Tag: Iraq

Iraq In The Rear View Mirror?

Iraq?

Now there is a word seldom heard in the news these days.

US troops have been dealing with Iraq for well over 20+ years and I for one think it is time to take our goodies and go home.

Well I will be….there are talks starting that would do just that….or at least lessen the US footprint in the country.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed on Thursday that the US and Iraq will start talks on the future of the US military presence in Iraq in the “coming days,” which could result in a US withdrawal.

Baghdad has been calling for an end to the presence of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition in response to recent US airstrikes in Iraq. Tensions are soaring as Iraqi Shia militias have been attacking US bases in both Iraq and Syria due to President Biden’s support for the Israeli slaughter in Gaza.

Austin said the two countries will convene a meeting of the US-Iraq Higher Military Commission (HMC), which was formed last summer. Signaling that the US wants to maintain some sort of presence in Iraq, Austin said the HMC will “enable the transition to an enduring bilateral security partnership between the United States and Iraq.”

There are about 2,500 US troops in Iraq as part of the anti-ISIS coalition, known as Operation Inherent Resolve. In recent years, the US presence in Iraq has been more about pushing back against Iran’s influence in the country as ISIS has been reduced to small remnants.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has said that Iraq’s security forces can handle ISIS without the US. Austin said the “transition” in the US presence depends on three factors: “the threat from ISIS, operational and environmental requirements, and the Iraqi security forces’ capability levels.”

There have been reports that indicate the US is also considering ending its military occupation of eastern Syria. There are about 900 US troops, and the US is able to control about one-third of Syria’s territory by backing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Sources within the Pentagon and State Department told Foreign Policy that the White House “is no longer invested in sustaining a mission that it perceives as unnecessary.” Al-Monitor reported that the Pentagon floated a plan for the SDF to partner with the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, which is under crippling US sanctions.

US officials told POLITICO that a withdrawal from Syria or Iraq is not imminent but did acknowledge there are conversations within the Biden administration about pulling troops out of Syria. However, another US official told CNN that the US was not considering leaving Syria.

(antiwar.com)

A helluva idea….this involvement has gone long past its ‘sell by’ date.

But there may be an another motive other than getting out of Iraq and that would be to make way for further actions elsewhere in the region (Yemen).

Time to re-think all this shit!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

How Soon We Forget

Back in the day, the early 1980s, I was teaching a class on US foreign policy and the first day I handed out a map of Asia and asked the class to circle Vietnam on the map…..only one junior in class got the question right and he was one of the last units to leave the country….

I thought then that it was sad that so many students did no idea about the war that was over less than 10 years before.

That memory came back after I read an article in ‘The Conversation” about the last Iraq War.

The United States invaded Iraq 20 years ago in March 2003, claiming it had to disarm the Iraqi government of weapons of mass destruction and end the dictatorial rule of President Saddam Hussein.

U.S. soldiers captured Saddam in December 2003. And a 15-month search revealed that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction to seize.

But the conflict between Western powers and Iraq dragged on until 2011. More than 4,600 American soldiers died in combat – and thousands more died by suicide after they returned home.

More than 288,000 Iraqis, including fighters and civilians, have died from war-related violence since the invasion.

The war cost the U.S. over $2 trillion.

And Iraq is still dealing with widespread political violence between rival religious-political groups and an unstable government.

Most of these problems stem directly or indirectly from the war. The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the war that followed are defining events in the histories of both countries – and the region. Yet, for many young people in the United States, drawing a connection between the war and its present-day impact is becoming more difficult. For them, the war is an artifact of the past.

I am a Middle East historian and an Islamic studies scholar who teaches two undergraduate courses that cover the 2003 invasion and the Iraq War. My courses attract students who hope to work in politics, law, government and nonprofit groups, and whose personal backgrounds include a range of religious traditions, immigration histories and racial identities.

https://theconversation.com/its-been-20-years-since-the-us-invaded-iraq-long-enough-for-my-undergraduate-students-to-see-it-as-a-relic-of-the-past-199460

How sad is that?

Americans fought and died and no one gives a crap.

Just as Vietnam has become a forgotten war so shall Iraq…..and this scenario will happen all over again because no one wants to remember the sacrifice of their countrymen.

A bunch of candy ass morons!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Yellow Cake” Is Missing

Remember prior to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003?

One of the justifications was the lie that Saddam was wanting some ‘yellow cake’ uranium….and after the invasion teams scoured Iraq looking for it…..it was not found….it was either not ever there or missing.

Has it been found?  (Not a real question just my attempt to be whimsical)

A recent report was that 2 and half tons of yellow cake uranium is missing in Libya….a disturbing story…..but not to worry it has been found….

A stash of missing uranium ore reportedly has been found in eastern Libya. Ten drums were located near the border with Chad, the media unit for the armed forces said, per the BBC. The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was trying to corroborate the Libyan National Army report, which said the drums were found several miles from where they’d been stored, per the Washington Post. The agency, which is the UN’s nuclear watchdog, had reported that the 2½ tons of ore had vanished from a site in Libya without specifying when. Inspectors said the 10 drums “were not present as previously declared at a location” outside of government-controlled territory during a visit on Tuesday, per CNN and the BBC.

The uranium represented about 10% of the material stored at the “very remote location” in southern Libya, says Scott Roecker of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. He tells the BBC that the uranium, referred to as yellow cake, “cannot be made into a nuclear weapon” in its current form. There are also “very little radiation concerns,” says Roecker. A site inspection scheduled for last year was postponed for security reasons as militias battled in the region, per the BBC and Reuters.

Two and half tons of yellow cake could have made  a massive dirty bomb or a bunch or minor dirty bombs.

I am beginning to think that there is terrible security around the world when it comes to  that comes to stored nuke material…..the most recent incident that comes to mind was the lost canister of lost nuke material that fell off a truck in transportation.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Out Of Babylon

We have finally decided to end our endless war in Afghanistan and now it is time to end the second longest war, Iraq…..

There have been attempts to drawn down…..and now the Biden has made a decision (for now) to pull combat troops from the sands of Iraq….

The US and Iraq expect to announce next week that American combat troops will be out of Iraq by the end of the year. The countries are working on a plan that would keep Americans there in an advisory role, to help with the fight against ISIS. “We don’t need any more fighters because we have those,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said, the Wall Street Journalreports. “What do we need? We need cooperation in the field of intelligence. We need help with training. We need troops to help us in the air.” The details are still being worked out, but the change will be announced Monday after President Biden and Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi meet at the White House, per Politico.

The number of Americans in Iraq might stay about the same—2,500—but the combat troops would be changed out, replaced by those who do other jobs. The idea is for them to help Iraq with tasks including logistical support, intelligence, and surveillance. The change could help Kadhimi politically in time for October’s parliamentary elections. While the US is completing a total withdrawal from Afghanistan, it’s still making long-term military plans with Iraq. The US has more faith in Iraq’s troops than in Afghanistan’s, who are losing ground rapidly to the Taliban. US troops first arrived in Iraq on 2004. The transition from combat began last summer, though no end date had been announced. A joint statement in April credited the change to the Iraqi forces being better able to handle the job now.

This is a good move….there will be those that disagree….but for me any time when can bring our troops home to their families then it is a good plan.

Now we need to work on our intervention foreign policy….we need a fresh approach to the problems other than armed conflict and adventurism.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Iraq–18 Years And Counting

AS March slowly comes to an end maybe we should take a few moments and remember that US troops have been occupying, fight and dying in Iraq…..

At the time, the Bush administration had spent several months lying to the American public about Iraq’s supposed connections to the attacks of 9/11. Dick Cheney argued that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were good pals, but the relationship never existed in reality. They argued that Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), but those too didn’t exist. Phantoms haunted Bush and his Cold War-era neoconservative comrades, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. And they turned those ghosts into fear — the ammunition needed to remake the world in their vision, or so they thought.

Before long, morale sank in our platoon. Weeks turned into months, and months turned into many more. What was supposed to be a repeat of the 1991 Gulf War quickly morphed into a violent counterinsurgency campaign, the likes of which U.S. troops hadn’t experienced since their failed attempt to defeat anti-imperialists in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Car bombs and IEDs replaced punji sticks and highly-coordinated mobile attacks and ambushes. Men in white pajamas replaced the men in black pajamas.

In the U.S., people remained disorganized after several decades of neoconservative and neoliberal political victories, particularly the destruction of organized labor. The left, barely alive, mounted antiwar rallies and protests but never developed much of a vision beyond large mobilizations. And even if it would have, the social and political infrastructure to carry out such a concept didn’t exist.

The Iraq War: 18 Years Later

We can pretend that this war was about getting Saddam and to promote democracy…..but really we know exactly why the invasion took place….the reasons given were excuses for war.

Take a few moments of silence to remember our troops for their sacrifices and service and then take some time to learn about the war/s and make your representatives hear the call to end these endless wars.

Time in this world to ‘give peace a chance’….in case you may not know where to begin….then I can help…..

Action Corps, Antiwar.com, the Center for International Policy, CODEPINK, Concerned Veterans for America, Defense Priorities Initiative, Defending Rights and Dissent, Demand Progress, Environmentalists Against War, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Historians for Peace and Democracy, Just Foreign Policy, the Libertarian Institute, MADRE, National Iranian American Council Action, Peace Action, Peace Direct, Peaceworkers, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Roots Action, STEM Strikes for Peace, Veterans for Peace, Women for Weapons Trade Transparency, and the Yemeni Alliance Committee.

Get involved…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Iraq Runs Out Of Gas

I wish I was writing about the end of the Iraq War but sadly that will go on and on…..but this time I am writing about Iraq’s use of nat gas for the society.

I recently read an article about Iraq that I found odd….especially for a country with massive oil reserves.

Iraq’s capital Baghdad and other cities are at risk of serious power shortages after Iran slashed gas exports, the electricity ministry said on Sunday, potentially placing further pressure on the government of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Iran has reduced gas exports to Iraq to five million cubic metres from 50 million cubic metres two weeks ago citing unpaid bills, a ministry spokesman said.

It also officially informed Iraq’s electricity ministry on Sunday that it plans to cut shipments further to three million cubic metres, the spokesman said.

Iraq has lost around 6,550 megawatts of electricity, spokesman Ahmed Moussa said.

Iraq’s daily consumption during peak hours of winter reaches around 19,000 megawatts while the country generates around 11,000 megawatts, replying on imports to fill the gap, he said.

(reuters.com)

Seriously?

A country with millions of barrels of oil reserves and they need to import energy from Iran……Why?

Iraq cannot afford to heat or any domestic energy….could it have anything to do with 2008 and the return of big oil to Iraq?

I know…what?

This explains what I am talking about……https://lobotero.com/2008/06/20/big-oil-to-return-to-iraq/

The deals are that big oil returns and they run off with most of the profits….thanx to something called a “PSA”…..and I educated my readers about this as well….https://lobotero.com/2007/03/11/who-gets-iraqs-oil/

If for some unknown reason you would like another take on what happened to Iraq’s oil….then maybe this will satisfy your curiosity….https://theconversation.com/iraq-what-happened-to-the-oil-after-the-war-62188

Now I ask why if there is so much oil in Iraq why they cannot produce crude and nat gas for their consumption?

Does their lack of sufficient energy for the nation have anything to do with big oil and the PSA or is it the prices are too low for the production to be profitable?

The most important is….why would a nation with massive oil reserves need to import energy from another oil producing country?

Time for Iraq to be in control of their own reserves…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Iraq In The Rear View Mirror

Out man in Washington has decided to bring US troops home from Iraq….that is a promise that has been wanting to be fulfilled….and now some will leave the country…..

CENTCOM officials say that the process has been considered for months, and confirmed Wednesday what the administration has said recently, that there will be a US drawdown in Iraq before the election. 2,200 troops will leave Iraq by the end of this month.

At times the Pentagon has resisted major troop cuts by the administration, but seems resigned to it this time, emphasizing that the US has made a “great sacrifice” in decades of Iraqi war, and vowing that the US would continue supporting the Iraqi government.

That is not a small point for them to emphasize, either. When the Iraqi parliament asked the US to withdraw, there was talk of the US cutting ties with Iraq entirely to punish them. That no longer seems to be contemplated


With a pro-US premier now, Iraq isn’t pushing for an immediate pullout, and the US may want to lower troop levels this month, but probably won’t be out of Iraq entirely by the election either, leaving open whether the US is on their way out of Iraq until 2021.

(antiwar.com)

A friend asked me who would fill the void created by the departure of US troops……the answer to that question is….France.

French President Emmanuel Macron has declared a raft of aid and support packages to assist the beleaguered Iraqi government, as reports indicate that the United States is planning further troop reductions in the embattled country.

…

President Macron arrived in Iraq last Wednesday as the first foreign head of state to visit the war-ravaged country since Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi took office in May. 

Speaking from Baghdad, Macron said that Iraq had to assert its “sovereignty” despite being caught up in US-Iran tensions. “Iraq has been going through a challenging time for several years, with war and terrorism,” Macron said.

He noted that the country was still struggling to revive its economy, improve its education system and bring “military elements and militias” under state control. 

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/2020/9/9/the-iraq-report-france-asserts-itself-as-us-withdraws

France has been asserted itself into the region again…..Macron is trying to fill the hole that US is creating by its departure.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

One Third Out!

The news coming from the Trump White House is that after his removal of troops from Afghanistan the same will be done with the troop deployment in Iraq…..

The first official figures from the Trump Administration on the Iraq drawdown came Friday, with officials now saying that the 5,200 US troops there currently will be cut to about 3,500 in the next two to three months.

That’s about a third of the US troops in Iraq, and realistically more than that, as there are almost certainly over 5,200 US troops in Iraq now. The US has not kept public figures on troop levels for months, and 5,200, the highest allowed by the US-Iraq troop agreement, and when more troops were sent, the official figure always remained 5,200.

As with other planned US drawdowns, the Pentagon has yet to comment on it at all. In Afghanistan, the drawdown was ongoing for months before the Pentagon even admitted there was an order to cut troop levels, and Iraq may be heading for a similar type of ambiguity.

President Trump announced the intention for a drawdown earlier this month during a visit by Iraq’s premier. The expectation was for troop cuts to come before the election. Though officials did not confirm that this is the total of the cut, the timeframe suggests this is what is being planned for now.

(antiwar.com)

Is this a promise kept by Trump?  Or is it just a move during an election to try a sway voters?

Is this going to be an end to our endless wars?

The Wall Street Journal scoop on the details of the Trump administration’s troop withdrawal from Iraq is welcome news. Reportedly, President Donald Trump is cutting U.S. troop levels by one- third, to about 3,500 troops from 5,200. This move would bring force levels back to where they were in 2015, at the height of the war against ISIL, which in and of itself demonstrates how unnecessary the troop level increases have been mindful of the decimation of the Islamic State.

Yet, the Journal — and the media narrative around this in general — frames this solely as a decision born out of political pressures in Iraq and the United States. The Iraqi public wants the United States to leave — as demonstrated by the Iraqi parliament voting to expel U.S. troops earlier this year – and Trump seeking to deliver on his campaign promise to end the endless wars.

“But both governments have faced political pressures at home from critics who have complained that the U.S. may be engaged in an open-ended mission,” the Journal reports.

What Trump’s troop withdrawal from Iraq means for ending America’s endless wars

Whatcha think?  Is this truly an end to our endless wars?  The beginning of the end?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Guns Of August–Part Two

A little history for this Sunday…..

The original Guns of August referred to the beginning of the Great Wat, World War One…..but this is a bit different……

30 years ago today Saddam turned his forces loose on Kuwait…and thus began the first Gulf War…..

The consequences are still reverberating three decades on, obviously in Iraq and the Middle East but also further afield, after Saddam Hussein became the first Arab leader to invade another Arab nation. On Thursday, August 2, 1990, at about 2am, 100,000 Iraqi troops and 700 tanks smashed through Kuwaiti border posts. Saddam then announced that the emir of Kuwait had been deposed and the emirate was now Iraq’s nineteenth province.

This was his second invasion of a neighbor. In September 1980 he invaded Iran believing that the rule of the ayatollahs, and their Shia branch of Islam, posed a clear and present danger to Iraq’s Sunni-dominated government.

Much of the Iranian army and air force was dependent on US spare parts and these had dried up after the fall of the Shah in 1979. Saddam believed it would be a piece of cake as much of Iran’s heavy weaponry and air power would be unusable. Initially his forces were successful, driving deep into Iran. But the Iranians fought back, launched human wave attacks against Iraqi artillery and trench warfare, reminiscent of WWI, ensued. Stalemate. The war finally ended in 1988 under a United Nations-brokered ceasefire with neither victorious, both exhausted. Kuwait had initially lent the Iraqi leader US$14 billion to help finance the conflict. Saddam believed that this debt should be written off. Kuwait refused and demanded prompt payment.

The Gulf War, 30 Years and Counting

For those that are not capable of learning with our visuals…..

Just because I can…..a look at this war from Iraq’s perspective…..it is about 20 minutes if your attention span will allow it……

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Troops And Iraq

Trump is determined to bring our troops home from our longest war and now he is working on reducing our military footprint in Iraq as well.

Yes this is one of those promises Trump made back in 2016…..and now he may be holding to it…..

Many months after the Iraqi parliament voted unanimously to expel US forces, the question of future troop levels is finally up for discussion at this weeks talks.

Iraq is driven by trying to avoid hosting a US-Iran proxy war, and sees not hosting US troops as the path of least resistance. US officials took permanent basing in Iraq as a given and are willing to do anything to Iraq to protect that.

This was why Trump threatened sanctions worse than Iran for the very suggestion the US should pullout. Even then, there was no consideration of leaving.

This is also why these talks cover the full US-Iraq relationship and not just troop levels. This allows the US to threaten cuts everywhere else if they don’t get what they want.

Pentagon officials say they expect Iraq will at least let them stay through the “final final victory” over ISIS. But again, there is no suggestion the US might actually leave after that.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/06/11/a_moment_of_truth_for_us-iraq_relations_115369.html

Contrary to popular belief….I give credit when it is due…..and Trump gets credit if he is entering into these negotiations honestly and not just trying to gain a few points for the election.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”