The November 21 Iraq Weekly Status Report, published by the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs of the US Department of State:
Senior military commanders now portray the intransigence of Iraq’s Shiite dominated government as the key threat facing the U.S. effort in Iraq, rather than al-Qaida terrorists, Sunni insurgents or Iranian-backed militias. Several U.S. military officials have expressed growing concern over the Iraqi government’s failure to capitalize on sharp declines in attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. A window of opportunity has opened for the government to reach out to its former foes, said Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the commander of day-to-day U.S. military operations in Iraq, but “it’s unclear how long that window is going to be open.”
Might one suggest a visit to Iraq of Bush and Cheney, along with leading Born Agains and Neocons, all armed with Bibles, incense, and holy water–to exhume and revivify the corpse of Saddam Hussein?
It worked for failed Jewish revolutionary, might work for Saddam too.
Ah, the man with the axe in his head in old MeHico, hehe.
Among other things, the last ten years has forced me to reevaluate Stalin, not ideologically or as center of a personality cult, but as a practical politician who knew where the external threats originated.
How much more willing to play ball could Putin have been at the beginning.
But Bush and the Neo-Cons did nothing but attack and threaten, including sponsoring and defending Chechen “terrorists”.
Well they are terrorists, what you may have meant was “rebels”.
I don’t know any better term to describe people who think killing pregnant women in a maternity hospital is logical retribution to a completely justified military response(the Russians can’t invade their own country). Yeltsin was an idiot and a completely incompetent Military strategist. If the Chechens had taken him out in 1995 I bet the Russians would have given the Chechens an award.
The amount of cash we’re paying Sunnis to handle security separately from the Shia-run government is proof of the sectarianism that is paralyzing this country and the inability of our military to do anything but stave off the inevitable.
Hmmm. I wonder how long the Diem… um, ‘scuze me, Maliki, government will last?
The Diem government was not installed by the US.
“. . . During the French-Indochina War, Diem left Vietnam for the United States. While there he met influential Catholics like John F. Kennedy. He told them that he opposed both communism and French colonialism and argued that he would make a good leader of Vietnam if the French decided to withdraw.When the Geneva conference took place in 1954, the United States delegation proposed Diem’s name as the new ruler of South Vietnam. The French argued against this claiming that Diem was “not only incapable but mad”. However, eventually it was decided that Diem presented the best opportunity to keep South Vietnam from falling under the control of communism. . .”
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/VNngo.htm
All that is true, but my statement stands.
Ronn Cantu, what you are saying is that the US is CREATING the “sectarianism that is paralyzing this country”. And that has been obvious for some time. The way to end that is to evict the US from the country. Not just the troops but EVERY US venture there, political, corporate and military.
Well of course they are a threat. They are Shi’ites after all, and with the upcoming attack on Shi’ite Iran there may be a conflict of interest in the Iraqi Government as to “whom do we support?”. Obviously the US government prefers the Shi’ites of Iraq would not stab them in the back. And may “preemptively” get rid of the Iraqi Government. This is a balancing act of dividing and conquering Iraq, next up they will throw full support behind Sunni Kurds and Sunni Iraqis because it won’t make sense arming and supporting a much larger potential threat.
And with support going to Sunnis they may hope Sunni Turkey will stop making deals with Shi’ite Iran.
Oh, and stay close to the Israelis and Americans who first ignored them, then screwed them royally?
Actually, from various indications I have had, the Turks are turning their bright liquid eyes more and more favorably towards the Russian Federation.
If Bush and the Neo-Cons get the new Cold War they are trying to produce there might be some real surprises in the line up.
Anyone remember the Red Mullah? Under a Russian umbrella, Kurds and Turks may even decide to chill for a while.
Ah, the miracles of American foreign policy.
But Turkey benefits from Israel. The Israelis don’t give a damn about religion as long as they can make money off of some country(between 1985 and 2000 they sold Millions of Dollars worth of weapons to Iran). Turkey is probably the # 1 Arms buyer of Israeli weapons. The Turks bought more AGM-142 Guided Missiles from Israel than the US. The Israelis are arming the Turks to the teeth. The Turks even have something the US doesn’t, unmanned anti-radar attack drones. They have hundreds of these.
What am I trying to say? Israel and Turkey have a fairly warm relationship with each other. The Turkish Generals(the real power behind the throne in Turkey) are mostly secular Muslims anyway who benefit from Israel’s “friendship”(even after the Israelis were caught arming the Kurds the Turks did not suspend relations with Israel). And have not presented any threats to Israel, so far. So the Israelis are likely to continue to see them as good business partners.
Yeah the Turks will likely abandon the US but they are unlikely to join with Russia. There are centuries of bad blood between those 2 countries. Russians would sooner ally themselves with Israel than with Turkey. When the US was still in its infancy the Russians were fighting the Turks for control of the Balkans and Central Asia. One of the main reasons of the militancy in the Russian Caucasus regions is centuries of Turkish intervention.
Unless Turkey plans to suddenly start buying huge amounts of Russian or even Swedish(for example) weapons Turkey is still dependent on the US and Israel for its “security”(regional control). They have recently begun to diversify their Arms procurement to German weapons. So maybe in 10 years they will sever their link to the US. But this will be to expand their own control in the region. Maybe even seize a few Greek islands and finally get rid of those “pesky” Armenians before they start demanding reparations for that “non-Genocide” during WW1.
You are certainly correct about the Turks being secular Muslims. The idea that because they are Sunni they will not deal with Iran, as they are doing, is absurd.
The Turks and the Russians have mutual interests, which I need not detail.
Senator Biden, a publicly declared Zionist, proposed the tripartite division of Iraq. This is also an old Israeli plan.
That includes an independent Kurdistan.
Some Israelis have their eyes on Kurdish oil.
The Turks know exactly who is selling them out and why.
Any threat will be larger than al-Qaida becuase al-Qaida does not exist except in the imagination of neo-cons and those affected by their propaganda.
Thank you for sharing this report with us. We are broke. Turn Iraq over to the Iraqi people, and get the heck out, U.S. warmongering imperialist fools.
I notice Tim R. hasn’t leapt on the latest opportunity to capitalize upon “Islamic extremism”, possibly because Nouri Al-Maliki is a creation of the US.
“Turkey is still dependent on the US and Israel for its “securityâ€(regional control)…”
Security in regard to whom?
The idea that the Turks have their eyes on former Soviet Armenia, which was not even part of the traditional Armenia, is absurd, and I doubt even Armenians would argue it.
Pan-Turkism–it was still going strong some while ago in small pockets, but the Turks are clearly “Europeans” now, and with Europe and Russia, who in the area needs either the US or Israel?
Most important the Turks’ greatest asset to the Russians is geographical, while on their side it is spelled petroleum and natural gas.
It is certainly in US and Israeli interests to keep ethnic hatreds aflame.
Did you notice Putin’s compliment to the Iranians about their ancient history?
Over most Americans’ head.
Once again, like the revived Cold War the Neo-Cons and Bushies seem to want, whatever was aimed for in the elder Bush’s “New World Order” may be quite a surprise to those who phrased it first.
Well I disagree. Turkey has been pursuing a foreign policy of expanding its sphere of influence. Why do you think they started shelling the Kurds in Iraq back in the Spring? They wanted to provoke the Kurds into creating a reason for Turkey to attack Northern Iraq. And the Kurds reacted by attacking a poorly defended military convoy near the border, which may have been sent there to attract a Kurd attack. The Kurds attacked and Turks rallied around their Military for a future attack on Northern Iraq. It worked perfectly for the Turkish government. If the Turks seize Northern Iraq they will have a source of wealth to expand their power even further. After this they can expand their capabilities from their current 2nd Most Powerful status in NATO.
Their next target would be to secure control in Azerbaijan where they have been busy building support. Azerbaijan wants to “solve” its Armenian “problem” and Turks will use Azeris as proxies to cut off Armenians from the outside world. Turkey is not about to become an ally of Russia. What for? From the Turkish point of view Russia is the “sick man of Europe” like the Ottoman Empire was once(Russia’s Real Power is shrinking while Turkey’s growing). Why do you think the Russians have been catching Turkish MIT(National Intelligence Org.) agents supporting anti-Russian terrorists? Turkey is trying to weaken Russian control in the Caucasus so that Turkey can take over. From their point of the BTC pipeline should be a 100% Turkish project.
The Turks are becoming fiercely Nationalistic and will not give in to outside influence for much longer.
Turkey has enough problems with the Kurds they have. They don’t want an independent Kurdistan, to be sure, but that they would want to invade and conquer Northern Iraq is silly. For one thing, it can’t be done, even if there were no outside context.
And if it were done it would be a major headache for as long as it lasted.
So I tend to believe they want what they say they want in relation to the Iraqi Kurds and no more.
But I doubt they will get that either without Russian blessing.
Azerbaijan strikes me as complex, but I have no real knowledge of current affairs.
In the Turkish mind–I know there is more than one, but I use it as a type–is the pressure for an acknowledgment of the massacre of the Armenians originating mainly from Armenians in what is now Armenia?
In that case, a riposte?
I don’t know, but you may be right on that.
But, for all that, there hover the Russians, with deep pockets and a very practical foreign policy, and a new Monroe doctrine for the Caspian.
The Turks have been fiercely nationalistic since Ataturk. So what else is new?
The end of the Cold War, for one thing, whatever war with the Russians Bush and Cheney, and some of the Israelis and Neo-Cons, are trying to revivify.
In a previous life I studied Armenian history under two fine and, at the time, singular (for the US) Armenian scholars, including seminars in the sub-sub basement of Widener Library, where the Armenian texts resided.
So I am thoroughly familiar with the Turkish attitude toward the original Armenia, though I don’t pretend to understand it.
There has been progress. It is now admitted that large-scale killing took place but genocide or “Holocaust” is denied.
In the latter denial, the Israelis have always been enthusiastic supporters, as if the Israelis had patented both the thing and the word, the latter of which ironically is ancient Greek.
The point I will restate, and all that I meant to suggest, is that there has been a change since the Second Gulf War as far as I can see, and that is that neither the United States nor Israel are any longer indispensable allies in the region.
Instead there is Europe and there is Russia.