Paul Shannon:
Despite what is being spread as a narrative, Al Qaeda is alive and well. The terrorist group has now seized the Iraqi city of Mosul. While there are many arguments between people on why we were there or how long we should have stayed, this is still a sign that the terrorist group that killed Americans on our soil is still strong. Every member of our military that fought to free the city are now having to wonder why they were there, if this is being allowed.
The reports on Mosul
The city was taken over last night. Here, via Bloomberg, is what occurred.
Fighters from a breakaway al-Qaeda group seized Mosul after ousting government forces from the northern Iraqi city, extending their reach over the country as central authority crumbles.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for parliament to declare a state of emergency and pledged swift measures to retake the city from “terrorists,” in a televised speech. Images on
television showed cars burning in the city and citizens fleeing the fighting between the and and Iraqi government forces.Mosul is Iraq’s second biggest city and its capture follows the fall of
in the western to the militant group in January. More than three years after pulled out of Iraq, ISIL’s gains expose Maliki’s failure to heal rifts from the sectarian civil war.Request from the area government
Prime Minister has issued the following plea, which comes via
@retire05, #50:
That was then. It is now 4 years later. Things change over 4 years.
It should be sufficiently obvious at this point that nothing needs to be said, but I’ll say it anyway, because the obvious continues to elude you:
The invasion of Iraq was the Bush Administration’s responsibility, start to finish. They maneuvered us into going there, they called the shots while we were there, and they locked us into a timetable for full military withdrawal with virtually no chance for further negotiations as a final act before walking off the stage.
Obama did little more than preside over the final act of a play that was fully scripted start to finish before he ever showed up.
Now Iraq is going to hell in a handbag and Nuri al-Maliki, who previously celebrated our departure, is back with his hat in his hands asking for a resumption of U.S. military involvement.
Decisions about Iraq made from this point forward are, in fact, entirely Obama’s responsibility. I don’t envy him having to make the difficult choices, because none of them have a high probability of success and there’s danger that any of them could go seriously wrong. Whatever he decides, he can count on one thing: Republicans won’t have his back. Instead, they’ll be looking for any opportunity to put a knife into it. What they see the current situation as is a political opportunity.
Consider how totally screwed up the situation actually is: Iran has deployed Revolutionary Guard troops to fight ISIS forces. Directly or indirectly, U.S. airstrikes against ISIS would essentially be providing air support to Iranian ground forces.
How does anyone sort something as politically convoluted as that out?
@Greg:
To quote you, Greggie:
That was then. It is now
45 1/2 years later. Things change over45 1/2 years.To accept your lame excuse, Truman, who was not even kept inside the administration’s loop, should have been a disaster when it came to World War II. After all, FDR died and left him with a mess. Instead, Truman stepped up to the plate and acted like a true leader.
You mean like how Democrats put a knife in the back of President Nixon, blaming him for a war that was started by a Democrat? Not only did Democrats put a knife in the back of Nixon, they put a knife in the backs of Americans, American military and the South Vietnamese. Stop being a hypocrite.
@Greg:
It should be easy for the guy people like you have been claiming is the smartest man to ever occupy the White House.
The topic isn’t Truman or FDR, or Nixon, or any other of your fixations or distractions. The topic is the reality of the situation in Iraq and how it got that way. You’ll never acknowledge the truth of how things have come to be as they are, nor will you ever discuss how current realities should be dealt with. Nothing can be understood or discussed outside the context of your fixations.
I’ve grown weary of arguing with you. Feel free to continue arguing with yourself, or look for someone else to suck into one of your endless venting sessions.
@Greg:
That’s OK, Greggie. I know that you don’t want to compare true leadership from past presidents to Obama. That’s totally understandable when you can’t defend a president that has failed on every level if you have to compare him to those that didn’t.
What you have grown weary of is trying to create a false narrative about a president that is the most inept in the history of this nation.
But you’ll be back. And you will respond to me again because you are here for only one reason; to push your OFA/DNC talking points. You just haven’t realized yet how miserably you fail.
Headline in British Press:
Iraq crisis: the jihadist behind the takeover of Mosul – and how America let him go
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10891700/Iraq-crisis-the-jihadist-behind-the-takeover-of-Mosul-and-how-America-let-him-go.html
@Greg:
From THIS POINT? Didn’t they start on Jan 20, 2009? Are you telling us that Zippy was still calling Bush for decisions on what to do in Iraq up until today? Really?
@Greg:
Are you saying you don’t think Zippy can figure that out?
@Redteam, #59:
If you would care to have a go at sorting it out, please do. Personally, I find the fact that providing air support against ISIS would also be a matter of providing air support for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard more than a little problematic.
Here’s the relevant story. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard deploys to Iraq to stop Sunni terror group
@Greg:
It was that administration’s responsibility up to the point where there was a peaceful transfer of power to the next administration to take the football and not fumble it. The writing of history doesn’t begin and expire every 4-8 years, based on the U.S. presidential election cycle. Each administration picks up where the previous one left off.
I distinctly remember mata and I in a number of posts pointing out that Obama did not “end the war in Iraq”- that SoFA was signed under Bush (if memory is correct, Obama had wanted it delayed so that he could claim political credit). But there was an understanding that the terms would be renegotiated down the road and based upon conditions on the ground. The Obama administration essentially all but ignored Iraq until late in the game when the withdrawal deadline was suddenly looming over the horizon. They then finally addressed the issue and unsuccessfully tried to renegotiate the SoFA. But it was too late; and it was a failure on the part of the Obama administration.
Condi Rice:
More from the Cable:
Greg wrote:
So the leader of the free world is helpless to flex any influence upon the fluid situation on the ground? The situation in Iraq matters. Whether Saddam should have been removed or not, the right thing to do now- and one tied in to America’s interests and nationals security (all the world needs is another Islamic theocratic state)- is to make sure the blood and treasure we invested into Iraq wasn’t in vain. The blame buck stops with decisions made today by al-Maliki and Obama to deal with what’s going on today- not what happened 11 years ago. When Bush left office, Iraq was on the path to being stabilized post-Surge and Awakening.
Absence of U.S. involvement sounds nice. But it does not make us safe.
Surrendering Iraq is not victory; just because we brought our troops home does not wash our hands and absolve us of responsibility. Someone forgot to tell ISIS that we won the war and game over:
WE CANNOT BLAME IRAK,
THEY WHERE NOT USE IN GETTING BULLIED BY OBAMA STYLE OF GOVERNING,
THE PRESIDENT BUSH HAD MORE CLASS AND DIGNITY AND HE APPLYED IT IN WAR AND PEACE,
they all trusted him, and so much, that the NATO WAS FORM WITH MANY COUNTRIES, TRUSTING HIM,
and also at the rate that OBAMA”S ROE WAS KILLING THE TROUPS,
THE IRAK KNEW IT ALSO AND LOST TRUST ON THAT SIDE OF THE WAR,
remember how hard OBAMA TRYED TO CONVINCE THE AMERICANS OF BUSH’S FAULT ON EVERYTHING,
HE, OBAMA WAS FAILING, WE CAN STILL HEAR IT SAID,
OBAMA SCREW UP THE ROE OF WAR, BIG TIME,
AND THE BRAVES FILLED UP THE CASQUETS,
AS THEY DID filled up,IN ALL THE VETERAN’S HOSPITALS,
HELL THEY ACCUSE BUSH OF HAVING MADE UP THE 9/11 ATTACKS, IT STILL CIRCULATE IN THE VA HOSPITALS,
THAT’S WHY I ACCUSE THE MUSLIMS WORKERS THERE TO DO AS THE ASSAN DID BY INDOCTRINATING THE SICK VETERAN,
ENDING WITH KILLING 13,
HOW MANY I ASK MUSLIMS WORK IN THOSE VETERAN HOSPITALS RUN BY UNION? WHO DON’T CARE OF THAT POINT,
THERE SHOULDN’T BE ONE OF THEM TO GET CLOSE TO THE SICK VETERANS, OR IT’S AS I SAID AN ABONINATION,
PUT ON THE VETERANS WHO ARE UNDER THEIR CONTROL,
AND HAVE NO WAY TO EXPRESS THEIR FEAR,
THEY ONLY COMMIT SUICIDE TO GET AWAY,
and are hush out secretly,to get out of the scrutiny of the people who care for them.
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO SPILL THE BEAN, AND OPEN THE CAN OF WORMS?