[credit: Nate Beeler, The Columbus Dispatch] Wackydoodle axes: Can you dribble? |
Although Nouri al-Maliki's Shia dominated government was essentially installed by the United States, it recently won a plurality in parliamentary elections. However it is loosing control of the country on the ground. The potential for the establishment of a radical Sunni state is alarming Shia-majority Iran. An ISIS spokesperson claimed Shia are "a disgraced people" accusing them of being "polytheists". According to the Daily Beast, Iran is cooperating with its former enemy by deploying two battalions of its elite Quds Force to fight the Sunni militants in Iraq. During the US occupation in 2006-07 Shia militia "cleansed" Baghdad of Sunni in a violent slaughter. Sunnis throughout the Middle East, including supposed US ally Saudi Arabia, which is believed to be funding ISIS, have not forgiven or forgotten.
The Current Occupant blurted another formulaic sound bite, saying "all options are open" to prevent defeat of the Baghdad government, but given the high cost of the Iraq invasion in blood and treasure, it is highly unlikely that the US will again intervene militarily to save its former quislings in Baghdad. Reportedly, al-Maliki has already asked for US air strikes but was turned down; that answer may change if warmongers pound the Libya drum too loud. Because the US and Iraq were unable to reach agreement on a longterm military presence in Iraq, it has little intelligence with which to conduct combat operations. As one Pentagon official bluntly put it, "We do not trust the Iraqi government." After all America has been through in Iraq, that is truly a revealing but sad statement. America's grade for nation building in Iraq: F.
[credit: Kimmy Margulles, Newsday]
BC Idonwanna sez: He looks a lot like Ike.