'Toontime: They're Back!

[credit: Nate Beeler, The Columbus Dispatch]
Wackydoodle axes: Can you dribble?

Seems like only yesterday US Person was posting that the United States was 0-3 in the wars of the 21st century. The situation in Iraq, which was perhaps the least disastrous foreign adventure, has gone from bad to worse. Within the space of a week islamist fighters of ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq & Syria also known as Islamic State in Iraq & Levant, ISIL) an offshoot of Al Qaeda, have taken two major cities, Mosul and Tikrit and now threaten to take Baghdad. The Iraq Army that cost the US dearly in blood and money ($25bn) to set up is disintegrating. According to Stratfor Iraq had 10,000 personnel in and around Mosul. A significant portion of these personnel fled, shedding their uniforms, equipment and vehicles. As the black-clad militants push rapidly south they are collecting and using American equipment abandoned by the national army. During a victory parade in Mosul the militants displayed two helicopters flying overhead--for the first time. Not only military equipment was captured, but also the contents of Mosul's central bank. The Kurds, whose consistent goal has been the establishment of their own state, have taken advantage of the insurgency to occupy the oil-rich city of Kirkuk which they claim as their capital. A Peshmerga spokesman said no Iraqi troops remained in Kirkuk, and the Kurds are unlikely to give the city up especially if Baghdad asks for their cooperation to fight the jihadist insurgency. Islamist fighters who are part of a coalition of groups with ISIS that includes Baathists, Ansar al-Islam, and tribal elements are reported to be only an hour's drive north of Baghdad and they have vowed to capture it.

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.