Showing posts with label civil war in Iraq 2014. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civil war in Iraq 2014. Show all posts

Saturday, June 21, 2014

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.pngArabs; 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

 

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Monday, June 16, 2014




Don't bomb Iraq

President Obama will decide how to respond to the crisis in Iraq over the next few days.
Tell Congress to speak out against bombing Iraq.
Take Action



John McCain is shaking his fist angrily and calling for military action. Lindsey Graham is invoking terrorist attacks and describing American air power as “the only option.” The president is huddled with his advisers considering military options for Iraq. Did we just travel in a time machine to 2003?

Sadly, we are having yet another debate about using the blunt and ineffective instrument of military force to deal with a complex crisis in Iraq. President Obama just announced that he’ll decide on military action “in the days ahead” and the US is reportedly moving an aircraft carrier to the area. 


President Obama recently laid out his foreign policy vision in a speech at West Point, saying “Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.” So why isn't he looking for other tools in his toolbox?

We’ve seen this play out before. The gains made by ISIS militants and their allies and the Maliki government's sectarian politics require a smart strategy. Dropping bombs on a volatile situation is likely to escalate the conflict, not resolve it, and innocent civilians will lose their lives in the process.

We stopped the bombing of Syria because we responded quickly and loudly, and Congress raised a ruckus.  Tell them to do it again.

In some ways this feels like déjà vu all over again. But a lot has changed in the past decade. The American people have learned a lesson about the reckless use of military force. Let’s make sure our leaders don’t forget it.



Shelagh Foreman For peace,
Shelagh Foreman
Program Director







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UFPJ Action Alert: 3 Things You Can Do to Oppose US Military Intervention in Iraq!

United for Peace & Justice
1) Tell Your Member of Congress:
Oppose US Military Intervention in Iraq or Syria
Oppose the $ 571 Billion Defense Appropriations Bill

Congressional Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
2) Call the White House. Let President Obama know you oppose military intervention of any kind in Iraq or Syria and urge him to seek a diplomatic solution.
White House Switchboard: (202) 456-1111
3) Join a United for Peace and Justice Briefing on Iraq/ Syria Crisis
Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies and Nicholas J. Sandy Davies, author Blood on Our Hands will discuss the crisis in Iraq and Syria and the threat of US military intervention. How can the antiwar movement respond?
Wednesday, June 18, 9 pm EDT/6 pm PDT
Call-in Number: (712) 432-1212
Meeting ID: 446-724-667#
Please RSVP: rustiandgael@unitedforpeace.org 
As the situation in Iraq deteriorates, the “Never Learn” caucus is demanding US military intervention in the form of ground troops, air strikes, Special Operations and weapons deliveries. The unfolding tragedy in Iraq is a direct consequence of the illegal American invasion and occupation of that country. The least helpful idea is for the United States to involve itself militarily in Iraq or Syria. US military intervention, whether directly or by providing arms, will increase the suffering of people in those countries and enhance the risk of a wider regional conflict.
This coming week the House of Representatives is set to pass a $571 billion Defense Appropriations bill. So long as our oversized military eclipses our domestic needs and the United States spends more money on warfare than the next eight countries combined, military action will continue to be the default response to international crisis. Too many members of Congress claim to oppose war and then quietly pass outlandish military budgets. The proposed FY 2015 Defense Appropriations bill far exceeds what is needed militarily to protect our country.
 Please Call your Reps today and tell them:
  • No to Military Intervention in Iraq or Syria !
  • No to $571 Billion FY 2015 Defense Appropriations bill !
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