Ever-mounting tensions between the US and Iran have many concerned about
an imminent war. Nowhere is this concern more serious than in Iraq,
where top officials are warning they will not allow themselves to be dragged into a proxy war between the two sides.
President Barham Salih says Iraq has already “been through hell for the
last four decades,” and that the last thing Iraqis want to see is war.
Moqtada al-Sadr, the head of the largest political bloc, warned he
didn’t think Iraq could survive if it was brought into a US-Iran War as a
site for conflict.
This is a long-time position of Sadr, who has staked out a political
position of international neutrality, and urged the leadership for years
to avoid getting too close with either the US or Iran, specifically out
of concern for it leading into a spillover war in Iraq.
That possibility is looming particularly large now, with US officials
warning Iraq that they have problems with Iraqi Shi’ite militias, who
are in practice part of the Iraqi security forces. At the same time, US
buildup in the region is almost certain to lead to more US pushes to add
ground troops on Iraqi soil, ensuring that if the US does attack Iran,
the Iraqi border is going to be the front lines.
Sorry Iraq, we don’t do wars on our soil. You are already a cratered out sh*thole so what’s the problem? But it’s quaint that you think you have a say. Have a day.
You forgot one vital element, wars r us; Iraq’s now allied with Iran, China and Russia, and all 4 wouldn’t hesitate to kick America’s ass and drive all of its troops still in the ME out.
You also forgot that the US military’s at its weakest point (you can blame Obama for that). Many US troops are physically unfit for battle; they lack sufficient training, and many are overweight/obese. These deficiencies will take time to eliminate, since Obama had 8 years to bring these troops to where they are now.
In addition, there aren’t enough Special Forces to handle all 4 nations.
You really bought into the utter nonsense that Obama weakened our military I see. I won’t even look up the numbers but I think he spent plenty. At least enough to bomb seven countries while in office. And for the life of me I don’t know how he made them obese and physically unfit for battle but I’m sure Trump will whip them into shape. Maybe put them on his regimen of cheeseburgers and golf.
The argument between Obama and the Republicans was whether military spending would be increased by 17% between 2013 and 2017, or whether there would be “draconian cuts” of only a 10% increase.
Real cuts are out of the question for both major parties. Even small ones, let alone the 75-90% cut that would be needed to cut the US armed forces to a reasonable size for their supposed mission of defending the United States.
The ONLY way Iraq can defend itself from that possibility is to insist loudly and publicly that all US military personnel leave Iraq immediately by a fixed deadline, then capture and evict, or kill any who remain. Iraq can make this look really bad for the US on the world stage.
Do we really care how we look on the world stage anymore? We’d do Iraq3 in a minute. There must be some patch of land there that we haven’t bombed as of yet.
I do think appearances count for something, especially if it’s clear that they could result in substantive consequences. Even the crowd currently in charge would think twice before Iraq3, hopefully at least. I suppose you can PR spin or stage anything, but it would be hard to come up with a story that sounds reasonable.
US personnel still cant walk the streets anywhere in Iraq without air, artillery support. If the US starts the shite in Iran, there will be Iraqis looking for opportune payback, Sadr or no.