US eyes new aid to Iraq to curb insurgent march
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is preparing to send new aid to Iraq to help slow a violent insurgent march that is threatening to take over the nation’s north, officials said Wednesday. But the Obama administration offered only tepid support for Iraq’s beleaguered prime minister, and U.S. lawmakers openly questioned whether he should remain in power.
With no obvious replacement for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — and no apparent intent on his part to step down — Washington is largely resigned to continue working with his Shiite-led government that has targeted Sunni political opponents and, in turn, has inflamed sectarian tensions across Iraq.
“He’s obviously not been a good prime minister,” said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He has not done a good job of reaching out to the Sunni population, which has caused them to be more receptive to al-Qaida efforts.” SOURCE
According to most on-line sources HERE the United States lost 4,486 troops in Iraq and I have no real idea as to the number of wounded. Some wounds haven’t even shown up yet.
So, ask yourself; is this what you want to see again? A people that we lost thousands of our troops for in an effort to make their life better disrespect the USA in such a manner? I am telling you; it will happen again.
If Barack Hussein Obama offered only tepid support this may be the 1st time I can agree with him, at least to some degree, on any topic.
Iraq is NOT an ally, they are NOT our friends and what’s taking place in Iraq right now is merely a continuation of what was taking place after Saddam was deposed; a civil war, a religious war, whatever you want to call it, it’s Sunni vs Shiites, Muslim vs Muslim, and it has gone on since time immemorial.
There’s not one thing the United States can do to stop it, there’s not one thing we could have done to prevent it, all we’re seeing right now is the true behavior of Muslims as they make war on one another because they belong to different sects of a Moon god religion.
The panel’s chairman, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., noted only lukewarm support for al-Maliki, both in Iraq and among U.S. officials. “I don’t know whether or not he will actually be the prime minister again,” Menendez said. “I guess by many accounts, he may very well ultimately put (together) the coalition necessary to do that.”
In other words; another dumber than dirt Democrat that has NO idea about what is going on, why it’s going on or too much of anything else.
Insurgents with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is inspired by al-Qaida, overran the northern Iraqi town of Tikrit on Wednesday, a day after seizing Mosul, the nation’s second-largest city. The insurgent network has controlled the western city of Fallujah since the start of this year, and is fighting to take over Beiji, a key northern oil refinery town.
The rampage has raised new doubts about al-Maliki’s ability to protect Iraq in areas that were mostly calm when U.S. troops withdrew from the country less than three years ago. Since then, violence has roared back to Iraq, returning to levels comparable to the darkest days of sectarian fighting nearly a decade ago when the country teetered on the brink of civil war.
It doesn’t matter what the USA does, if we were to go back in and once again sacrifice U.S. lives and fortune, as soon as peace was somewhat restored and we pulled out this would all go right back to where it is today. I made that abundantly clear all through the Iraq conflict in the past and have noted, repeatedly, that the exact same thing will happen in Afghanistan as soon as U.S. forces are gone.
Iraq is a place that we never should have gone to, it is that *bridge too far* and there is no such thing as VICTORY in Iraq.
Not one American life needs to be sacrificed in Iraq, not one U.S. dollar needs to be spent. Iraq is the reason the United States had the bad economy we have all so enjoyed over the last few years; our efforts in Iraq, combined with those in Afghanistan, has bled us dry.
Does anyone remember what Afghanistan did to the Soviet Union?
George Santayana, a noted philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Let us see if we, as a nation, have actually learned anything from our recent past.
Good one Fred. If the government contracting community can spread the green around thick enough our soldiers will continue in their role as cannon fodder while american treasure is squandered. With self interest motivated idiots like NJ ‘s own Bob Menendez leading the intellectual debate there is little chance for sanity to prevail. As Chico Marx said You can ‘t fool me their is no sanity pause.
We have no business in Iraq, they are not our friends. We all saw this coming.
Not to worry, Iran is sending in troops. As soon as they get the bomb they can turn the desert to glass. Until then, we will have to sweat it out and see if they can make it over our border down your way. But on second thought, they are probably already here.
Would give support to the Kurds so that they can defend themselves. However, the more dead muslims the better.
Hey Bunker, I was in the emergency room yesterday in Hackensack Hospital in NJ and believe me they are already here.
They have been testing out our power plants, so keep the candles at the ready.Gas tank full. It figures.
Whether we should have gone there in the first place is debateable. To go back is out of the question. To give them more taxpayer borrowed dollars is stupid. When Obama pulled out he essentially wasted the lives lost and the lives destroyed by wounds. We should not have left. Now the Terrorists are taking the equipment and weaponry we left and destroying what we did. NO MORE WARS UNLESS WE GO TO WIN AND SUSTAIN THE WIN OVER THE LONG HAUL
I agree! They won’t be satisfied with invading just the Middle East; the terrorists want to destroy our way of life here and won’t stop. We have to keep them on the run but the European countries have to help more as they will go there first.
We’re not going to go and do anything about keeping them on the run, we have one in the White House…
Fred, very SPECIFICALLY it is Sunni vs Shiite. The majority is Shia. It is a fight between these two factions for power under the current vacuum. Until this is settled, the US will do nothing to change the fundamental disagreement. The US does not have the capability to “settle” anything as foundational as a religious disagreement. Anyone believing so is addled.
NO “back to Iraq.” Let these two factions slug it out and then let the pieces remaining be left where they are.
BZ
“Me against my brother, me and my brother against my cousins; me, my brother and my cousins against our nonrelatives; me, my brother, my cousins and friends against our enemies in the village; all of these and the whole village against the next village.”
— ME Muslim adage
BZ
This was written in stone the way Obama pulled us out of Iraq but I do think this would have happened anyway given the nature of the people there. No money or troops as the money will be wasted as will the lives of our soldiers. All the more reason to approve the Keystone Xl and open up our development of all our energy resources including coal.