Surprise! Iraq would welcome US military assistance.
Remember a few years ago when we completely withdrew from Iraq because this administration couldn’t work out a status of forces agreement (SOFA) with the Iraqi government? Well, now, according to the Associated Press, the Iraqis say, yeah, they’ll take our assistance now;
Ali al-Moussawi, the media adviser for Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, told The Associated Press that Baghdad would welcome increased arms sales and faster weapons deliveries along with U.S. training teams to help it confront rising regional instability and terrorist threats.
“We welcome this kind of cooperation and we consider it a part of the existing agreement between us,” al-Moussawi said when asked about [Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin] Dempsey’s comments.
“Because of the high risks the region faces, I think there should be bigger cooperation and coordination between all countries threatened by terrorism.”
Yeah, because that terrorism thing just started recently, right? Now, Marty Dempsey said that aid would not mean sending in troops – but that it might include training teams. I guess you guys on training teams aren’t really troops. It also means to me that there wouldn’t be any organic security, meaning that Iraqis would provide security for those training teams. Kinda scary. A country that didn’t want you there just two years ago is going to provide you with security?
I’m pretty sure that before the troops left Iraq, I made the prediction that we’d be back, but I don’t think even I believed it’d only be two years. Good thing Obama ended the Iraq War for us.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War
Not just no, but, HELL NO!!!!!!!
and G.F.Y.
I am no the most predictive person in the world but…I saw this coming when we left. I would rather have a den of Cub Scouts to count on for security than the Iraqis. Chip you are right. Our correct answer should be G.F.Y. and kiss my ass in the County Square.
Wait I thought that Obama declared victory so we could fight the “war of necessity”…
Ditto on #1 and 2…
THIS is the Zombie Apocylypse — the wars that just won’t die.
Tell al-Maliki to pound sand. If he wants help, let him organize what’s left of the SOI (or whatever took it’s place) to fight his battles for him. No more American blood for that douchebag…
I’d put the disclaimer in place as follows:
If our forces are attacked once by a trainee, then your forces will be disarmed during training.
If our forces are attacked a second time by a trainee, then your forces will be in skivvies during training.
If our forces are attacked a third time by a trainee, then your forces will not be trained.
If our forces are attacked a fourth time by a trainee, then your forces will be
Well, there are a few of the sights I never had a chance to visit…
We are only 5 more scandals away from another military intervention and considering how many scandals have occurred with this administration, pack your bags for sometime next week gents.
Just last night the Iraqi government claimed independence. No, I am not joking, there was fireworks…
This is absolutely ridiculous.
Fuck’em and feed’em fish heads!
@10 and today “Hoss” Cartwright come under suspicion.
WFT is going on.
OMFG, is the only thing i can think off right now
Meh-I’d go back. Iraq is redeemable (and they are useful as a counterweight to Iran). Afghanistan? Not so much.
Sorry for being dumb when it comes to this stuff, but I wanted to ask. What does this mean for us? I mean we give them guns and train them, putting our people at risk. What do we get out of the deal?
I thought we just got unstuck from this Tar Baby and cleaned our hands. I say nuke Iran and disarm the whole region. These people have proven they are not capable having their own armies.
fuckem…
At the risk of sounding like I’m picking nits and defending Obama – it wasn’t a matter of this administration not being able to work out a SoFA. This administration was stuck with implementing a SoFA that was negotiated and signed by the previous administration. What this administration was unable to do was renegotiate an extension of the withdrawal timeline that the previous administration had agreed to.
I think reasonable people can have an honest difference opinion over whether we should put any more American troops in harm’s way to try to make Iraq a better place. Whose signature is on the treaty that removed the troops the US already had in Iraq, however, is not a matter of opinion.
Even if we did that, I say they agree to OUR terms, nothing less, and if they don’t like it then they can kiss OUR “BLEHLEHLEHLEHLEHLEHLEHLEH……”!
Eff that place. If it were possible, we should quarantine the whole region – nothing in, nothing out – and let them squabble amongst themselves.
#20 No it wasn’t it! The Obama administration’s insistance on that process going through the Iraqi Parliament, that Maliki, Sunnis, and Kurds alike said was unnessary. Parliamentary rules and politics(not being seen as stooges of the US) would make such legislation impossible. Maliki already had the legal authority(been awhile forget the legal framework at moment) to sign such an agreement.
When we left, the Iraq security forces were not yet able defend against foreign incursions(Iran) or had a feasible airforce. We could have kept a small force(15-20,000) that retired mostly to the borders and a small air contigent for a couple years to bridge the gap until they were ready. No long term multiyear Korea/Germany garrisons would have been needed. Our exit was premature.
The Syrian civil war I believe is the catalyst for this. There has been some border jumping and even an attempted merger(Nixed by Pakistan leadership) of Al Qaeda in Iraq and Al Nusra. The fear in Baghdad might be of inroads with the western Sunnis and hope that the US might be able to be a sort of Middleman with some of the tribes.
This could turn out to be a far worse strategic blunder then Libya and undermine all the effort we put in Iraq over the last ten years. We’re supposed to back rebels who in turn would threaten our interests and those of our allies? Does that make sense Mr President?
Who says we ever left? Come on, there’s no need to feign outrage here. We all know that it was just ruse so Obama could claim the end of a War. Re-election was coming and they needed something to please the liberals. The Iraqis just played along so they could get that sweet, sweet “aid” money. Why should we be any surprised that an “ally” of the US needs help? Friends with benefits and we’re the Pimp.
Anyone who thinks Iraq is savable, is ignorant of history and the arab culture. Arabs, as a whole, can not survive a democracy and do not want one. all we accomplished in iraq, was allowing the other side to lead the next arab genocide. Arabs can not tollerate, nor understand, a dissenting oppinion. anyone who disagrees with them is inherently evil. because all arab political parties are religious sects, they can not accept that a dissenting oppinion is just an oppinion, it must also be an affront to God! a muslim is by definition “one who submits”, so a disagreement is viewed as not submitting to the will of God, and therefore, heracy and blasphemy, crimes punishable by death according to Islam.
with Iraq, we removed the favored status of the Sunnis, the minority in Iraq, and gave control to the formerly oppressed majority, Shiites. now the other group gets to determine who is committing the heracy and blasphemy and lead the executions. while sadam was evil in its purest form, he did nothing that any other arab wouldnt have done in his position. the problem comes down to arabs as a whole. if ya want peace in the middle east, it doesnt matter who we train or what side of a skirmish we send arms to, the only way to obtain peace, is to get rid of the arabs.
To quote my BN CSM before we went back into Iraq in Mar 03, “I knew we’d be going back, I just didn’t think it would happen while I was still in.” Now, I’m no longer in service, but the sentiment remains valid.