Yes, I know….everyone is aware of what is happening in Iraq and each one of us has an opinion of just how to deal with the situation.  I have been monitoring the media very carefully….after they played an important part n selling the original invasion of 2003…..I just wanted to see what they will do this time around…….

The prez has said that there would be no American combat forces sent to Iraq……..and then he announced that there would be 300 “advisers sent to help the Iraqi army……(say that to a Vietnam vet and see the smile creep across their face)………

Here is why they are smiling…..Special Forces are combat troops…..that is their main function……so it is a lie to say that NO combat forces will be sent to Iraq.

As the first time Americans went into Iraq…..the media is playing the public like a two dollar drum……..the one story that I was following………

The facility outside Baghdad where Saddam Hussein cooked up his chemical weapons is now in the hands of extremists trying to take over the country, reports the Wall Street Journal. The good news is that the al-Muthanna facility has been mothballed for so long that US officials don’t think militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria will be able to make any use of it. The takeaway quote from a State Department spokesperson: “We do not believe that the complex contains CW materials of military value and it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to safely move the materials.” (Saddam is believed to have made sarin, mustard gas, and other poisons there during his war with Iran in the 1980s.)

The UK Telegraph talks to an expert of its own with a similar take, along with a sliver of worry: “It is doubtful that ISIS have the expertise to use a fully functioning chemical munition, but there are materials on site that could be used in an improvised explosive device,” he says. “We have seen that ISIS has used chemicals in explosions in Iraq before and has carried out experiments in Syria.” US officials tell the Journal that remaining chemical weapons stocks are sealed in bunkers at the site and would be useless even if accessed. Still, one Pentagon official says the US might have tried to remove them had it known the Iraqi government would so swiftly lose control. The site is about 45 miles northwest of Baghdad.

In case they need to make a good reason for intervention…..WMDs would be a good place to start….it was a good start in 2003…..it may work yet again if handled properly…….

Now let’s look at just how the Iraqi government was caught off balance for this situation to have a great start……a story that most have not heard…..it is important and should have been reported immediately…………

Atheel Nujeifi, who headed Nineveh province, accused the Shiite premier of causing widespread anger at the central government that allowed the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant to capture the provincial capital last week.

He said Mr Al Maliki “never listened” to repeated warnings about the deteriorating security situation around Mosul.

In an interview with The National, Mr Nujeifi painted a picture of escalating chaos in the days before Iraq’s second-largest city fell to the militants.

Widespread Sunni anger burst into the open in January when militants captured the western city of Fallujah, another Sunni stronghold.

That enabled ISIL militants to stage a blitzkrieg takeover of Mosul that began on June 9 and ended with the militant group seizing control of the city and looting more than US$400 million (Dh1.47bn) from banks in the area, Mr Nujeifi said.

He claimed to have warned Mr Maliki and his military advisers “several times” about ISIL’s rise, including during a meeting of provincial governors in Baghdad in January, at about the time Fallujah was seized by militants.

During the meeting, he slipped the prime minister a note urging him to reconsider his approach to handling Nineveh’s deteriorating security situation and listen to military commanders near Mosul who were raising alarms about the security situation.

Maybe someone is listening in Washington….there seems to be a push to make Maliki more inclusive in his government to bring in more Sunnis……but now I would like to hear an answer to the question…..what are the choices if Maliki does not succumb to the pressure from DC?

I do not know your feeling about what should be done to contain the situation in Iraq….but I suggest that you keep an eye on the media…..they will lead the way to whatever decision is made……and the selling of whatever action they decide is appropriate……