Iraq War veterans watch the news in anguish
As one would expect, some of the hardest hit Americans are those who spent time fighting in Iraq:
“Going out across the desert I remember the feelings that you have, wondering if you’re going to make it out alive,” Rep. Scott Perry told National Journal. “Right now I wonder what that was all about. What was the point of all that?”
At least the Vietnam War vets who have been feeling similarly for nearly forty years have some company now. Unfortunately, many of those Vietnam vets are suffering flashbacks right now from their own past. Meanwhile, President Obama fiddles before heading away for the weekend:
Says “threat isn’t new”. They’ve been “ramping up” military aide for months. So much for being surprised.
No US troops going to Iraq. Says it’s not “primarily a military” problem. That was true weeks ago. Now it’s very much a military issue.
In short, Obama just wrote off Iraq.
This is naive beyond belief. As I wrote below, I get why we didn’t leave troops behind but to not act in this situation with direct military action is beyond irresponsible. ‘
He’s basically just given ISIS the territory they have (whether they can keep it over the long term is a very different question) and handed the Shia areas to Iran.
In answer to a question he said (bit of a paraphrase here) “events are moving fast on the ground but it will take us days to do our consultations and take any actions”.
And there’s no sense of urgency from Obama about it, either. Or special concern. The reason is pretty clear:
In Washington, President Obama vowed Thursday to keep his options open, but is reportedly reluctant to reengage in Iraq, after touting the end of the war as his chief foreign policy accomplishment.
Pretend it’s no big deal, and then on to the next crisis that erupts.
It’s beginning to look like Joe Biden was prescient when he said years ago that the only solution was to partition Iraq into three sectarian parts. That’s where this is headed.
We should get tight with the Kurds to keep a presence in the region while we let the Shia and Sunni pound each other. The ISIS have fewer than 1000 troops and the Iraq army had 30,000 before it melted away. A squadron of A-10 Warthogs could have sorted this out in a few hours. Muslim crazies killing Muslim crazies is not a bad thing.
Typical myopia from America. Thinks everyone in Iraq is a Muslim crazy killing Muslim crazies.
Joe Biden was prescient as far as I’m prescient that I’ll have toast when I place bread in my toaster oven and turn the dial.
See this discussion:
http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/operation-iraqi-partition/
Partitioning Iraq, if it happens, will be forced upon the Iraqi people, not a settling into a natural state of self-determined equilibrium.
The idea that you can support the soldier but not his war is better than nothing, but it serves the post-Vietnam protestor more than it does the soldier. Soldiers invest their bodies, minds, hearts, and souls into these missions.
Keep in mind, the vast majority of Iraq veterans never fought Iraq.
Rather, they defended Iraq and protected the Iraqi people. Those who fought Iraq also defended Iraq and protected the Iraqi people.
In addition, Counterinsurgency meant our soldiers lived and worked closely with Iraqis on more than security, but also the full range of civil affairs, humanitarian aid, and civil development – ie, peace operations.
My peacetime service in Korea comprised a tiny fraction of what our soldiers gave of themselves to Iraq, yet I would be furious if the US betrayed the ROK.
I can only imagine the anguish of our Iraq veterans. Our soldiers are mother and father to Iraq. They’ve bled for Iraq and her people. They’ve died for Iraq and her people.
Yeah, they’re taking this news hard.
It’s true that Obama could care less what’s happening in Iraq. It’s also true that there’s little he can do that won’t be in the long-run, counter-productive. The Shia led government is corrupt and when push comes to shove, our enemy. They also lack the will to fight, confirmed by 30,000 gov. troops fleeing 800 ISIS jihadists. The Sunni ISIS are certainly our enemy. Assisting either side is assisting an enemy.
Which leaves the ‘moderate’ Iraqis, who haven’t the guts to impose their will upon either side.
The silver lining that will emerge out of the fall of Iraq and Afghanistan is demonstrating the lessons that; you can’t liberate a people who embrace their chains and you can’t effectively fight a war in which you refuse to identify your enemy.
Geoffrey Britain:
I think your logic is faulty in certain regards. Just because both sides are bad doesn’t mean that one side isn’t better than the other. ISIS is about as bad as it gets. Nor did the Iraqi people vote for anything like ISIS.
Do you really mean to say that because ISIS and the Maliki government are both our enemies, that they are equally hostile to us and equally dangerous? That makes no sense to me.
The choice is not between “liberating” the Iraqis or not; there were and still are many possibilities in-between. Nor do I think we actually have a clue about how many Iraqis want to be “liberated” or not.
To make an imperfect analogy, did most Americans want what Obama is dishing out right now? Don’t think so, and yet a majority voted for him in 2012. Even most Germans did not vote Hitler in. People often forget that. Countries can be taken over by very bad elements that do not represent the will of the majority of the people.
ISIS is about as bad as it gets and, they are the more immediate threat. But if it survives, it is only a matter of time before Maliki’s government aligns themselves with Iran. And Iran is for us, the far greater threat.
In not fighting against ISIS the Iraqi people are ‘voting’ for ISIS… as actions speak louder than either words or opinion. Burke’s dictum still holds true; “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Obama’s recent approval rating of 44% indicates that enough Americans are willing to condone his behavior and, if he could run for another term he’d probably win it.
Countries that are taken over by very bad elements that do not represent the will of the majority of the people… are countries in which the majority of the people will not fight for what they purport to believe. One BILLION Chinese could overthrow the ChiCom government tomorrow, if the majority would rather die on their feet than live on their knees. It’s time to stop with the excuses, when tyranny rules, the majority are collaborating in their oppression. And a minority of individuals cannot compel a majority to fight.
Geoffrey Britain:
Iran is a big threat, but it’s already a big threat. ISIS is a potentially very big threat, too, and it is in the bud stage and could be more easily nipped.
Could have been more easily nipped earlier, too.
ISIS has a lot of goals, but one of them is terrorism and the expansion of Islamic fundamentalism around the world. Same as Iran, from a slightly different direction. And ISIS is linked with Syria—at least, that’s the information that’s out there.
Geoffrey Britain:
Speaking of ISIS and threats, here it is:
By the way, we had him in prison in Iraq for four years, and released him in 2009.
And we didn’t even get a Bergdahl in return.
Iran is a two pronged threat. First, they fund and abet terrorism. Second, they pose a threat to Israel in particular, but also to other ME countries. That said, they are easier to cope with than the non-sovereign actors like al Qaeda. I liken it to the difference between a bear and fire ants. The bear (Iran) is a threat and when it comes time to take it on, you know how you’re going to do it. You’ve got the gear to take it down and it will be over relatively quickly. (Assuming you plan to fight to win unconditionally.)
The non-state a terrorists are like fire ants. They keep stinging you and are a nuisance. You can kill them individually but it takes a lot of your time and doesn’t do much good. You track down some of their nests and try to eradicate them, but if you aren’t serious and do the job right, they stay alive and keep moving around. Then one day you step on a really big nest that you hadn’t seen growing. And they kill you.
It may be a clumsy analogy, but I think it makes the point between the threat of non-state terrorism versus Iran. Both are threats, but in different ways. And both are dealt with in different ways.
I am know what a lot of Iraq vets are feeling. It’s a crap sandwich. It will drag you down. The anger that I’m feeling toward Obama and the dems is nothing compared to what they are feeling. It’s.Just.Not.Right!
Justice is something that issues from a free person’s sword arm. Laws and authorities, have little to nothing to do with pure justice. Righteousness and the proper conduct of peons and serfs, yes, but not justice.
By the way, we had him in prison in Iraq for four years, and released him in 2009.
Khomeini of Iran, was also captured by the Shah of Iran, and then released to show “good intentions” to the Leftist cannonfodder in Iran crying for liberty.
The world has a severe lack of WILL, when it comes to much of anything. And a weak enemy can accomplish miracles merely by having that Will, for where there is a Will, there is a Way.
Let’s put this straight. Our Nero fiddles while Iraq burns. Where’s the Praetorian guard to eliminate our Nero?
Obama’s always wanted a Banana Republic. We “voted” for it! I think a military coup is what we now deserve.
Duckworth is a Democrat. I remember her story.
She was given a VA Illinois slot for her support of the Democrat party, using her war history as a template.
For people like her to now act like they are in sympathy with the defeat they helped cause, in return for some silver favors is a bit…
Like Eric Shinseki, they were pocketing lots of money and overseeing corruption for power, in return for supporting Hussein.
neo @ 7:15,
Iran is on the cusp of becoming a two-fold threat; what they will do themselves once they have nuclear weapons capability and, the resultant regional consequence of that capability. Namely nuclear proliferation into unstable third world regimes and future Jihadist States.
Iran will precipitate nuclear proliferation because it is the sole major Shia Muslim nation and the Sunni nations will react both to the potential threat and, to Iran’s perceived upgrade in status (within the Muslim world) having acquired nukes in spite of all the great Satan could do…
Widespread nuclear proliferation leads to jihadist terrorist groups like ISIS getting their hands on nukes. Speaking of ISIS, yes they can be ‘nipped in the bud’ now but another group will arise in their place because there is NO ‘radical’ Islam, there is only Islam. “There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.” Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan , Turkey’s Prime Minister since 2003 commenting on the term “moderate Islam”
As to why another terrorist group must arise should ISIS be nipped in the bud, I contend it is because Islamic terrorism is a reaction by Islam’s Mullahs and Imams, to the mortal cultural threat to Islam that exposure to the modern world presents to Islam’s 7th century ideology.
If I’m correct in that assessment, then no amount of nipping in the bud of terrorist groups will address the long term threat.
We’ve got the cart before the horse and because we are in willful denial we are fighting an ideological Medusa with one hand tied behind our back and no mirrored shield with which to see the Medusa.
Geoffrey Britain:
You have no quarrel with me on the subject of Iran. They have long been a major major threat, and a threat to go nuclear. But we seem impotent so far to stop them, especially the Obama administration. With ISIS it would be far easier to stop them (in the bud).
Just because it would be a game of whack a mole to do so doesn’t mean we shouldn’t whack those moles anyway. Allowing them to go unchecked not only gives them strength, it helps them to inspire others and feeds the perception of our being a weak horse, which only encourages them more.
“Allowing them to go unchecked not only gives them strength, it helps them to inspire others and feeds the perception of our being a weak horse, which only encourages them more. “
That’s obviously true. It’s also true that playing whack a mole feeds into the left’s meme of American imperialism and the isolationist argument that acting as the world’s policeman fuels opposition. Those are IMO highly flawed arguments but nonetheless effective with the LIV. And the beat goes on…
Cut off the heads of the hydra, it grows new heads. Cut out the heart and the heads die.
The Left has no heart. Islam has no heart.