US officials, who were not named, were quoted by the BBC tonight as saying the Obama Administration is considering direct talks with Iran on the worsening situation in Iraq.
As the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) takes more and more of Iraq, Iran has provided a number of Quds Force personnel to aid in Baghdad and Karbala, and an Iranian general is said to be in charge of coordinating the defense of Baghdad personally.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was already talking up a joint operation with the US to save Iraq’s Maliki government, but as of yesterday the US was presenting Iran’s involvement in the defense of Iraq as a matter of “concern,” not something to welcome.
Indeed, while both Iran and the Obama Administration are on good terms with Maliki, making such talks entirely plausible, the US has long spurned any but the most cursory ties with Iran, and a joint operation would be a massive change in US policy.
Lack of coverage on the Palestinians kidnapping children here on antiwar.com… hard to defend now aren't they?
like leaving Palestinian kids in cages overnight, or shooting the Pal soccer players in their feet and legs so they can never play again.
or, killing people in a "pirate action" on an aid ship in international waters, including an American.
Isn't this the same Iran that we've imposed crippling economic sanctions on for years?
The incoherence of US foreign policy achieves new levels.
I hope the US does talk to Iran. Does Iran understand that Maliki needs to represent all Iraqis? If the Sunni population has the option to be able to participate in the Iraqi government that they were kicked out of as equals they would probably choose that instead of being ruled by nutcases. I would. It is good that the Obama Administration acknowledges this. Now if they would acknowledge that playing with fire in Syria has helped cause this mess. It is unfortunate that the US is probably boxed in because of domestic politics and the policies of its two masters. Does the Obama Administration have enough dirt on the loonies in the national media to shut them up? If I were Obama I'd be tempted into digging into the NSA archives in order to plant stories in the media to shut people like McCain up.
Of course, any "talks" with the Iranians will have to be cleared through the Israeli Prime Minister's office first.
……And signed off by AIPAC.
Once again Iran has outsmarted the US in the Middle East. Do you really think that Iran's religious establishment cares if an Islamic state forms in Iraq & Syria? Iran will use the current situation to temper nuclear talks, but in the long run they will cut a deal with the newly formed Islamic Sunni state. They have issues with royal families in the Gulf who are aligned with America, but certainly not Sunni Islamic rebels in Iraq.
Iran will have the last laugh, I bet.
What I find funny also is the US satellite capabilities – seems sometimes they work and they can spot a flea on a donkey's ass from outer space, then sometimes they don't work, like when long convoys of armed men in machine-gun mounted Toyota pickups cross the desert shouting Allahu Akbar, overrunning towns and murdering people.
Amazing how the US media never mentions anything about that (US satellites).
All this is the knock-on effect of Ukraine. America's manifest unwillingness to fight for Europe and, by extension, for Israel, has been noted all over the Midle East and the situation in Iraq is just the first visible consequence.
Let Europe fight her own battles if they want. (They don't want any war). Same thing for the overly armed whining Hebrew fascists of Israel. Start an unjust war against a country much weaker than you? Go fight it yourself and stop looking for American help…even though we love the …"let's you and him fight." routine.
The more wars America fights and doesn't win, the more her expensive armed forces look like the murdering civilians for profit paper tiger everyone now views her to be.
Talks ? It seem s to be theater to cover the long targeted plans of a new map of Iraq and the region around. See http://www.voltairenet.org/article184301.html
Strange – no English version of it, but a French and German version. However – the map and a machine translation may be OK.
1) Where is this nebulous ISIS getting its weapons? Perhaps some idiots might think they have huge underground factories? Look at a map of their enclave. The closest supply route for this so-called ISIS is Turkey( a US ally and NATO member).
2) It's procurement money comes from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, again two US protectorates. There must be here much more than meets the eye.
Something is rotten in Denmark!!!
And his namne is Anders fogh Rasmussen, the outgoing NATO chief, the leader of Neo fascism in Denmark.