Sunni Radical Insurgency in Iraq. North of Country Overrun.

[BridgeTroll]

It is too late.  The best we can do now is nothing.  Shortly... forces from Iran will stream across the border.  The ISIS and Shia forces will begin a meat grinder civil/religious war that will pale in comparison to Syria.

I have a different take this is where Iraq learns what freedom takes. We can help air support and such like France helped the birth of our country.  Now can Iraq do it? most can't

However the ISIS is not built for the long haul they may be able to storm in but that is it unless they take Bagdad. 

An optimistic view... to be sure.  We gave them a relatively stable country(free of saddam, uday, qusay and the rest)... they had free elections... we trained their military.  And now their uniforms and weapons lay abandoned to be picked up by this Islamic fundamentalist mob.  The Sunni and Shia (with a Kurd sideshow) now has their battlefield.

Let Allah sort em out...

[NotNow]

It is too late.  The best we can do now is nothing.  Shortly... forces from Iran will stream across the border.  The ISIS and Shia forces will begin a meat grinder civil/religious war that will pale in comparison to Syria.

And how exactly did this area destabilize again?

I heard it was a youtube video.

Considering your information sources, Im not surprised.

But you know, when you guys insisted that we invade the country that had literally nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, this was kind of the outcome that most people who were actually aware of the Middle East were warning against.

After all, there was a reason why we originally funded and backed Saddam Hussein in the first place.

Interesting analysis.  Based on nothing but political ass covering, but interesting anyway.  The military action in Iraq was supported by all of our elected representatives and a majority of the American people.  Saddam Hussein made his own undoing, by his actions in the invasion of Kuwait and multiple criminal actions by his government in the years following.  Your selective memory is not uncommon, however, as many Democrats have forgotten how they voted. 

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/reminder-biden-supported-iraq-war-2002_654352.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/transcripts/senaterollcall_iraq101002.htm

Your sudden Saddam Hussein fanboy status is noted though. 

For those with a selective memory:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/06/13/flashbacks-obama-and-biden-laud-iraqs-stability/

If your going to take credit, then be prepared (and mature enough) to take responsibility.

Of course, none of this political ass covering offers any solution for the current debacle in Iraq.  Much like StephenDare!'s struggle to place blame, I don't see any leadership from President Obama either.  And to think some are asking "And how exactly did this area destabilize again?"

[NotNow]

Wow...

State Dept: Terrorist Group's Presence in Syria and Iraq 'Entirely Different Situations'

'There are different coalitions and different factions'

June 11, 2014 4:47 pm

In the view of the State Department, the actions of militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq are "entirely different situations."

At a briefing Wednesday, a reporter asked State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki to reconcile the United States' cautious position on intervening in Syria, where ISIL is active, with its recent declared support of Iraq in fighting ISIL. "But you're not making a distinction, are you, between the group's activities in Iraq and the group's activities in Syria? I mean, they're just as deadly to the Syrian people as the Iraqi people, and they're going back and forth across the border."

"Well," Psaki responded, "they're entirely different situations."

Psaki claimed that there have been "many different conflicting reports" about ISIL in Syria and Iraq, and "there are different coalitions and different factions."

"They claim to be one and the same," a reporter countered.

"But regardless," Psaki said, "any threat, any terrorist threat — there are many that unfortunately exist in that particular region — are of concern to us and that's why we are upping our focus on the changing threat — changing threats that we're facing today."

Jameson, have you paid any attention, at all, to the past thirty years of American Policy in the middle east?

Did you even read the article?  For God's sake, it is a glaring example and indictment of the Obama administrations incompetence.  Does anybody know what's been going on in Iraq for the last two years?  Does anyone in our government have a plan for what to do now?  Those are the pertinent questions.

[NotNow]

watch the video, nn.

It will save lots of embarrassment for you later.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/13/rachel-maddow-iraq-attack_n_5491463.html

This is probably the most succinct and informative commentary out there.

Who should be embarrassed now?  The administration was warned over and over of the dangers of abandoning our position in Iraq.  Yet now you guys want to blame any one else.  Your not just blaming Bush, your blaming the British for God's sake.  This is like dealing with elementary school children. 

I am not calling for reengaging in Iraq.  I have asked for analysis and opinion.  Personally, I think if the President wants to fight with the Iranians against our equipment he should draft people like you to do it with.

[BridgeTroll]

finger pointing... doesn't it get sore??    This was going to happen no matter what... ask Qaddafi... or Assad... or the former rulers of Egypt.  It is soon going to happen to Jordan... Kuwait... Bahrain.  Of course Israel will get swept in. I think they like killing each other and are just mad at Jews and westerners for getting in their way.

Time to get out of the way...

[BridgeTroll]

finger pointing... doesn't it get sore??    This was going to happen no matter what... ask Qaddafi... or Assad... or the former rulers of Egypt.  It is soon going to happen to Jordan... Kuwait... Bahrain.  Of course Israel will get swept in. I think they like killing each other and are just mad at Jews and westerners for getting in their way.

Time to get out of the way...

ah.  so after years of calling everyone else names and assuring that the invasion of a sovereign country was a good idea, now when its time to face up to the gruesome reality, you think its 'finger pointing' when people interrupt your fingerprinting to point out how we got here in the first place?

Ok.  Sure.  Its all that terrible Obama's fault.

he should never have invaded iraq and acted like such an idiot in the first place, right?

As it happens, I think he's going to launch the first real robot war on this one.

As usual... you finger is misdirected.  it really should be pointed directly at the French and Brits for creating this mess to begin with.

[NotNow]

watch the video, nn.

It will save lots of embarrassment for you later.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/13/rachel-maddow-iraq-attack_n_5491463.html

This is probably the most succinct and informative commentary out there.

Who should be embarrassed now?  The administration was warned over and over of the dangers of abandoning our position in Iraq.  Yet now you guys want to blame any one else.  Your not just blaming Bush, your blaming the British for God's sake.  This is like dealing with elementary school children. 

I am not calling for reengaging in Iraq.  I have asked for analysis and opinion.  Personally, I think if the President wants to fight with the Iranians against our equipment he should draft people like you to do it with.

yes.  you cheered this war, you claimed to have 'inside knowledge' that there really were WMDs in Iraq, you pledged that NO AMOUNT OF DEBT was too much in order to pursue this, and yet you were completely wrong.

This was the outcome that literally the rest of the world assured you would happen when you took out the strong man and brought al qaeda into the area, and propped up Iran, making it the strongest power in the region, and scoffed at the idea that Sunnis and Shias simply did not get along.

And why was it that you cheered for those things to happen again?

How many more decades did you want America to squat in Iraq exactly?

You took out the only secular government in the middle east and replaced it with anarchy.

Congratulations, you wanted this, now you have it.

As usual, you are "misrepresenting the truth". 

I have never "cheered" war.  Having actually seen it, I know how horrible it really is.  Yet, I understand that it is sometimes necessary:

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill
English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)

I have never "claimed" anything.  The Iraqi Army deployed poison gas against its own people.  I provided documentation about the uranium that was found and shipped out of Iraq.   That is not speculation, that is fact.

The rest of the world was largely in the fight with us.  The majority of Congress, including democrats like Biden and Clinton included, approved the Iraq War Resolution.  The majority of the American public agreed.  Despite your recent affection for Saddam Hussein, he was a widely despised war criminal.  Our elected government made the decision to fight rather than endure the continuing problems from the Hussein government.

I hope that you were comfortable when you wrongly accused US troops of war crimes.  I hope you were comfortable when you made fun of my friends who were injured.  You felt no qualms when you called our leaders horrible names and passed on every rumor and mistruth that you could to further your political agenda. 

I assume that you are in a comfortable chair right now, blaming me and others for the foreign policy disaster that is taking place in Iraq.  Two years ago Obama, Biden, and you were claiming a "great victory for the administration".  Now, with Iraq "suddenly" in danger of falling to an Islamist Jihadi group that your great leader armed and financed, you feel a great urge to blame those of us that removed the threat of Hussein and stabilized that country for all groups there.  The fact is that your great leader failed to negotiate a status of forces agreement.  His administration either ignored the danger caused by these jihadi's or was incompetent in dealing with them.  His administration either ignored the situation on the ground in Iraq (a two year struggle) or was just incompetent in recognizing it.

I'll be curious to see your spin when your great leader commits forces to this debacle that he, and people like you, have created.  But of course, either way, you will remain comfortable in whatever hole you write this drivel from.

I want nothing more to do with Iraq.  I have done my part. I have lost too many friends and listened to too may "citizens" like you and Rachel Maddow insult the memory of those that protect your sorry behinds. 

[NotNow]

Front Page today in Germany:

http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/12/watch-joe-biden-call-iraq-one-of-the-great-achievements-of-this-administration/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/10/21/president-obama-has-ended-war-iraq

[NotNow]

Traitor?  I had a few other descriptions in mind.  I'm glad to see that you still understand at least the meaning of the word "moral".

Meanwhile, as world events continue to make the US more and more irrelevant, the talking point domestically is to "blame Bush". 

[finehoe]

The rest of the world was largely in the fight with us.  The majority of Congress, including democrats like Biden and Clinton included, approved the Iraq War Resolution.  The majority of the American public agreed. 

Until it became clear that the Bush administration's case for war was built on lies.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/23/bush.iraq/index.html?_s=PM%253APOLITICS

[Ocklawaha]

I haven't found any reference to any of our allies quoting the fight over 'Bush's Lies.' Are the terrorists that are now retaking Iraq doing so because of Bush? Maybe those lies pissed them off so much that now they're going to make someone pay for it? Personally, I don't care if we went to war over illegal Starbucks drink smuggling, these guys have shown that they are deadly and that they wish to kill anyone that disagrees with them. Those kinds of nut cases only understand extreme violence, Bush was willing to hand it to them, and 'Dear Leader' has generally joined the other side. At his toughest, Obama, HAS drawn lines in the sand, but then he runs back in, resets the date, erases the line, and moves it back ½ mile, only to repeat the process.

[NotNow]

"I know some in Washington would like us to start leaving Iraq now. To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we are ready would be dangerous for Iraq, for the region, and for the United States. It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaeda. It would mean that we'd be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we'd allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan. It would mean increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous."

George W. Bush 2007

[bill]

"I know some in Washington would like us to start leaving Iraq now. To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we are ready would be dangerous for Iraq, for the region, and for the United States. It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaeda. It would mean that we'd be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we'd allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan. It would mean increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous."

George W. Bush 2007

Wow spot on. Too bad he is so stupid he could not follow the Obama doctrine. Run away!!

[JeffreyS]

No wrong and obviously wrong.  More likely in2007 had we left the Kurds would have controlled the north, Iran would have controlled Baghdad and the Saudis would have controlled the southwest. Yes there would have been some unrest but just like now stability will follow someone will be in power after we are gone.  Al Qaeda doesn't govern.

[NotNow]

Thousands of lives and billions of dollars in equipment invested in what is probably the most strategically located country in the middle east, now squandered.  This was easily predicted.   This is a disaster for our interests in the region, not to mention the great human costs suffered by the "governing" of this group.  I am greatly saddened to see the deterioration of America's influence and standing in the world.  I am sorry to say that I don't see this progression of setbacks to our worldwide national interests stopping anytime soon under our current leadership.