Helicopters on the mountain
At least for the moment, though, our assistance seems to have actually assisted the Kurds, although Maliki is playing political games and may be digging in and refusing to relinquish power.
[NOTE: The title of this post refers to this.]
[ADDENDUM: More on the political infighting over the succession in Iraq.]
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htlog/articles/20140811.aspx
Looks like the Kurds have been starved of money. No money, no army beyond militia forces.
At this point in time the Kurds are they only faction in Iraq deserving our support. This was probably true from the very beginning. We should, but will not, fund and arm an independent Kurdistan. A strong Kurdistan would be a thorn in the side of Erdogan and his allies, totally annoy Iran, and bolster Israel.
All US munitions and arms has been sent to Libya, Qatar, and Syria.
They are not and never will be intended, for Kurdistan. THe Left is not going to give up the strategic fruit of helping Saddam Hussein, after wards.
Maliki digging in.
…looks like it’s time for regime change.
Matt…
Al-Maliki’s situation looks hopeless and absurd.
1) Lost the support of America, the UN, and (apparently) Iran — as well as everyone other than the Dawa Party.
2) Lost the support of Sistani.
3) His replacement is senior ranking member of his own party: Dawa!
All of which means that he is hoping that after his abject failures in the field, he figures that he can rally a (now split) Dawa Party back to himself.
He must think politics is like a video game… wherein he can pick up ‘new heart’ by tickling a boon on the video screen.
&&&
Naturally al-Maliki is projecting. He is claiming that al-Ibadi solely represents himself — and no-one else.
As the leader of the Dawa Party in the legislature — that’s quite a stretch.
%%%
Up until late, one must suspect that al-Maliki thought that the Iraqi President was going to pick someone outside the Dawa Party.
He must have been so vain as to o’erlook the possibility that his top lieutenant would be tapped. One must presume that all this time the dominoes have been lined up within the Dawa Party.
Nothing says “Get new talent,” quite like losing a major military campaign!
Duh!
The NY Times has an opinion piece running in their ‘news’ spread which details the rise of ISIS — and (naturally) lays most of it on American policies during the Bush administration. (!)
They can’t bite the bullet and admit that everything of consequence, ISIS wise, has occurred since 2009.
Even at this late date, after it’s getting plenty of alternate coverage, the NY Times can’t bring up what ever happened to the ‘Jordanian cohort’ — which has fallen off the NY Time’s political map.
The truth is that those fellows have ended up becoming the cadre for ISIS. They were vetted as being against AQ. They were never vetted against being fanatical jihadis — far from it.
Now that ISIS has critical mass, yet more, additional jihadis are flocking to ISIS. Soon, the Jordanian cadres will be subsumed in al-Baghdadi’s all-ummah caliphate.
&&&
Congress: heads up; don’t let Barry have any more funding for Islamic moderates. He’s solely dedicated to funding the MB and other such fanatics.
%%%
As the ultimate recidivist, al-Baghdadi attended ‘college’ at Club Gitmo. The clowns running that show obviously can’t spot leadership talent to save our souls.
[ One is reminded of the Weimar Army’s take on Adolf: “No leadership potential.” ]
This, folks, is the savant idiot effect.
Likewise the savant idiots at the NSA couldn’t spot Snowden — even though he fit the profile of a traitor — right down the line. He didn’t miss a single check box.
Sheesh.