Guest views are now limited to 12 pages. If you get an "Error" message, just sign in! If you need to create an account, click here.

Jump to content

  • CRYPTO REWARDS!

    Full endorsement on this opportunity - but it's limited, so get in while you can!

Ten years after start of Iraq War, the mission is far from accomplished

boomer113189

By boomer113189,
in Iraq & Dinar Related News

 Share

Recommended Posts

boomer113189 Newbie

boomer113189

Posted
Posted

1 - 6 - 2013

The situation in the country falls far short of the Bush administration's rosy declarations a decade ago. Torn by sectarian distrust and violence, it is becoming a strategic threat for the entire region.

A difficult welcome awaited Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq in the city of Ramadi in the center of the country. "Get out of here," protesters shouted as they staged the 10th day of a hunger strike and blocked the road connecting Baghdad with Syria and Jordan.

"Why has it taken you a week to come?" some of them exclaimed, while others hurled rocks and shoes at Mutlaq's convoy. Shots were fired. According to Mutlaq's office, "thanks to God, he was saved from an assassination attempt."

The Shi'ite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, demanded that Mutlaq, a Sunni, try to calm passions in Sunni regions after two weeks of rage. The country's Sunni population took to the streets due to what it considers ethnic discrimination. The Sunnis are angry about the security forces' free hand to detain people - including women and the elderly - to stifle protests.

The fourth clause in the law against terror must be revoked, say the Sunni leaders; this clause ostensibly lets the authorities detain anyone suspected of carrying out, funding or aiding and abetting a terror act. Offenders receive the death sentence. The definition for what counts as a terror act is vague; it basically lets the security forces do as they please. In any case, Sunnis make up around 90 percent of Iraq's political prisoners.

That the war on terror is crucial for Iraq's survival isn't in dispute. Exactly a year after the withdrawal of American forces, the number of terror attacks has significantly decreased. Last year, 2,174 people were killed, according to official figures. According to the website Iraq Body Count, which is considered more reliable, the number is 4,471.

But even the second figure reflects improved security measures compared to the years 2006 and 2007, when the number of terror fatalities peaked. Iraq's security forces are more efficient and better trained than in previous years, but the prevailing view is that Iraq won't have an army capable of defending its borders before 2020.

Neighborly Iran

While the fight against terror continues, the main question is how to define "terrorist." For example, an Iraqi who assists rebel forces in Syria and smuggles arms to them or finances them is liable to be regarded as a terrorist in a country that coordinates its foreign policy with Iran.

The country's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, is wanted in Iraq on suspicion of terror activity. Hashimi fled to Turkey and now probably lives in Qatar. Last week he warned on his Facebook page that Maliki plans a massacre of Sunnis in the Al Anbar district west of Baghdad.

This claim is based in part on Maliki's statements; the prime minister announced this week that Sunni demonstrators are lawbreakers and said if they don't stop protesting and blocking streets he will have to use force. The Hashimi affair, meanwhile, stoked a crisis in relations with Ankara - Turkey gave him shelter and ignored Iraq's demands for his extradition.

Maliki's opponents say the accusations against Hashimi are part of a campaign to discredit the Sunni leadership. They say the arrest two weeks ago of Sunni Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi's security guards serves the same end. Essawi's bodyguards are accused of involvement in terror.

Like other Iraqi ministers, Essawi has his own mini-army of 200 armed men. This week he alleged that Maliki deliberately sparks crises and persecutes him because of his criticism of the prime minister.

The crisis in Iraq spills into the semiautonomous Kurdish region, which is sparring with the central government over oil profits. Under an agreement signed in September between the Kurdish region and the central government, the Kurds are supposed to export 200,000 barrels a day and declare this to he central government. The region would receive 17 percent of the profits.

The Iraqi government paid $550 million to the region as an advance for such exports, but the Kurds say they're owed another $290 million and that the government is stalling. Hence oil companies operating in the Kurdish region reduced exports to 5,000 barrels a day to pressure Baghdad to meet its obligations.

Turkey changes its policy

The Iraqi government also demands that the region not sign independent agreements with foreign governments. Kurdish leaders have ignored this demand; they intend to ally with Turkey and build an oil pipeline that could send up to 2 million barrels a day to the Turkish port of Jihan.

Such a project would help the Kurdish region shed its dependence on the Iraqi government, though it would be totally dependent on Turkey. Until recently Turkey viewed the Kurdish region with suspicion and eschewed long-term projects that would link its economy to the Kurds'. The Turks feared that economic prosperity would lead to the establishment of an independent Kurdish state.

But Turkey has dramatically changed its policy. It has expanded trade with Iraqi Kurdistan and has reconciled with the Kurdish leaders - leaders who take part in the war against the Kurdish Workers' Party, which has been defined as a terror organization. The leaders are also helping build the pipeline that will cement the strategic relationship.

Iraq remains a crucial trade partner for Turkey. Trade between the two countries reaches $8 billion annually and could climb to $12 billion this year. But much of this passes through the Kurdish region, so the threat of severed Iraqi-Turkish relations would not necessarily curb this business.

With a strong, prospering Kurdish region deploying its own army and not heeding Baghdad's directives, with rebellious Sunni districts in the west threatening a violent uprising, and with the Shi'ites staying strong in Baghdad and the south, Maliki's mission of preserving unity is becoming harder every day.

The United States says it opposes Turkey's involvement in Iraqi Kurdistan and supports a united Iraq. But its forces have left the country and it depends on Turkey's cooperation against the Syrian regime and Iran, so its ability to influence Turkey in Iraq is limited at best.

Paradoxically, while the U.S. government supports Baghdad's stance against the Kurds, American firms such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil continue to drill for oil in the Kurdish region and profit from oil exports.

The 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War Iraq takes place in two months. If you look at the Bush administration's rosy declarations a decade ago, you see how far the Iraqi reality has strayed. Iraq remains a divided, unstable country.

Worse, it is becoming a strategic threat.

My link

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Markinsa Grand Master

Markinsa

Posted
Posted

Maggie, you seem so self assured that this is all lies, and also in the post that you started, where you asked why we went into Iraq. What is the truth as you see it? I don't understand you asking the question when you call all the answers lies.

Thank you for pointing that out, I was biting my tongue. :P Yes Maggie, where is the evidence of the lies?

-

  • Upvote 1
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Markinsa Grand Master

Markinsa

Posted
Posted

Oh Thank You Markinsa smile.gif

It's NOT hard to find the truth IF you are interested.

You tell me.. Why did we go into Iraq?

What lie did you buy?

You are the one that says they are lying, but you have yet to provide the proof of those lies, so the burden is on you to prove the lies, not for me to provide you with what I believe to be the truth.

-

  • Upvote 1
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Maggie123 Newbie

Maggie123

Posted
Posted

HOW DOES ONE "PROVE" A LIE???

1) The War On "Terror" (911)

2) WMD'S (never found)

3) We Needed to "Help" those people. (aren't we so kind)

4) War makes us "Powerful" Haha (War makes us weak and broke)

PS. Bush... OIL... Bush... OIL. Oh Gosh, it didn't go like the Bush's planned. HECK angry.gif Does this mean "No RV" ???

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Markinsa Grand Master

Markinsa

Posted
Posted

HOW DOES ONE "PROVE" A LIE???

1) The War On "Terror" (911)

2) WMD'S (never found)

3) We Needed to "Help" those people. (aren't we so kind)

4) War makes us "Powerful" Haha (War makes us weak and broke)

PS. Bush... OIL... Bush... OIL. Oh Gosh, it didn't go like the Bush's planned. HECK angry.gif Does this mean "No RV" ???

With evidence.

-

  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Markinsa Grand Master

Markinsa

Posted
Posted

Ha... Give me your "evidence" Mark.

(oh I forgot... You Have None) Go Ahead... Give It A Good Old Try... Prove Those Lies. haha

You are the one saying there are lies. Nice try, but I don't have the burden to prove the truth, you are the one that wants to prove there are lies, so the burden of providing the evidence of those lies is with you.

Let me also ad, that you must have some reason for your belief that what you think are lies, are in fact lies. Provide that evidence.

-

  • Upvote 2
  • Downvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Markinsa Grand Master

Markinsa

Posted
Posted

Mark I am so sorry for you that you can't seem to comprehend that a lie is a lie.

There is NO PROOF for a lie.

smile.gifbiggrin.giflaugh.gif

That is about that dumbest thing I have ever heard.

John said the ball is black. (The lie.)

Jill produces the ball and it is white. Tada proof of the lie.

-

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Maggie123 Newbie

Maggie123

Posted
Posted

OK Mark,

Here is why I think we went...

Hussain was going to break away from the "Petro Dollar" same as what has happened with his friend Gaddafi, and his other friend Assad.

We just were more covert with the latter two... Not so secret if you want to open your eyes and LOOK.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Markinsa Grand Master

Markinsa

Posted
Posted

OK Mark,

Here is why I think we went...

Hussain was going to break away from the "Petro Dollar" same as what has happened with his friend Gaddafi, and his other friend Assad.

We just were more covert with the latter two... Not so secret if you want to open your eyes and LOOK.

That is your interpretation of what happened. Why do you suppose Saddam was trying to break away from the Petro Dollar? Could it be, he was trying to do the same thing Iran is trying to do now? Circumvent UN Sanctions which was putting a strangle hold on revenue coming into their respective countries? Let me also ad this, the UN approved and participated in the U.S. "Lead" invasion.

-

  • Upvote 1
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
MyLadiesDaddy Grand Master

MyLadiesDaddy

Posted
Posted

WOW, What a remedial conversation. :blink: I'm not even sure what is

trying to prove a lie or truth. But If you want to know why we went to war with

Iraq you have the answer in your home with you. DINAR. Or let me put it this

way, we went to war for the same reason that most people go to war. Money,

and power. Everything else is just window dressing.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
UntilThatGloriousDay Newbie

UntilThatGloriousDay

Posted
Posted

there Are those who leave outside of the bubble..,propanganda doesnt phase / decieve me.. Theres A biiger picture to every article and initial reasoning that sometimes doesnt make sence but its a part of the NWO agenda.. Markinsa.. If You open your eyes you will see that through lies is how world is governed.. the Proof exists you just have to seek it yourself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LIBoy Newbie

LIBoy

Posted
Posted

Their conversation is, unfortunately, like so many others on here. You start with a good story pertaining to a certain topic and before you know it two "members" (think about the definition of the word) hijack the thread and turn it into a pissing match that no one else needs or wants to waste their time reading. I wish in these cases, the two "mass debaters" (pun intended) would show a little respect towards everyone else and take their rant offline and just IM each other through their profile pages. But alas, that is just my humble opinion.

  • Upvote 1
  • Downvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


  • Testing the Rocker Badge!

    Take This Quiz

  • Live Exchange Rate

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.

  I accept