The Common Ills: Iraq slammed by violence as Barack asks for more war

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Iraq slammed by violence as Barack asks for more war

Iraqi Spring MC reports 3 young men have been kidnapped in Baquba with one being Omar Yassin, nephew of MP Raad al-Aldhlki. Alsumaria reports 2 suicide car bombers attacked an Iraqi military base outside Tikrit killing 2 security forces and injuring thirteen more, a suicide bomber south of Tikrit took his own life and the life of 1 Iraqi police member leaving five more injured, a sticky bombing south of Baghdad left one person injured, a rocket attack north of Baghdad left 1 person dead and four more injured, a Muthanna suicide car bomber left thirty people dead or wounded, a northwest Baghdad mortar attack left seven people injured, and, dropping back to last night, the bombing of 2 homes in Yahtrib left five people injures.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama wants the US Congress to legalize his ongoing actions in Iraq. Spencer Ackerman and Dan Roberts (Guardian) report:

Barack Obama’s proposed framework for the US-led war against the Islamic State will not restrict the battlefield to Iraq and Syria, multiple congressional sources said on Tuesday, placing the US into a second simultaneous global war that will outlast his presidency.
Several congressional sources familiar with the outlines of the proposal, all of whom expected the White House to formally unveil it on Wednesday, told the Guardian the so-called Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) would bless the anti-Isis war for three years.

David Espo and Nedra Pickler (AP) note that "Obama is proposing to end a 2002 authorization for war in Iraq. But his draft remains silent on 2001 legislation against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan."

The reality, and the press should be noting this, is that the 2002 authorization ended in December 2011 when Barack declared the war over. It's like you're at your local eatery with a group of friends and you pay the tab and leave. You can't show up five night later and demand people at the table you were seated at days ago be tossed out. That's no longer your table. You gave it up when you left.

When Barack declared the Iraq War over, the authorization for it expired.

And that promise of no ground forces in Iraq? That's gone.

Josh Rogin (Bloomberg News) adds:

The president's AUMF for the fight against Islamic State would restrict the use of ground troops through a prohibition on "enduring offensive ground operations," but provide several exemptions. First, all existing ground troops, including the 3,000 U.S. military personnel now on the ground in Iraq, would be explicitly excluded from the restrictions. After that, the president would be allowed to deploy new military personnel in several specific roles: advisers, special operations forces, Joint Terminal Attack Controllers to assist U.S. air strikes and Combat Search and Rescue personnel.

The following community sites -- plus Z on TV, the Guardian and Black Agenda Report -- updated: