Nature—and geopolitics—
—abhors a vacuum.
And so Iran rushes in where Obama fears to tread:
U.S. and senior Iraqi officials tell The Daily Beast that Iran is now offering the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki its army, its spies and highly trained irregular units from its revolutionary guard corps to root out the Sunni insurgency that now threatens Baghdad. Gen. Qassem Solaimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, arrived in Baghdad last week with an entourage of military advisers to begin preparations for such a counter-offensive. A member of the Quds Force has already allegedly been killed fighting in Iraq…
Lukman Faily, Iraq’s ambassador to Washington, in an interview declined to discuss any specifics of the Iranian offer to Maliki’s government. But he did say that his government faced a desperate choice.
“We face an existential threat ourselves. We cannot coexist with ISIS,” he said. “Unfortunately, when people are desperate, they will take desperate measures.”
He added, “We will go to whomever we can partner with to deal with the immediate threat.”
Meanwhile, while Iran gets to work, Obama gets out his irons:
The White House said Obama received regular briefings on the worsening crisis in Iraq during his golf weekend. “The president directed [National Security Adviser Susan Rice] to continue to keep him apprised of the latest developments,” said spokesman Josh Earnest, “as his national security team continues to meet through the weekend to review potential options.”…
“He has got to know our allies are sitting there saying, ‘Has this guy got the chops? Is he strong?’ ” says former top George W. Bush aide Karl Rove, just returned from a trip to Europe. “And for him to hold a news conference saying he’s thinking about what to do in Iraq and then head off for a weekend of fundraisers and golf – does he think this escapes international view?”
To answer Rove’s question: no, he doesn’t think this escapes international view. In fact, there is a good possibility that it is an intentional message to the nations involved in the Iraq mess that he is deeply, deeply disengaged and will do very little about it.
Don’t expect to see the MSM criticizing Obama for it, though. The NY Times coverage is typical—a lengthy 25-paragraph article where in the second paragraph there’s an oblique non-golfing reference to Obama’s California sojourn (“the White House’s emphasis, when Mr. Obama returns to Washington on Monday from a weekend in Southern California, will be on prodding Iraq’s leaders to form a new national unity government”) and the fact that he’s playing golf isn’t even mentioned until paragraph 13, and then in a very neutral way (see also this, essentially the same treatment).
Contrast with Bush, who was heavily criticized in 2002 for making a statement about an Israeli terrorist attack while on the golf course, and who in 2003 called an unannounced halt to his golf-playing in time of war.
Of course, we’re not at war anymore, says Obama. But war is interested in him.
Events and Obama have forced the Maliki government to request Iran’s help. Turns out that Iran is willing to save Maliki, which will no doubt come with a price tag. Most likely that price will be to become a client state of Iran.
So Bush took Iraq away from Saddam and the Baathists and Obama has given Iraq to Iran.
Not much can be done on the federal level against a highly partisan MSM, a RINO limp wristed establishment, and 50.01% LIV. But try we must. The battle of ideas against the left has to be fought in the states and at the local level. The 9th and 10th must be reclaimed or there will be blood. It will be blood spilled by outside forces or by inside forces; either way there will be blood.
http://tinyurl.com/lfxbfmu
The place to start is your garden, connections with family and neighbors, and the mximum of independence you can achieve in terms of food, fuel, water, and self-defense. Learn how to return to Johnny’s garden and keep your trigger finger gentle under stressful circumstances.
Something I haven’t heard mentioned in years is the difference between Persian and Arab Shia. Right now religion seems to be holding the two together, but I suspect that there may be some powers struggles in the future.
expat: “Something I haven’t heard mentioned in years is the difference between Persian and Arab Shia.”
It’s not like Iraqi Shia went running to Iran despite beliefs to the contrary. Relatively friendlier relations, keeping in mind rational decision-making with their more-powerful neighbor in the wake of US abandonment, but nothing like a merger.
The only Shia leader I can think of who went to running to Iraq was al Sadr, who was then a minor figure, and he was an outlier motivated by his total hatred of the US for betraying his family to their deaths in 1991 when they died for trusting the US. (A lot of Iraqis are dying again after trusting the US. We’ve betrayed them again.)