What next for the Middle East?

[namvet]

time for us to go. I think a muslim blood bath is on the way

 

[Peach]

The US is already involved. Green Berets, drones, hundreds of millions proposed.

 

[georgephillip]

The ruling elites in the US aren't planning on walking away from the "greatest material prize in history."

They seem committed to establishing an arc of instability stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to the Caspian basin.

"By the end of the Second World War, the United States had come to consider the Middle East region as 'the most strategically important area of the world.'[10] and 'one of the greatest material prizes in world history'.[10]

"For that reason, it was not until around the period of the World War II that America became directly involved in the Middle East region. At this time the region was going through great social, economic and political changes and as a result, internally the Middle East was in turmoil.

"Politically, the Middle East was experiencing an upsurge in the popularity of nationalistic politics and an increase in the number of nationalistic political groups across the region, which was causing great trouble for the English and French colonial powers."

Fifty years ago it was secular, nationalist Arabs who believed the oil beneath their soil actually belonged to Arabs who were being demonized as "America's Enemies."

Religious fundamentalists in that region were used by the US to attack secular nationalists in Egypt and Iran, for example.

Today, that fundamentalist Frankenstein is turning on its creators

United States foreign policy in the Middle East - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Peach]

The Kurds are uniting & fighting ISIS:

Iraq crisis: Kurds restrict border crossings from Mosul - CNN.com

 

[Kondor3]

time for us to go. I think a muslim blood bath is on the way

True.

This way, they'll be wwwaaaayyy too busy having fun killing each other, to bother with us or the rest of the world.

Odd...

They've been out from under the European colonial thumb for less than a lifetime, and they're already back to slitting each others' throats again...

It's their cobbled-together so-called 'warrior religion' that makes 'em crazy like that...

The Brits were right, years ago, to call them 'children' and 'incompetents'...

Ahhhhhh, for the good old days of the British Empire...

Keeping all those idiots in check...

 

[georgephillip]

time for us to go. I think a muslim blood bath is on the way

True.

This way, they'll be wwwaaaayyy too busy having fun killing each other, to bother with us or the rest of the world.

Odd...

They've been out from under the European colonial thumb for less than a lifetime, and they're already back to slitting each others' throats again...

It's their cobbled-together so-called 'warrior religion' that makes 'em crazy like that...

The Brits were right, years ago, to call them 'children' and 'incompetents'...

Ahhhhhh, for the good old days of the British Empire...

Keeping all those idiots in check...

What are you forgetting?

"Besides arguing that Iraq was not the top strategic priority in the war on terrorism or in the Middle East, critics of the war also suggested that it could potentially destabilize the surrounding region.

"Prominent among such critics was Brent Scowcroft, who served as National Security Advisor to George H. W. Bush.

"In a 15 August 2002 Wall Street Journal editorial entitled 'Don't attack Saddam', Scowcroft wrote that, 'Possibly the most dire consequences would be the effect in the region... there would be an explosion of outrage against us... the results could well destabilize Arab regimes', and, 'could even swell the ranks of the terrorists.'"[23

2003 invasion of Iraq - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Peach]

time for us to go. I think a muslim blood bath is on the way

True.

This way, they'll be wwwaaaayyy too busy having fun killing each other, to bother with us or the rest of the world.

Odd...

They've been out from under the European colonial thumb for less than a lifetime, and they're already back to slitting each others' throats again...

It's their cobbled-together so-called 'warrior religion' that makes 'em crazy like that...

The Brits were right, years ago, to call them 'children' and 'incompetents'...

Ahhhhhh, for the good old days of the British Empire...

Keeping all those idiots in check...

What are you forgetting?

"Besides arguing that Iraq was not the top strategic priority in the war on terrorism or in the Middle East, critics of the war also suggested that it could potentially destabilize the surrounding region.

"Prominent among such critics was Brent Scowcroft, who served as National Security Advisor to George H. W. Bush.

"In a 15 August 2002 Wall Street Journal editorial entitled 'Don't attack Saddam', Scowcroft wrote that, 'Possibly the most dire consequences would be the effect in the region... there would be an explosion of outrage against us... the results could well destabilize Arab regimes', and, 'could even swell the ranks of the terrorists.'"[23

2003 invasion of Iraq - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes, removing Saddam by invasion gave the extremists their biggest gift since the Crusades.

 

[Kondor3]

At least it gets the hostility out in the open.

Much better that way, than pussy-footing around for years, before a big explosion.

One of the few accurate observations ever to come out of Shrub's mouth was: "Heck, they don't like us anyway."

This puts it on the table for all to see, and to deal with.

Just as well, in the long run, probably.

Makes it a lot harder for the fifth columnists to try to sell the idea that it's a Religion of Peace.

 

[georgephillip]

At least it gets the hostility out in the open.

Much better that way, than pussy-footing around for years, before a big explosion.

One of the few accurate observations ever to come out of Shrub's mouth was: "Heck, they don't like us anyway."

This puts it on the table for all to see, and to deal with.

Just as well, in the long run, probably.

Makes it a lot harder for the fifth columnists to try to sell the idea that it's a Religion of Peace.

There's not much doubt about the Religion of War, is there?

"Documented civilian deaths from violence

125,441 – 140,051
Further analysis of the WikiLeaks' Iraq War Logs
may add 10,000 civilian deaths."

https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/

 

[georgephillip]

True.

This way, they'll be wwwaaaayyy too busy having fun killing each other, to bother with us or the rest of the world.

Odd...

They've been out from under the European colonial thumb for less than a lifetime, and they're already back to slitting each others' throats again...

It's their cobbled-together so-called 'warrior religion' that makes 'em crazy like that...

The Brits were right, years ago, to call them 'children' and 'incompetents'...

Ahhhhhh, for the good old days of the British Empire...

Keeping all those idiots in check...

What are you forgetting?

"Besides arguing that Iraq was not the top strategic priority in the war on terrorism or in the Middle East, critics of the war also suggested that it could potentially destabilize the surrounding region.

"Prominent among such critics was Brent Scowcroft, who served as National Security Advisor to George H. W. Bush.

"In a 15 August 2002 Wall Street Journal editorial entitled 'Don't attack Saddam', Scowcroft wrote that, 'Possibly the most dire consequences would be the effect in the region... there would be an explosion of outrage against us... the results could well destabilize Arab regimes', and, 'could even swell the ranks of the terrorists.'"[23

2003 invasion of Iraq - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes, removing Saddam by invasion gave the extremists their biggest gift since the Crusades.

Maybe by design if you believe those who claim the borders for the New Middle East require fragmenting the current borders of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. FWIW, I suspect serious blow-back will reach the US and Europe within a generation.

 

[Peach]

What are you forgetting?

"Besides arguing that Iraq was not the top strategic priority in the war on terrorism or in the Middle East, critics of the war also suggested that it could potentially destabilize the surrounding region.

"Prominent among such critics was Brent Scowcroft, who served as National Security Advisor to George H. W. Bush.

"In a 15 August 2002 Wall Street Journal editorial entitled 'Don't attack Saddam', Scowcroft wrote that, 'Possibly the most dire consequences would be the effect in the region... there would be an explosion of outrage against us... the results could well destabilize Arab regimes', and, 'could even swell the ranks of the terrorists.'"[23

2003 invasion of Iraq - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes, removing Saddam by invasion gave the extremists their biggest gift since the Crusades.

Maybe by design if you believe those who claim the borders for the New Middle East require fragmenting the current borders of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. FWIW, I suspect serious blow-back will reach the US and Europe within a generation.

Most, not all, but most, Kurds place their culture above religion, and they are fighting ISIS.

 

[georgephillip]

Yes, removing Saddam by invasion gave the extremists their biggest gift since the Crusades.

Maybe by design if you believe those who claim the borders for the New Middle East require fragmenting the current borders of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. FWIW, I suspect serious blow-back will reach the US and Europe within a generation.

Most, not all, but most, Kurds place their culture above religion, and they are fighting ISIS.

The Kurds have been deprived on a homeland for far too long.
I can only hope it doesn't come with a price tag like the one from the War to End All Wars.

"Kurdish Peshmerga forces fought with jihadi militants in northern Iraq, as Iraqi troops also upped their fight to turn the tide against a dangerous Sunni insurgency that threatens to widen the conflict and divide Iraq.

"Kurdish forces said they pushed back fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as the militants launched a failed bid to widen their hold in the town of Jalawla in Diyala province, where they are in control of Tajnid, a major Arab neighborhood.

"Peshmerga forces also were caught in the crossfire between Shiite militiamen and the Sunni fighters outside the village of Bashir south of Kirkuk on Sunday, in which two Kurdish soldiers and 14 of the militiamen were wounded.

"Meanwhile the Iraqi military, which had largely folded when the militants captured Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul more than a fortnight ago and began a rapid territorial advance, claimed victory in the city of Tikrit after a large-scale offensive."

Kurds Fight ISIS, as Iraqi Army is Halted Outside Tikrit