This range of ideas and perspectives is fascinating, and it says much about American war culture, but mostly for the ideas and perspectives that are omitted from this debate. Entirely absent is the perspective of Iraqis and the issues that are important to them: accountability, independence, and resistance. Moreover, the real complexities of this issue have been lost in a number of the Western media’s favorite binaries: terrorism vs. counterterrorism, good vs. evil, and insurgency vs. stability. If we dare to take Iraqi voices seriously and think outside of the dominant framework presented to us by the mainstream media, a very different picture of the violence in Iraq emerges and a whole new range of options open up for achieving peace and justice. The Rise of ISIS One year ago ISIS was concentrated in Syria, with almost no presence in Iraq. During this time, a nonviolent protest movement, which called itself the Iraqi Spring, was in full swing with widespread support in the Sunni provinces and significant support from the Shia provinces as well. This movement set up nonviolent protest camps in many cities throughout Iraq for nearly the entire year of 2013. They articulated a set of demands calling for an end to the marginalization of Sunnis within the new Iraqi democracy, reform of an anti-terrorism law that was being used to label political dissent as terrorism, abolition of the death penalty, an end to corruption, and they positioned themselves against federalism and sectarianism too. Instead of making concessions to the protestors and defusing their rage, Prime Minister Maliki mocked their demands chose to use military force to attack them on numerous occasions. Over the course of a year, the protestors were assaulted, murdered, and their leaders were assassinated, but they remained true to their adopted tactic of nonviolence. That is, until Prime Minister Maliki sent security forces to clear the protest camps in Fallujah and Ramadi in December of 2013. At that point the protestors lost hope in the tactic of nonviolence and turned to armed resistance instead. It is important to note that from the beginning it was the tribal militias who took the lead in the fight against the Iraqi government. ISIS arrived a day later to aid Fallujans in their fight, but also to piggy-back on the success of the tribal fighters in order to promote their own political goals. A command structure was set up in Fallujah within the first weeks of fighting. It consisted primarily of tribal leaders and former army officials and went by the name of the General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries. This council was led by Sheikh Abdullah Janabi, who also led the the Shura Council of Mujihadeen in Fallujah in 2004. After the 2nd US-led assault on Fallujah, Janabi fled to Syria, but returned to Iraq in 2011. His calls for cooperation between the various militant factions in Fallujah was a significant unifying factor. Yet despite the glaring differences between the various militant groups in Fallujah, the Iraqi government insists on treating all fighters as terrorists. A government official said it clearly to Reuters, “if anyone insists on fighting our forces, he will be considered an [ISIS] militant whether he is or not.” The Iraqi government launched an indiscriminate bombing campaign that to date haskilled 443 civilians and has wounded 1657 in Fallujah, and has displaced over 50,922 families from Anbar Province as a whole. The Fallujah hospital has been targeted numerous times, and residential neighborhoods have been bombed and shelled daily for six months. Struan Stevenson, President of European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq, wrote an open letter calling the Iraqi government’s operation “genocidal”. Over the course of the months of fighting with the government, ISIS has grown in strength. Their access to funds and weapons has made them an attractive group to young Sunnis who see no future for themselves in Iraq as long as Maliki remains in power. Many of the recruits who have joined ISIS are the same men who were nonviolent protestors one year earlier. Many of them remain opposed to the ideas of federalism and sectarians—ideas which are central to ISIS’s political platform. What unites them and the hardcore ideologues within ISIS is their desperation to be rid of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, who has left them with no choice but to operate outside of the political system in order to better their lives in Iraq. Insurgency or Revolution? This week the media buzzed with the news that ISIS had captured Mosul, the 2nd largest city in Iraq, and was prepared to march towards Baghdad. Two assumptions in these reports went unexamined: that ISIS had been a lone actor and that Mosul had been “captured” rather than liberated. While the first assumption is a matter of fact, the latter is a matter of perspective. It was noted in the New York Times that ISIS had collaborated with several local militias in Mosul, including Baathist and Islamist groups; although the significance of such a fact went understated. If one further acknowledges that ISIS has cooperated and continues to cooperate with several militias in several Iraqi cities, it begins to appear that ISIS is not a lone actor in Iraq, attempting to capture territory for a future Islamic state. Rather, it appears that ISIS is just one faction in a larger popular rebellion against the government of Nouri al Maliki. When 500,000 residents of Mosul fled their city earlier this week, they did not do so out of fear that ISIS would subject them to sharia courts. They did so out of fear of their government’s reprisal. Many have even expressed gratitude towards the fighters who kicked Maliki’s security forces out of their city. This loose coalition of militias—from the tribal militias in Fallujah, to Baathist militias like Naqshabandi, and Islamist groups like ISIS—have come to embody the hopes and aspirations of Sunnis in Iraq to one day be free of Maliki’s oppression. For them there is no other option, no other future is imaginable, and there is no turning back. A Path Forward President Obama has announced that the US would not intervene in Iraq until the Iraqi government made concessions to the disenfranchised Sunni community within Iraq. However, the US has already increased its “intelligence and surveillance assistance” and has shown no sign of decreasing its supply of arms to the Iraqi government. While publicly criticizing the Maliki government’s sectarian policies, the US has been aiding and facilitating this “genocide” against the Sunni population for months. The impunity of the Maliki government is never questioned in the debate raging within the US. It is simply unimaginable within the limits of this debate that Maliki might be held accountable for the war crimes his regime has committed against his own people. Equally unimaginable is the notion that his regime should fall and that Iraqis should be able to dismantle the constitution and the institutions that the US-led occupation imposed on them. We must take seriously the legitimacy of Sunni resistance, while at the same time taking seriously the fear that a group like ISIS elicits in Shia Iraqis. These fractured communities within Iraq must decide their own future, without the interference of Washington or Tehran. Most importantly for us, as Americans, we must make an effort to analyze this issue outside of the paradigm of US political thought and try to see this issue through the eyes of those most affected by it. We must respect their ideas and values, their politics and culture, and their right to determine their own future, unimpeded by foreign interference. Source: Common Dreams ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ross Caputi, 29, is a US veteran of the occupation of Iraq. He took part in the second battle of Fallujah in November 2004. That experience led him to become an anti-war activist. |
Thursday, June 19, 2014
No Funds For The Iraq War -No U.S. Intervention In Iraq
Dear All,
Today, the House is taking up its version of the
National Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal year 2015 (HR 4435). This is one
of the few time that Congress votes on peace issues. Votes may start as early
as this afternoon and continue through Friday afternoon.
Please call (202)
224-3121 and ask for your
Representative (or give the operator your zip code to be directed) and
say:
"My name is _______ and I am a constituent. I am
calling to request that Rep. _______ support amendments to the 2015 Defense
Appropriations Bill (HR 4435) that cut Pentagon spending, bar the use of funds
for combat troops and air strikes in Iraq, and that end the Afghanistan war as
soon as possible. If these amendments aren't included I want my Representative
to vote against the bill. Thank you.”
This bill gives nearly half a trillion dollars to the
Pentagon. And that doesn’t include money for the Afghanistan war, or funding
from an $80 billion slush fund called the Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO)
account. Nor does it include most of the budget for nuclear weapons. All
combined, the U.S. spends almost as much as ALL OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD
COMBINED on Pentagon related programs. Does that represent our values?
Take a moment now to call your Representative. Please
call (202)
224-3121 and ask for your
Representative (or give the operator your zip code to be directed)
We expect amendments that will:
- End the Afghanistan War at the end of this year — it’s time to bring all troops and contractors home and to not leave any behind.
- Bar sending combat troops into Iraq — we’ve been down that horrible road.
- Cut the F-35 — the most expensive plane and Pentagon project in history.
- Cut the Littoral Combat Ship — experts say it will cost over three times the original estimate.
- Cut fighter jet research — the U.S. has already wasted enough tax payer money on over-priced planes that don’t work.
Again please take time NOW to CALL your Representative
to cut the Pentagon budget so we can afford other priorities like job creation,
education and infrastructure. Please call (202)
224-3121 and ask for your
Representative (or give the operator your zip code to be directed), and then use
the script above.
 |
For peace,
Shelagh ForemanProgram Director |
Join Massachusetts Peace Action - or renew your membership today!
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NO NEW U.S. WAR ON IRAQ
4 Facts You Need to
Know
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterForward this Emailbombiiraq.jpgThe 'Shock & Awe' bombing of Iraq killed hundreds of
thousands of Iraqis
4
Facts You Need
to Know
The following is
available as a PDF.
From 1991 to 2003, U.S.
bombing and sanctions took 1 million Iraqi lives, including 500,000 children.
Between 2003-2011 the U.S. war took another 1 million Iraqi lives. 5 million
were made refugees. Tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers were killed or wounded.
The U.S. policymakers—the war criminals—who carried out this
human atrocity are still walking free, giving speeches and raking in millions of
dollars in book deals.
The present civil
conflict in Iraq is a result of the U.S. war and occupation, which destroyed the
Iraqi government and divided the country along sectarian lines in order to
conquer it. This reversed Iraq’s long history of secularism, and the
coexistence and intermarrying among its diverse communities. Islamic extremist
forces were practically non-existent in Iraq until the Pentagon invaded.
Huge numbers of Iraqis
fought the U.S. occupation. While the sectarian Iraqi government led by Maliki
has requested U.S. intervention, that is the last thing that the majority of
Iraqi people want.
Millions of people
protested Bush’s war. It was built on lies. Iraq was no threat and had
no connection to the 9/11 attacks. It was a war for oil, profit and control. The
same war criminals are now calling for new U.S. attacks in Iraq and escalating
the war against the independent government of Syria. Don’t fall for
their lies!
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterForward this EmailWe Need Your Emergency Support Now—Donate!
We need to raise
thousands of dollars immediately to help cover all of the costs of this
nationwide mobilization. As long-time activists and supporters of the ANSWER
Coalition, we could not achieve what we have without your generosity. Please take a moment today and make a
donation to help stop this new war before it starts.
A.N.S.W.E.R.
Coalition
National Office in
Washington DC: 202-265-1948
Boston: 857-334-5084 | New York
City: 212-694-8720
| Chicago: 773-463-0311
San Francisco: 415-821-6545| Los Angeles:
213-687-7480
| Albuquerque: 505-268-2488
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No U.S, Intervention In Iraq! Rally In Boston
NO
BOMBS! NO TROOPS! NO DRONES!
Despite spending a trillion dollars on the Iraq war from 2003 to 2009 that cost the lives of 4500 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and despite providing billions of dollars worth of training to the security forces of our brutal ally in Baghdad, Iraq faces the prospect of a horrible civil war.
Former U.S. Marine veteran of the Iraq war in Fallujah, Ross Caputi, minces no words when he speaks of U.S. policy: “The Maliki regime has been waging a genocide against the Sunni population of Iraq for the past six months with US weapons. Any further support for Maliki, be it troops on the ground or more weapons, is absolutely unacceptable and immoral."
But as the situation in Iraq deteriorates, the “Never Learn” caucus is demanding more US military intervention in the form of ground troops, air strikes, Special Operations and weapons deliveries. The same leaders who lied to us to get us to go to war, now expect us to follow them down that same path again. And President Obama appears to be preparing for more military action.
But the unfolding tragedy in Iraq is a direct consequence of the illegal and brutal American invasion and occupation of that country. That invasion tore Iraqi society apart, setting off sectarian tensions that had not existed and giving rise to an extremist group that had never had a base in Iraq before.
It is pure lunacy to continue a policy that has caused so much suffering and turmoil. Whatever form it takes, U.S. military intervention will inflame the situation in the Middle East and drain more resources from our communities that need jobs, education and vital services.
Sponsored by United for Justice with Peace (UJP), the Committee for Peace and Human Rights, and other antiwar organizations and individuals in the Boston area.
Rally - No Military Intervention in Iraq
When: Saturday, June 21, 2014, 1:00 pm to
2:00 pm
Where: Park Street MBTA Station •
Tremont & Park Sts. • Boston
NO
BOMBS! NO TROOPS! NO DRONES!Despite spending a trillion dollars on the Iraq war from 2003 to 2009 that cost the lives of 4500 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and despite providing billions of dollars worth of training to the security forces of our brutal ally in Baghdad, Iraq faces the prospect of a horrible civil war.
Former U.S. Marine veteran of the Iraq war in Fallujah, Ross Caputi, minces no words when he speaks of U.S. policy: “The Maliki regime has been waging a genocide against the Sunni population of Iraq for the past six months with US weapons. Any further support for Maliki, be it troops on the ground or more weapons, is absolutely unacceptable and immoral."
But as the situation in Iraq deteriorates, the “Never Learn” caucus is demanding more US military intervention in the form of ground troops, air strikes, Special Operations and weapons deliveries. The same leaders who lied to us to get us to go to war, now expect us to follow them down that same path again. And President Obama appears to be preparing for more military action.
But the unfolding tragedy in Iraq is a direct consequence of the illegal and brutal American invasion and occupation of that country. That invasion tore Iraqi society apart, setting off sectarian tensions that had not existed and giving rise to an extremist group that had never had a base in Iraq before.
It is pure lunacy to continue a policy that has caused so much suffering and turmoil. Whatever form it takes, U.S. military intervention will inflame the situation in the Middle East and drain more resources from our communities that need jobs, education and vital services.
Sponsored by United for Justice with Peace (UJP), the Committee for Peace and Human Rights, and other antiwar organizations and individuals in the Boston area.
 | ||
|
United for
Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and
community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed
after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic
justice.
Help us continue to do this critical work! Make
a donation to UJP today.
| ||
| 617-383-4857 | www.justicewithpeace.org | |
Upcoming Events:
| Rally - No Military Intervention in Iraq | Sat Jun 21 | 1:00pm | Park Street MBTA Station | Boston |  |
| Iran Lobby Day: Give Diplomacy a Chance! | Mon Jun 23 | 10:00am | Congressional Offices |
No U.S, Intervention In Iraq!
U.S. No Troops -No Drones -No Bombs No Planes -No Mercenaries- No Materials To Iraq
CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST IN IRAQ
Tell President Obama "Don't Try to Put Out the Fire in Iraq With Gasoline!"
Have they learned nothing? Please take action: Tell President Obama not to try putting out the fire with gasoline – no U.S. military intervention in Iraq, invest in diplomacy and international cooperation instead.
In the 1980’s the US supported Saddam Hussein when he was using poison gas against Iran and his own Kurdish population; in the 1990’s we starved Iraq with a punishing embargo, while at the same time looking the other way when the regime repressed uprisings by Kurds in the north and the mostly poor Shi’a majority in the south; after the 2003 invasion US troops stood by while Iraq’s cultural patrimony was looted and destroyed; we first installed a subservient regime under a US pro-consul, then cultivated a Shi’a-dominated government after elections boycotted by much of the Iraqi population; we looked the other way when “our” Iraqi government and its supporters emptied Baghdad’s Sunni neighborhoods under the noses of US occupying troops; then we allied with Sunni tribal leaders to fight “al-Qaeda” but continued to look the other way when the new Iraqi government oppressed and disenfranchised non-Shi’a ![https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN9GGetMjfdoWRkX667nblDPvTNCNfMGk_5d618T0N15Cn2xSIqBg6Wmr2j7gse4enHqyw3LFbxofnBj9qb3zIYdGHcb2ytLYSO17GXSQHMP_s4GBmZbeMx26NrQ4sTJoqSJoZ/s1600/Sykes-Picot.png]()
Arabs; now we seem to be trying to maneuver regime change in Baghdad to remove the same government we once empowered..
Arabs; now we seem to be trying to maneuver regime change in Baghdad to remove the same government we once empowered..
There was no “Al-Qaeda in Iraq” (or Syria) before our invasion. And, it must be noted, funding for the religious fanatics comes from “our” allies Turkey and the Gulf petro-monarchies – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and others -- along with US-allied Pakistan in the background. Just like the “Freedom Fighters” in Afghanistan during the 1980’s, where Osama bin-Laden came to prominence.
Amazingly, there are now rising voices from our DC elites for US airstrikes against the Iraqi insurgents, to send US military trainers for the Iraqi army or even to deploy US troops on the ground. Very few seem to have learned the lesson that US intervention is the cause of the present nightmare in Iraq, not the solution.
The catastrophic outcomes of neo-colonial “divide and rule” have a lineage extending back throughout the 20th century in the Middle East and beyond. Once it was the British and French empire builders sowing chaos; now it is US neo-conservative and neo-liberal “democracy promoters.” Same chickens, different roost.
Black Flags Over Mosul
An army of Sunni fighters affiliated to al Qaida crossed the Syrian border into Iraq on Tuesday, scattering defensive units from the Iraqi security forces, capturing Iraq’s second biggest city of Mosul, and sending 500,000 civilians fleeing for safety. The unexpected jihadi blitz has left President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy in tatters and created a crisis of incalculable magnitude. The administration will now be forced to focus its attention and resources on this new flashpoint hoping that it can prevent the makeshift militia from marching on Baghdad and toppling the regime of Nouri al Maliki. Events on the ground are moving at breakneck speed as the extremists have expanded their grip to Saddam’s birthplace in Tikrit and north to Baiji, home to Iraq’s biggest refinery. The political thread that held Iraq together has snapped pushing Iraq closer to a full-blown civil war. More
OBAMA: ALL OPTIONS OPEN ON IRAQ
US President Barack Obama says his government is looking at "all options", including military action, to help Iraq fight Islamist militants. But the White House also insisted it had no intention of sending ground troops. The remarks came after the cities of Mosul and Tikrit fell to Sunni Islamist insurgents during a lightning advance.The US has begun moving defence contractors working with the Iraqi military to safer areas. More
Congress divided over US military action in Iraq
Several Republicans urged military intervention following reports that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called for US strikes by drones and manned aircraft. "There is no scenario where we can stop the bleeding in Iraq without American air power," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters after a closed Armed Services Committee briefing with Defense Department officials. House Foreign Affairs Committee member and Iraq war veteran Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., has been one of the most vocal proponents in the lower chamber. "We've got to get involved with airstrikes, stiffening the spines of the Iraqis," Kinzinger told Al-Monitor. "If Baghdad falls, it's really hard to imagine a Middle East that looks like that." …House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters at her weekly press conference that there is "no appetite in our country to be engaged in any military activity in Iraq." "I don’t think this is our responsibility," Pelosi said. More
MALIKI'S MOST SOLEMN HOUR
Some analysts said during the Second Gulf War that al Qaeda would be trading up from Afghanistan if it secured a base in Iraq. It was a prescient thought, but perhaps premature: between 2007 and 2010, Iraqis by and large rejected that fate for their country and dealt a body blow to the foreign Sunni jihadists who entered the country. But then the Syrian Civil War began... The most significant of these "new" groups has been the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which over the past year has spent as much time fighting other Syrian rebels groups as the Syrian Arab Republic's forces. ISIS was once aligned with al Qaeda's central command, but has since gone its own way… Sunni grievances against the government are real and legion: job discrimination, undue prosecution of activists, human rights violations by the police, welfare cuts that "punish" the Sunnis for their collaborationist role in past dictatorships. Well before this uprising, "the Sunnis [had] lost faith in the political process and the jihadists were once again able to make inroads among them." More
The Fall of Mosul and the False Promises of Modern History
The fall of Mosul to the radical, extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a set of historical indictments… Integrating Mosul into British Iraq, over which London placed Faisal bin Hussein as imported king after the French unceremoniously ushered him from Damascus, allowed the British to depend on the old Ottoman Sunni elite, including former Ottoman officers trained in what is now Turkey. This strategy marginalized the Shiite south, full of poor peasants and small towns, which, if they gave the British trouble, were simply bombed by the RAF. (Iraq under British rule was intensively aerially bombed for a decade and RAF officers were so embarrassed by these proceedings that they worried about the British public finding out.) To rule fractious Syria, the French (1920-1943) appealed to religious minorities such as the Alawites and Christians. More
* * * *
U.S. No Troops -No Drones -No Bombs No Planes -No Mercenaries- No Materials To Iraq
CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST IN IRAQ
Tell President Obama "Don't Try to Put Out the Fire in Iraq With Gasoline!"
Have they learned nothing? Please take action: Tell President Obama not to try putting out the fire with gasoline – no U.S. military intervention in Iraq, invest in diplomacy and international cooperation instead.
In the 1980’s the US supported Saddam Hussein when he was using poison gas against Iran and his own Kurdish population; in the 1990’s we starved Iraq with a punishing embargo, while at the same time looking the other way when the regime repressed uprisings by Kurds in the north and the mostly poor Shi’a majority in the south; after the 2003 invasion US troops stood by while Iraq’s cultural patrimony was looted and destroyed; we first installed a subservient regime under a US pro-consul, then cultivated a Shi’a-dominated government after elections boycotted by much of the Iraqi population; we looked the other way when “our” Iraqi government and its supporters emptied Baghdad’s Sunni neighborhoods under the noses of US occupying troops; then we allied with Sunni tribal leaders to fight “al-Qaeda” but continued to look the other way when the new Iraqi government oppressed and disenfranchised non-Shi’a ![https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN9GGetMjfdoWRkX667nblDPvTNCNfMGk_5d618T0N15Cn2xSIqBg6Wmr2j7gse4enHqyw3LFbxofnBj9qb3zIYdGHcb2ytLYSO17GXSQHMP_s4GBmZbeMx26NrQ4sTJoqSJoZ/s1600/Sykes-Picot.png]()
Arabs; now we seem to be trying to maneuver regime change in Baghdad to remove the same government we once empowered..
Arabs; now we seem to be trying to maneuver regime change in Baghdad to remove the same government we once empowered..
There was no “Al-Qaeda in Iraq” (or Syria) before our invasion. And, it must be noted, funding for the religious fanatics comes from “our” allies Turkey and the Gulf petro-monarchies – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and others -- along with US-allied Pakistan in the background. Just like the “Freedom Fighters” in Afghanistan during the 1980’s, where Osama bin-Laden came to prominence.
Amazingly, there are now rising voices from our DC elites for US airstrikes against the Iraqi insurgents, to send US military trainers for the Iraqi army or even to deploy US troops on the ground. Very few seem to have learned the lesson that US intervention is the cause of the present nightmare in Iraq, not the solution.
The catastrophic outcomes of neo-colonial “divide and rule” have a lineage extending back throughout the 20th century in the Middle East and beyond. Once it was the British and French empire builders sowing chaos; now it is US neo-conservative and neo-liberal “democracy promoters.” Same chickens, different roost.
Black Flags Over Mosul
An army of Sunni fighters affiliated to al Qaida crossed the Syrian border into Iraq on Tuesday, scattering defensive units from the Iraqi security forces, capturing Iraq’s second biggest city of Mosul, and sending 500,000 civilians fleeing for safety. The unexpected jihadi blitz has left President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy in tatters and created a crisis of incalculable magnitude. The administration will now be forced to focus its attention and resources on this new flashpoint hoping that it can prevent the makeshift militia from marching on Baghdad and toppling the regime of Nouri al Maliki. Events on the ground are moving at breakneck speed as the extremists have expanded their grip to Saddam’s birthplace in Tikrit and north to Baiji, home to Iraq’s biggest refinery. The political thread that held Iraq together has snapped pushing Iraq closer to a full-blown civil war. More
OBAMA: ALL OPTIONS OPEN ON IRAQ
US President Barack Obama says his government is looking at "all options", including military action, to help Iraq fight Islamist militants. But the White House also insisted it had no intention of sending ground troops. The remarks came after the cities of Mosul and Tikrit fell to Sunni Islamist insurgents during a lightning advance.The US has begun moving defence contractors working with the Iraqi military to safer areas. More
Congress divided over US military action in Iraq
Several Republicans urged military intervention following reports that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called for US strikes by drones and manned aircraft. "There is no scenario where we can stop the bleeding in Iraq without American air power," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters after a closed Armed Services Committee briefing with Defense Department officials. House Foreign Affairs Committee member and Iraq war veteran Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., has been one of the most vocal proponents in the lower chamber. "We've got to get involved with airstrikes, stiffening the spines of the Iraqis," Kinzinger told Al-Monitor. "If Baghdad falls, it's really hard to imagine a Middle East that looks like that." …House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters at her weekly press conference that there is "no appetite in our country to be engaged in any military activity in Iraq." "I don’t think this is our responsibility," Pelosi said. More
MALIKI'S MOST SOLEMN HOUR
Some analysts said during the Second Gulf War that al Qaeda would be trading up from Afghanistan if it secured a base in Iraq. It was a prescient thought, but perhaps premature: between 2007 and 2010, Iraqis by and large rejected that fate for their country and dealt a body blow to the foreign Sunni jihadists who entered the country. But then the Syrian Civil War began... The most significant of these "new" groups has been the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which over the past year has spent as much time fighting other Syrian rebels groups as the Syrian Arab Republic's forces. ISIS was once aligned with al Qaeda's central command, but has since gone its own way… Sunni grievances against the government are real and legion: job discrimination, undue prosecution of activists, human rights violations by the police, welfare cuts that "punish" the Sunnis for their collaborationist role in past dictatorships. Well before this uprising, "the Sunnis [had] lost faith in the political process and the jihadists were once again able to make inroads among them." More
The Fall of Mosul and the False Promises of Modern History
The fall of Mosul to the radical, extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a set of historical indictments… Integrating Mosul into British Iraq, over which London placed Faisal bin Hussein as imported king after the French unceremoniously ushered him from Damascus, allowed the British to depend on the old Ottoman Sunni elite, including former Ottoman officers trained in what is now Turkey. This strategy marginalized the Shiite south, full of poor peasants and small towns, which, if they gave the British trouble, were simply bombed by the RAF. (Iraq under British rule was intensively aerially bombed for a decade and RAF officers were so embarrassed by these proceedings that they worried about the British public finding out.) To rule fractious Syria, the French (1920-1943) appealed to religious minorities such as the Alawites and Christians. More
* * * *
No U.S. Intervention In Iraq
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Watch video by Stan Heller from protest in NYC Tuesday in
front of an Obama fundraiser
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