Tag: Iraq

How We Lost Iraq

Carlton Palmer pointed out this fascinating  article, from a man who was intimately involved; as one of a few Arab-speaking US officials in Baghdad. Click on the link for the full article.

By the closing months of 2008, successfully negotiating the terms for America’s continued commitment to Iraq became a top White House imperative. But desperation to seal a deal before Bush left office, along with the collapse of the world economy, weakened our hand.

In an ascendant position, Maliki and his aides demanded everything in exchange for virtually nothing. They cajoled the United States into a bad deal that granted Iraq continued support while giving America little more than the privilege of pouring more resources into a bottomless pit.

With the Obama administration vowing to end Bush’s “dumb war,” and the continued distraction of the global economic crisis, Maliki seized an opportunity. He began a systematic campaign to destroy the Iraqi state and replace it with his private office and his political party, the most powerful man in Iraq and the Middle East, Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, warned that those Iraqi leaders who cooperated, would continue to benefit from Iran’s political cover and cash payments, but those who defied the will of the Islamic Republic would suffer the most dire of consequences.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-we-stuck-with-maliki–and-lost-iraq/2014/07/03/0dd6a8a4-f7ec-11e3-a606-946fd632f9f1_story.html

 

The Real Story Behind The Surge

Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno was an unlikely dissident, with little in his past to suggest that he would buck his superiors and push the U.S. military in radically new directions.

Communicating almost daily by phone with retired Gen. Jack Keane, an influential former Army vice chief of staff and his most important ally in Washington, Odierno launched a guerrilla campaign for a change in direction in Iraq, conducting his own strategic review and bypassing his superiors to talk through Keane to White House staff members and key figures in the military. It would prove one of the most audacious moves of the Iraq war, and one that eventually reversed almost every tenet of U.S. strategy

via The Dissenter Who Changed the War.

And now the Shiite Civil War In Iraq

Maliki: “Security operations in Basra will continue” – The Long War Journal

With the relative Sunni vs. Shiite cease-fire, in their Civil War, ; now the Shiites turn on each other. Here are some interesting front-line dispatches on the Iraq government’s Shiite Coalitions attempt to militarily defeat their religious, Iranian-supplied rival, Sadr, by taking back the vital Port cities.

World-View- From Singapore

International Security – Emerging Threats – Analysis – UPI.com
Singapore is the model emulated by much of the developing world. People chose Prosperity and Security over Freedom and Rights. Read this insight, from the man, who was the brains behind their remarkable Economic rise. In an exclusive interview with United Press International, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, long known as the Kissinger of the orient, took the Europeans to task for balking at casualties in Afghanistan. He blamed “short memories” that have forgotten that “America came to rescue them in two world wars,” which has rekindled the “appeasement” of the 1930s.

Now known as the “minister mentor” of Singapore, who turned a malarial island into a city of skyscrapers that thinks like a great power and is more important to the global economy than most big countries, Lee fears failure in Afghanistan will alter the world balance of power in favor of China and Russia. These two powers “would be faced with a much weakened West in the ongoing global contest.” Continue reading “World-View- From Singapore”

Buried WMD Scoop – WSJ.com

Buried WMD Scoop – WSJ.com

Now that ’60 Minutes” has broadcast their interview with Saddam’s interrogator the inconvenient implications have been ignored by the media. It is easy to 2nd guess the Iraq war in hind-site and assume that since no WMDs were found and the occupation mismanaged that there was never a credible threat in the first place. This interview should remind us why the US Senate voted unanimously under Bill Clinton’s presidency that “Regime Change” was the stated policy of the United States. From the transcript:

Mr. Piro: “The folks that he needed to reconstitute his program are still there.”

Mr. Pelley: “And that was his intention?”

Mr. Piro: “Yes.”

Mr. Pelley: “What weapons of mass destruction did he intend to pursue again once he had the opportunity?”

Mr. Piro: “He wanted to pursue all of WMD. So he wanted to reconstitute his entire WMD program.”

Mr. Pelley: “Chemical, biological, even nuclear.”

Mr. Piro: “Yes.” Continue reading “Buried WMD Scoop – WSJ.com”

Zakaria: We’re Fighting the Wrong War

Zakaria: We’re Fighting the Wrong War | Newsweek Voices – Fareed Zakaria | Newsweek.com
Pity the U.S. presidential candidates. They had their positions on Iraq all worked out by last summer and have repeated them consistently ever since. But events on the ground have changed dramatically, and their rhetoric feels increasingly stale. They’re fighting the Iraq War all right, but it’s the wrong one.

The Democrats are having the hardest time with the new reality. Every candidate is committed to “ending the war” and bringing our troops back home. The trouble is, the war has largely ended, and precisely because our troops are in the middle of it. Click on the under-lined Newsweek link to see the rest of this insightful article.

Saddam Planned To Re-Start WMDs : Interrogator

Interrogator: Invasion Surprised Saddam, Tells 60 Minutes Former Dictator Bragged About Eluding Capture – CBS News
Piro spent almost seven months debriefing Saddam in a plan based on winning his confidence by convincing him that Piro was an important envoy who answered to President Bush. This and being Saddam’s sole provider of items like writing materials and toiletries made the toppled Iraqi president open up to Piro, a Lebanese-American and one of the few FBI agents who spoke Arabic.

“He told me he initially miscalculated… President Bush’s intentions. He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998…a four-day aerial attack,” says Piro. “He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack.” “He didn’t believe the U.S. would invade?” asks Pelley, “No, not initially,” answers Piro. Continue reading “Saddam Planned To Re-Start WMDs : Interrogator”