The danger of pulling out too soon
Fox News reports that *surprise* Iraq is collapsing into another regional civil war fueled by an undecimated al Qeada;
While saying it’s clear the job was “not done,” he warned: “Al Qaeda as an entity is coming back strong within the region and is doing things to destabilize governments, which, at this point in time, are still friendly to us.”
On Thursday, Iraq’s parliament speaker painted a grim picture of a crumbling country that is taking another beating by terrorists.
“The situation is grave,” Osama al-Nujaifi said during a press conference.
Al-Nujaifi believes recent spikes in sectarian violence coupled with political instability are fueling concerns that the country could be pushed into another civil war.
I knew that we’d be back in Iraq at the end of our war in 1991, and I also predicted that we’d be back because the second war wasn’t finished in Iraq. And just a few weeks ago the Obama Administration hinted that they were going to send troops back to Iraq to train the government forces to fight al Qaeda. No danger of mission creep, right?
The discussion comes on the heels of a massive bomb detonation which caused the deaths of 16 people and 20 more injured at a cafe in Baghdad and the huge prison break at Abu Ghraib which spilled hundreds of prisoners back into the wild, most of them al Qaeda.
But, it’s just reaping what we sowed in Iraq. Instead of building on the successes of the “surge”, we simply left. I’ll admit that the Iraqis were partially at fault for not agreeing to a reasonable “status of forces agreement” which would have protected our troops from the local justice system, but someone should have been more persistent in negotiating for a SOFA instead of just throwing up their hands and leaving Iraq with job only half done. But, hey, it got them through the the 2012 election season right? While they were touting the withdrawal of US troops as some sort of victory.
And, because of the half-assed way we’re approaching the war in Afghanistan, we can expect the outcome to be similar there as well. I’m not advocating for a larger commitment to Afghanistan or the reintroduction of US forces to Iraq, just the opposite. I just wish politicians would learn that unilaterally calling an end to the fighting is surrender not something to be celebrated.
Category: Terror War
They have been in battle since the biblical days. It will never end no matter what is done besides turning the whole region into glass and starting over. My opinion only……
I’m not a dove by any means, but I see no benefit to the US by continually pouring our blood and money into these shitholes. Al Queda wants us out of their countries, fine. But we should tell them: You make us come back because you pull some kind of shit against America, well, to paraphrase Halsey “When I’m done, the only place Arabic will be spoken is in hell.”
It’s pretty clear that the SOFA was just the excuse used to cut and run. But, we all knew that Obama would throw all the effort from 2003 forward into the trash when he took office.
The hand writing is on the wall. We will be back in Iraq, first with “trainers” then with troops. I agree we left in haste for political reelection purposes. But in all the time we were there did we not give them enough training and arms to defend their nation? This is religious, sect on sect violence. AQ and the Taliban want control of Muslim countries. Just like Iran. Just like world wide. We are coming to a point in our nation where we need to decide if we are going to go into other countries to stabilize the extremists threats or give them the ultimatum. The ultimatum that you can do what you want in your own country. If you don’t have the courage to stand up to bullies like AQ and Taliban and thus live under Sharia law, then you get what you are not willing to fight and die for. But, like Iran, if you export your terrorism, or violence beyond your borders then we will step in, with drones and bombs and put an end to it that way. No more boots on the ground in Iraq, Syria and hopefully soon Afghanistan. I did not fight there. Vietnam was my war. But I would not send anything but a bomb to Vietnam today and I feel the same for Muslim countries. They HAVE to stand up and fight for themselves. Just my not completely informed humble opinion.
The politicians always forget that the other side has a vote on when the fighting ends.
@1 Donny I agree. This has been going on for centuries without letup. These folks love to kill each other in the name of Allah. I say let them to their hearts content. We had bullies once in this land. They were the most powerful military force on earth and we said screw you, we want our own freedom. And against them we stood up and had the Revolutionary War. We determined we would not be ruled and fought, died and gave the only sacrifice for freedom…blood. Now the Muslim countries are not facing an English world wide empire, they are facing no more than bullies in AQ and the Taliban. Who are in the minority. If they are not willing to fight, die and give blood to round them up and kill them and rid their land of that plague then let them live with the results. A minority will step in and take over and they will be back to square one before we ever thought of helping them. AQ and the Taliban use terror in market places to keep people in line and in fear. That is part and parcel of fighting a nasty enemy. They have to say fear of your terrorism or not we will find you and kill you, to the last man. But alas it will not end. No amount of negotiation or talking with the Muslim world has helped throughout history and it won’t help now. Leave them to their own fate and as I said give them the ultimatum of America. We can reach you from anywhere, and we will if you do any harm to America or American interests beyond your borders or anywhere in the world. Stop walking softly and just tell them the outcome to expect and carry the big stick and be ready to use it at the the first offense.
Why in hell did we change the name “War Department” to “Department of Defense”, and at the same time, stop doing serious war fighing? In WW-II, we beat our enemies into total submission, earning their surrender, not our departure. Since then, the war planning is done in a political arena by people who have no concept of proper usage of the World’s Best Warriors. We of the US military are NOT Nation Builders, nor even good trainers of those who really don’t want to be trained in our methods. Either “Let loose the dogs of War”, or keep us the hell out of the political arena, as Iraq and Afghanistan have shown themselves to be.
@5. That’s a gem right there.
Are we going to have another Hundred Years’ War? Is that where we’re going?
I am TIRED of this waste. It serves no purpose and grinds down to nothing the souls of those who are willing to serve.
@7 Well said. Better than I could have said it. Our military is trained to kill people and destroy things, not be UN ambassadors. I hate war. But in the future we really need to let potential enemies know it will be a fight to surrender and nothing less and all it takes to accomplish that from the “dogs of war”. We will not rebuild your nation, we will not police your country for you. Until they are defeated to surrender, then as Japan we will offer to help rebuild an American friendly nation. (Will never, ever happen in a Muslim country though!)
Q: what do Sadaam Hussein, his dad, and B. Hussein 0bama’s dad all have in common?
A: All of them should have pulled out early!!
Keep in mind, though, this is Nujaifi saying the place is falling to shit – the Sunni Baathist apologists are not exactly rah-rah Maliki/central government or anything…not saying he’s wrong, but it’d be like quoting Kucinich on the direction of the country in 2006, or quoting Palin on it today…
I knew that the whole thing was going to blow up as soon as the politicians started running the war… Idiots on both sides of the aisle’s have totally wrecked all of the armed services…
@ 7, good job, I have the same feelings…
Obviously, the “adults” in DC have not learned the same things that their children learn in school under the DARE program; “Just say no to (fill in the non-PC blank)”.
Another lesson not learned. “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” I.E., VietNam and Afghanistan. ‘Nuff said to the wise. Which means that it will pass straight over the heads of the DC oligarchy.
We can’t civilize these savages.
Our leaders NEVER, NEVER freakin learn from history. Ever since no balls Truman didn’t nuke the CICOM when they entered the Korean Conflict, those who kill America’s men and women know up front the United States is a paper tiger. We didn’t fight to win in Korea, we didn’t fight to win in Vietnam, didn’t fight to win Iraq, or in Afghanistan. We let the bastards kill a couple of hundred of U.S. Marines in Tripoli and did nothing. They blew up numerous Air Force at the Kobar Towers and we did nothing. They held American diplomats hostage in Iran and our response was to kill more of our own in a joke rescue mission. The NK’s took the U.S. Pueblo, held and turtured the crew for a year and we did not do a single thing to retaliate against any of these third world countries; and say “don’t “f” with the USofA again or you will get worse. Please spare me the usual bullshit we are the strongest nation on earth and our arsenal is a deterrent. Detterent my lily white butt. Drop a couple of nukes on those behind the killing of our troops and the shit will end. That is “detterent.” We have no business going to war without a clear military objective and unlimited use of any weapon. The problem is the politicians, be they Republican or Democrat, don’t have the balls to win outright. BRING ALL OF OUR TROOPS HOME.
The Iraqi’s have been trained up, as proved by many of us who have spent some time over there doing so.
Fact of the matter is, a lot of them have no heart to fight and are otherwise lazy or cowards – even after gaining a lot of top knotch training.
From my limited experience, few Iraqi’s honestly wanted to fight. Most preferred that someone else do it for them. IMO, most Arabs are cowards and their religion, coupled with their culture, is a combination of backwards assery that we’ll never understand. Same thing is going on in Afghanistan.
There are two ways to obtain peace.
The first, a French specialty, is to surrender to aggressors and blame everything on the Americans.
The second is to blow your opponents (and everyone giving them aid and comfort) to the theological place of eternal punishment.
Guess which way Obama leans.
#12- It is falling to shit. 78 people killed this weekend and three bombs this morning so far. Glad I’m done here on Thursday. Bottom line is that some way, some how they have to either defend themselves or live with the results. Even after all of the defense contracts (with very few no fail programs like the F-16 sale)my counterparts dont believe we’re leaving. They honestly think we’ll be back in a few weeks or a month. They just don’t get it and I’m not surprised. After a decade of doing everything for them we’ve trained a generation to let the US do everything for them. Time to pay the piper.