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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSURPRISE! Guess Who Wants Us To Send Troops Into Iraq?
None other than the biggest war monger, chickenhawk darling of the right, William Kristol.
What to Do in Iraq
By FREDERICK W. KAGAN and WILLIAM KRISTOL
Its widely agreed that the collapse of Iraq would be a disaster for American interests and security in the Middle East and around the world. It also seems to be widely assumed either that there's nothing we can now do to avert that disaster, or that our best bet is supporting Iran against al Qaeda. Both assumptions are wrong. It would be irresponsible to embrace a premature fatalism with respect to Iraq. And it would be damaging and counterproductive to accept a transformation of our alliances and relationships in the Middle East to the benefit of the regime in Tehran. There is a third alternative.
Iraq troops
That alternative is to act boldly and decisively to help stop the advance of the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)without empowering Iran. This would mean pursuing a strategy in Iraq (and in Syria) that works to empower moderate Sunni and Shia without taking sectarian sides. This would mean aiming at the expulsion of foreign fighters, both al Qaeda terrorists and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah regular and special forces, from Iraq.
This would require a willingness to send American forces back to Iraq. It would mean not merely conducting U.S. air strikes, but also accompanying those strikes with special operators, and perhaps regular U.S. military units, on the ground. This is the only chance we have to persuade Iraqs Sunni Arabs that they have an alternative to joining up with al Qaeda or being at the mercy of government-backed and Iranian-backed death squads, and that we have not thrown in with the Iranians. It is also the only way to regain influence with the Iraqi government and to stabilize the Iraqi Security Forces on terms that would allow us to demand the demobilization of Shia militias and to move to limit Iranian influence and to create bargaining chips with Iran to insist on the withdrawal of their forces if and when the situation stabilizes.
This path won't be easy, but the alternatives are much worse. Doing nothing means we will face a full-scale sectarian warSyria on steroidswith millions of refugees and tens or hundreds of thousands more dead, along with a massive expansion of Iranian control into southern Iraq and an al Qaeda safe haven stretching from the Tigris to the middle of Syria.
More at http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/what-do-iraq_795057.html?nopager=1 .
[font color=green]When the hell did we agree that the collapse of Iraq would be a disaster for American interests and security in the Middle East?[/font]
Journeyman
(15,023 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Sheesh. Kagan and Kristol. Two Neocons who, in a rational world, ought to be totally ignored forever - and pelted with rotten vegetables if they don't have the sense to keep their pie holes shut!
samsingh
(17,590 posts)quinnox
(20,600 posts)onehandle
(51,122 posts)I want to draft these four and parachute them in.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)It's Iraq! Sand is soft, right? They'll be fiiiiiine.
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)By JULIE PACE
Associated Press
June 16, 2014 Updated 18 minutes ago
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama is notifying Congress that about 275 U.S. military personnel could deploy to Iraq.
Obama says the forces are going to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. He says the forces are equipped for combat and will remain in Iraq until the security situation becomes such that they are no longer needed.
About 160 troops are already in Iraq, including 50 Marines and more than 100 Army soldiers. Some of those soldiers have only recently arrived.
Under the authorization Obama outlined, a U.S. official says the U.S. will put an additional 100 soldiers in a nearby third country where they would be held in reserve until needed.
The White House says the U.S. military personnel are entering Iraq with its consent.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/06/16/3941694/obama-275-us-forces-deploying.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1