General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe fact that N. Iraq fell so easily shows that part of Iraq was never won
What Republican's are suggesting is that having American's there to make sure the Sunni's would fight the ISIS Sunni's coming in from the North, would make everything just dandy. Never mind Iraq told us to get the troops out. But to be clear NO! It would be like a fucking bandage on an open, severely infected wound. They might have stood and reluctantly fought or maybe not? They might have turned on our troops especially since Iraqi Sunni's probably told ISIS the door was open. Still, the underlying problem (Sunni's and Shiites hating one another and Sunni's wanting more control) was there simmering, ready to boil over at any time, with or without American troops in the area.
Someone on DU suggested this was 90% Bush's fault and maybe 10% Obama's fault. Sorry, but it was zero percent Obama's fault. If a country won't stand together on it's own, the war was NEVER won in the first place. It was just in remission and the fact is we simply can't be there forever. This is not like Japan and Germany where the people are all one religion and like one another. It's a cluster fuck and cluster fucks should be avoided at all costs as we found out in Vietnam and again in Iraq. The Shiites are going to have to win this back and reach out to the Sunni's. Once they do that, then maybe the Sunni's will be willing to fight for Iraq, but until then N. Iraq and perhaps most of Iraq remains a powder cake. Putting American soldiers there to smother a simmering rebellion just drags out the conflict to a later date. It does NOTHING to end a civil war and bring peoples together.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Well, probably not Bush. More like Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld and Cheney. Bush didn't decide shit.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)... John McCain said we won. Don't get me started. I'm trying to keep my BP in check. Totally agree with you.
Chathamization
(1,638 posts)or not."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/01/us-iraq-security-falluja-idUSBREA100EY20140201
(from February, by the way)
No idea about the breakdown of the various groups involved right now, but one thing you can be certain of is that most of what you read in the media is garbage, and you'll be probably left with a poorer understanding than before. Which is to say, yeah, it's not like these were areas where the government had a firm control and then the al-Qaeda brigades came and conquered them on their way to take over the country. That's fantasy.