A US helicopter made a rough landing along the Tigris River in metro Baghdad today, injuring one and fueling immediate speculation among locals that it was part of a US military operation. The US, which withdrew its military from the nation late last month, insists the helicopter landed because of technical problems and was working for the US Embassy, which operates a city-sized facility on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital.
It is hard to blame the Iraqis for not believing the US is actually gone, particularly with tens of thousands of armed contractors working for the State Department on the ground. Indeed, with bombings continuing and violence still on the rise, Iraq retains all the trappings of a nation at war.
If anything, the Maliki regime, backed by both the US and Iranian governments, has brought Iraq even closer to sectarian civil war since the US troops left, launching a massive political purge that has seen hundreds of his rivals, mostly Sunni Arabs, arrested as “terrorists.” Torture is routine, executions are on the rise, and 434 people have been killed in violence in the period of a little over a month since the US left.
Unfortunately, while the US managed to get its combat troops out of the nation before the blowup, the enormous State Department presence and the “private army” of contractors leaves the Obama Administration deeply insinuated in the affairs of Iraq, and likely to continue meddling as a matter of course.
In all likelihood Malaki and his government would not survive more than a month if U.S.A. military operatives were not in Iraq. After all, he is but a quisling. Obviously, the U.S.A never really left Iraq, but is still there causing trouble.
"…while the US managed to get its combat troops out of the nation…"
With respect Jason, this "truth" is pure horsesh*t, "truthified"-by-massive-repitition. Not only is the monster embassy slash contractor garrison still bristling with former elite super-killers, but of the eleven giant air bases, ten still have US personnel. And I challenge anyone to track down in the media just how many US personnel we're talking about. Not much publicity on that, eh? Oh, and by the way, they've all become "trainers" now, just as we were warned they would be.
So my question: how many US aircraft are still at those bases; what types, put to what daily uses, how many personnel are there to keep them operating, and how many "contractors" to protect them?
If Gareth Porter's narrative on Iraq-Iran stressfully out-manoeuvring the USA into leaving on their terms is correct than the USA could be encouraging sectarian violence simply as revenge or to force Maliki to rely of US 'trainers' for secuirty. Israel would also benefit from more such violence to keep the now Shiite-run Iraq in chaos.
In fact, for the last decade USA-Israel have benefited from these fratricidal bombings in keeping a united resistance and/or stable state from developing.
I'm not stating that most bombing, or even any, are done by USA-Israel intelligence – but I find it hard to to dismiss this possibility when considering the documented history of intelligence-directed terrorist groups, the murkiness of the Iraqi civil environment, and the geo-political stakes involved.
Most probably the U.S. is exacting punishment on Iraqi peple. But what's the use, except a revange, because Iraqis would never ask our soldiers to get back to their bases in Iraq.