The day bush's troops marched into Iran...the war was lost. There Idea of a war with limited troops using existing power structures collapsed because of corruption and mismanagement. It is beyond repair. The only people who can save themselves is the Iraq people ...many whom believe the status quo is not worth defending and who can blame them. When Bush started his stupid war there were no Al Quada in Iraq...now it may be an terrorist ruled country.

Maybe a division-sized force, maybe two? That might well be enough to hold Baghdad. How quickly, however, could that happen?

We have a lot of air power in the region, but if we move those assets to forward bases in Iraq they will have to be defended by still more ground troops.

Doubtful they'll need boots on the ground ...

That rather naive supposition is what I would call "doubtful." One carrier does not win a war, not even a small one.

let them have it.

adding bombs to it will do nothing but further inflame the overall problem.

maliki is a very ineffectual leader, that is no mystery.

Last edited Sat Jun 14, 2014, 01:56 AM - Edit history (1)

Unfortunately, some fuckwits invaded the country and executed the person
who had been keeping it stable for decades.

Others here said this wouldn't happen. That Obama wouldn't fall for it. Looks like he has.

The question I have is it because he really feels it's the right thing to do (i.e., you broke it you fix it)? Or is it because he feels pressured by the warmongering Repubs and/or those Dems that may have problems getting re-elected?

I say put it to a vote in Congress. Let them make the decision. We'll go back in in a limited way but any monies spent need to come from closing the loopholes in corporate taxes and from an upper echelon tax hike. We need to pay as we go and that's how we'll do it. Oh and also - 5% of what we spend on this excursion - will automatically go to the VA in order to take care of those GI's that have to fight this civil war for the Iraqi's. And we might as well throw in - we will prosecute BushCo for war crimes for lying us into this mess in the first place.

The American People have had enough of these wars. Let the Amercan People have a say as to whether we should be sucked back into this.

What a fiasco. Thank you BushCo.

Speaking for myself, I'll be out with my 'No Iraq War' protest sign against an Obama 're-invasion' ... just like I was against the Bush/Cheney attack on Iraq.

Frankly, I just don't see a 'side' for the U.S. to be on: ISIS is al Qaida linked and al-Malaki is an Iranian stooge.

'Our' side is to let the Iraqis alone as much as possible, try and work the diplomatic front to prevent a wider war, and tend to our own business.

No one with any brains at all lays any of this Iraq mess at Obama's feet -- we all know who started this fiasco. So, Pres. Obama needs to not fall into the Bush/Cheney swamp.

Come now, are we so naive as to expect The Pentagon to go quietly into that good night? ....

We've heard this one before -- "surgical strikes" ... in and out and then it is over with quickly (2001).

Just we we need not, another damned war !!

We shouldn't have "broke it" in the first place. If we get involved we will only make it far, far worse.

to clean up the china shop.

I still remember you debating in 2004, saying we should've gone into Iraq, but we whould've tried to get more of our allies involved instead of going it more-or-less alone.

You were pro-war.

This is your mess too.

He was speaking then of what had to be done GIVEN THAT WE WERE THERE. There is no doubt in my mind that had Kerry been President in March 2003, we would not have gone to war. This is easily backed up by things he actually said in 2002 and in 2003 before the war started.

In September 2004, in his speech on Iraq given at NYU he said that had he been President, he would not have invaded Iraq.

KERRY: Well, let me tell you straight up: I've never changed my mind about Iraq. I do believe Saddam Hussein was a threat. I always believed he was a threat. Believed it in 1998 when Clinton was president. I wanted to give Clinton the power to use force if necessary.

But I would have used that force wisely, I would have used that authority wisely, not rushed to war without a plan to win the peace.

I would have brought our allies to our side. I would have fought to make certain our troops had everybody possible to help them win the mission.
This president rushed to war, pushed our allies aside. And Iran now is more dangerous, and so is North Korea, with nuclear weapons. He took his eye off the ball, off of Osama bin Laden.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/text-of-bush-kerry-debate-ii/

Look back at the contest back ten please rather than judjing rapidly.

Please, Mr. Kerry, I beg of you, don't get us involved with that mess again. We've sacrificed enough blood and money as it is.

more of the same.

They had no one fighting them in Mosul - they all ran off.

“We want to show the world that we can protect ourselves,” said Khodr al-Tamimi, a turbaned cleric who waved a pistol from the window of his black, armored SUV as it wound through emptied shopping streets. “Wherever they go, we will defeat them,” he added, referring to ISIS.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iraqis-answering-top-shiite-clerics-call-to-arms/2014/06/14/dc4f0a26-f37a-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html