The US went into this past week with about 5,000 ground troops in Iraq, and with Pentagon officials suggesting that deployment is more or less permanent. It was meant to be one of those lazy, open-ended overseas deployments, nominally to bring stability.
Then on Friday an Iraqi base got hit with rockets, and on Sunday, US warplanes started attacking bases in Iraq and Syria belonging to a militia that is part of the Iraqi government. After multiple Iraq Wars since 2003, the US presence is looking complicated again.
Tuesday saw protests against the US Embassy, with the US rushing Marines and Apache helicopters to the site to try to defend the embassy. That’s just the first step.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper says another 750 paratroopers will be deployed to Kuwait immediately. Another 4,000 paratroopers are being told to prepare for deployment in the days ahead.
Despite President Trump saying he intends to hold Iran fully accountable for everything that happens, he’s also saying he expects Iraq to protect the US Embassy.
On top of that, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is speaking with Iraq’s PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi, who actually resigned weeks ago in the wake of an Iranian consulate getting burned to the ground. At the time, the US was encouraging the protesters. Now, Abdul-Mahdi is facing the US Embassy in peril, and the US accusing Iran of being behind it.
Iraq isn’t the most stable place on earth at this point. Protests are common, they have no real premier, and have been struggling to avoid being the stage of a US-Iran proxy war. With Iraqi MPs talking of expelling the US, the deployments to Kuwait suggest the US intends to go back into Iraq, one way or another.
Like malignant carcinoma, USA is difficult to remove once it invades a foreign nation.
That implies back to before SOFA-Iraq 2008 signed by President Bush (which ended in 2011/12). I am sure that the current SOFA with Iraq does not allow the unilateral invasion of the country by President Trump.
US oil patch must get antsy. Who will buy our excess oil and gas? Iran’s oil spigot must be closed completely. Iraq’s oil spigot must be closed completely. Venezuela is next.
If they do invade (again) they’ll start with the justification of “defending American soil”, i.e., the embassy, from “Iran”, and then, shucks, the only way to do that is to invade Iran-controlled Iraq to “restore democracy” to Iraq all over again. White man’s burden is such a bitch.
“After multiple Iraq Wars since 2003, the US presence is looking complicated again.’
After 17 years of tranquility?
Let’s not forget that the first Iraq War started over 30 years ago. Then, through multiple administrations and with crippling sanctions, we killed upwards of 500,000 Iraqi children, destroyed their civilian infrastructure, and left it ripe for the taking in 2003.
Beat me by a minute…
we? If none of us approved of that, why should we assume grammatical responsibility for it? if we are totally disenfranchised by the system and its representatives, why do WE identify with them?
We, as in the majority of Americans at the time who elected a Congress that authorized the Iraq War. A Gallup poll made on behalf of CNN and USA Today in May of 2003 concluded that 79% of Americans thought the Iraq War was justified, you being an exception.
Well, then I guess “we” applies to yourself if you approved of the Gulf War, or Iraq War, even though your opinion was irrelevant to the decision.
If you voted either Democrat or Republican in 2000, you voted for the Iraq War. I did, sorry to say.
I voted for Pat Buchanan in 2000.
“either democrat or republican”…. not true, if the gop voted the same as the dems, neither Iraq war authorizations would have passed. Being a former 3rd party voter, there comes a time ( after examining actual voting records) when you realize 3rd party voting keeps the main war party, the gop, in power…
Wow, you are delusional. You do realize that the democrats ONLY vote against wars when republicans are in power….right??? Pretending that the GOP is the true war party ignores WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and Obama’s 6 wars all over the middle east. They are simply two wings of the bird of prey that operates on behalf of the globalist war machine. Wake up.
So, you have done the arithmetic on the Iraq wars authorizations ? I have, who is delusional. Which war, exactly, was the gop against ?
A Gallup poll on behalf of Commie News Network??!! Really?? Yeah, we elected a Congress, but not to authorize the 2003 Iraq War. The vast majority didn’t want a war with Iraq – which, btw, had nothing to do with 9/11.
I fully agree with antarcticus here, Thomas. If none of us approved, why should we even assume grammatical responsibility for it? Further, if we’re totally disenfranchised by the system and its representatives, why would WE identify with them in the first place? They certainly DIDN’T ask for our permission to authorize this aggression against Iraq.
Eileen, what I initially said was that “we” (being the USA) killed upwards of 500,000 Iraqi children in the 1990s with sanctions imposed by a Democratic administration with the full cooperation of Congress. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, proclaimed that, “It was worth it.”
When “justified” is based on 100% complete and total LIES, perpetrated by the White House and repeated ad nauseum by the entire mainstream media, what exactly do you call “justified?” And since when is a REPUBLIC supposed to operate based on polls???
And the proxy war we were fighting against Russia beginning in the 1980s….and the “fun” never ends.
Erm, try 1990….or if you want to include aid in the Iran/Iraq war…..how about since the discovery of oil…
True. But I was commenting on Jason Ditz’s “2003”.
The only way Iraq will ever have security is by kicking all US personnel out of Iraq. It’s good to see that resistance to the occupation is unifying and growing.
Madness and stupidity.
Maybe madness x stupidity
I honestly believe that the only way we are going to get peace on this planet is for USA to have a Civil War.
It will give US citizens firsthand experience of what their Government is doing to so many countries around the world.
The risk for the US is that it pushes Iraq’s shaky government into demanding that all US forces leave Iraq (again). Bombing the host country, the host country’s own armed forces in its own bases, is a very severe challenge to a relationship. That the US chooses not to see it as that does not alter that Iraq does see it that way.
It would be for the best. The US does not leave any place it has settled its military, unless thrown out. We need for them to throw us out, for our own good, to be done with this.
“…who actually resigned weeks ago in the wake of an Iranian consulate
getting burned to the ground. At the time, the US was encouraging the
protesters..”
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
tit for tat, america. You should know better by now, especially in the middle east, but you can’t seem to learn.
Get out and stay out
Mark Esper dreams of the big(er) paydays that await him once he resumes his career as a MIC lobbyist.
Mike Pompeo dreams of the day he is whisked to heaven during the Rapture he helped bring about.
Donald Trump dreams of all the money he’ll make selling his brand enhanced by his time as Leader of the Free World.
The rest of us have nightmares about the devastation, killings and financial ruin that seem inevitable.
“… to go back into Iraq, one way or another. ”
That has a nasty sound to it. Small comfort that it is only Jason Ditz’s assessment, because it seems all too plausible. If I wanted to be just a bit less scary, I would point out that Trump has a record of talking tough before backing off. If then I go for the “glass half full” view, I would suggest that this business, coming as it does in the lead-up to 2020, is the perfect chance for Trump to follow through on his long-stated desire to get the hell out of these stupid and costly wars. The generals, neocons, neoliberals, punditry, corporate media, MIC, and Israelis might not like it, but American voters would be ecstatic.
Wars r u.s. will surely take me to task for this — in his view — foolish Trump fan-boy optimism, but until “the fat lady sings”, I’m sticking with it.
The argument in support of a Trump pull-out is that Trump in 2020 wants to and knows how to win, and a pull-out is a winning electoral move. The argument against is that the Dems for 2020 are in such total disarray, that Trump is already the likely 2020 winner and might not think he needs the benefit of a ME pullout.
We’ll just have to wait and see. Interesting, sphincter-tightening times. I’m lovin’ it.
I’ll hold that football for you Charlie Brown…..
I’m for real peace and I’d take 4 more years of Trump as a tradeoff for that any day. But that doesn’t make Trump any less of a torture advocating war criminal worshipping narcissist.
In one form or another, we have been waging this war since the 1980s.
This ends with the troops being forced out of Iraq. Not gonna happen immediately but within the next couple years certainly.