Monday, December 29, 2014

Iraqi leaders move further away from the US government

In news that should have been expected and anticipated, Suadad al-Salhy (Al Jazeera) reports Sunni tribal leaders are considering asking Iran for help in the fight against the Islamic State.  They conveyed this possibility in a weekend meeting with John McCain.

One of the repeated criticisms of the Iraq War is not that it's illegal (though it is and was).  Instead, domestically in the United States, there has been much hand wringing among the chattering bobble heads that appear on the Sunday Chat & Chews about how the US has only succeeded in pushing Iraq closer to Iran -- mere decades after the two countries were engaged in a war -- one that still is a touchy subject on both sides.

The Shi'ite led government of Iran has been very helpful to the Shi'ites of Iraq and has sent death squads into Iraq to take on the Sunni population.

The US government's refusal to arm the Sunnis (which follows the Baghdad-based government's same refusal) may now lead even the Shi'ites to move closer to Iran.  (The Kurds were always close to Iran and, during then-President Jalal Talabani's inability to perform his job for the last 18 months of his tenure, First Lady Hero was constantly in contact with the government in Tehran and made many trips into Iran.)

Also not surprising?

We kept telling you bombing is not a 'plan' no matter how many times US President Barack Obama insists that it is.  And we told you that, as with Turkey bombing the PKK earlier in the Iraq War, this would only be tolerated for a brief period.

A few weeks ago we noted the significance of Moqtada al-Sadr insisting the Americans needed to get out of Iraq.  Alsumaria reports today that MP Abdul Karim Abtan, speaking on behalf of the National Coalition, has declared the Americans have destroyed Iraq with the Iraq War and that they are using the excuse of the Islamic State to continue to "ruin" Iraq.  Another MP with the coalition, Nayef al-Shammari, goes further, insisting the US needs to get out and that Iraqis have set aside their differences (yeah, that's a stretch) and can now defend Iraq without any help from the US.

State of Law is thug Nouri al-Maliki's coalition.  Alsumaria speaks with State of Law MP Abbas al-Bayati who also expresses harsh words for US efforts.  Those words include likening the US to the Islamic State.

Are you starting to see how quickly publicly opinion can turn as you 'help' a country by bombing it non-stop?

In other news, those US war planes might have yet again dropped aid to the Islamic State.  Alsumaira reports the US Embassy in Baghdad is strongly denying that they dropped aid to the Islamic State northwest of Baghdad.  Interfering with that assertion?  Video of a drop from US war planes -- a drop of what and where, who knows.  But the video's gaining traction and those who recorded it are the ones saying the US war planes dropped it to the Islamic State.

Maybe the US State Dept can be asked about that in this afternoon's press briefing?


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