did not trust would have hunted them down and disposed of them systematically…….but we could not wait for that we had to find the most spurious reasons to attack and we did and the country has suffered ever sense….stability is a joke.
AQ is much alive in Iraq and is making headway against a government that is about as useless as tits on a boar……Maliki is losing control, especially in the north around Mosul…….
A weekend of bloody fighting in Mosul is going worse than anyone thought for government forces, and the district that is the provincial capital of the Nineveh Province has now fallen to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).
AQI fighters by the hundreds poured into the capital district, briefly trapping Governor Atheel Nujaifi before he was rescued by police and ferried out of the area.
Gov. Nujaifi seems short on ideas at this point, and issued a televised plea for the civilians of Mosul to take up arms and defend their neighborhoods from the outsiders.
Top security officials were even less circumspect about their prospects, saying that without some major change on the ground Mosul could fall outright in a matter of days.
If that happens, it becomes the biggest city in an AQI-held territory that spans the borders of Iraq and Syria, and which includes seemingly large portions of both countries.
AQI’s territory is already a de facto Islamist state, even if its borders aren’t easily defined. The loss of Mosul to them, however, would mean one of Iraq’s richest and most important cities would be falling into the AQI state.
Once they solidify their control in the North they will then push East and South…….the Kurds will be next……and the Shi’a in the South will be in the cross hairs.
We started this whole scenario in motion….lies brought down Saddam and gave the Iraqi people a miserable existence…….and now Iraq is staring a civil war in the face…..their big Idea to fight AQ is to arm civilians……..
The Iraqi government will provide weapons and equipment to citizens who volunteer to fight against jihadist fighters, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Tuesday.
Maliki, in a statement broadcast on state TV, said the cabinet has “created a special crisis cell to follow up on the process of volunteering and equipping and arming.”
The statement came as rebels from the al-Qaeda inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) captured the northern province of Nineveh, which includes the country’s largest city Mosul.
More weapons in the hands of more people…….does that sound like a good policy?
During the writing of this piece……it is now official…….Breaking News!
Fighters believed to be with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took control of the city of Mosul today, as police and military forces fled their bases, leaving weapons, vehicles, and even their uniforms behind for the taking, the New York Times reports. The militants have seized the provincial governor’s building, the bases, and most of the central and southern parts of the city, while torching police stations and freeing a jail’s population. “They took control of everything, and they are everywhere,” said one fleeing soldier. Residents tell the AP that the militants raised the black flag of ISIS.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked parliament to declare a state of emergency in response to the attack, Reuters reports. The speaker of parliament blasted the troops on TV, saying, “When the battle got tough … the troops dropped their weapons and abandoned their posts, making it an easy prey for terrorists. Everything is fallen. It’s crisis.” There are also reports that the airport has been seized, according to the Washington Post. Experts say the attack could shake US support for Iraq’s military. Explains one, “Every time ISIS captures territory, it’s a reminder that it does so using weapons that have fallen into the hands of the forces the US is trying to counter in the first place.”
Iraq is looking at a complicated mess that will take on all the appearance of modern day Syria…….we have sowed the seeds of destruction……..we should be so proud!
I will write more on this subject a little later….I am checking with the people I know Iraq about the news and what is actually happening……stay tuned.
