Coup in Iraq

[Eurodriver]

I'm down with formally recognizing Kurdistan. Good people. Good culture.

[SteveS]

Yup. Always better having someone gas civilians and using helicopter gunships to shoot up people trying to flee the country than this.



I'm going to stand by my idea: Arm and train the Kurds. The Kurdish militia was ignored by the US under both Bush and Obama until now. Hell, sell them F-16s and AH-1s if they can afford them. Put some Green Berets on the ground with the Peshmerga and light up everything that isn't Kurdish, Peshmerga, or under their protection in the meantime.

Inform Iran that so long as they leave the Kurds alone, they can do likewise with the Iraqi Shi'ites.

Call up Putin and give him the green light on supplying arms and advisors to al-Assad, so long as he (al-Assad) is willing to play nice with the Sunni moderates.

Formally recognize the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan. Then let Iran and Syria annex as much of Iraq as they think they can hold against ISIS's "Islamic State".

What is happening now that Saddam is gone.

[Turnkey11]

I'm down with formally recognizing Kurdistan. Good people. Good culture.

Id be happy if they kicked ISIS's ass and expanded Kurdistan all the way to Tikrit or beyond. Iraq is defunct, might as well make the best of the situation and carve your own borders. Ive always wanted to be a tourist in Iraq a couple decades after the war, Kurdistan might be the ticket.

[ThirdWatcher]

All was good when Sadam kept the natives under control.

I will start out by saying I have never been to Iraq and I am certainly no expert on what's really going on over there. It seems that while Saddam was a tyrant of the worst kind, he did maintain some semblance of order (when he wasn't executing political foes and gassing Kurds) and then we come along in 2003, destabilize things, and then leave. It's like we did half the job. (I've wondered how many Iraqis think they were better off with Saddam in power?)

[Big A]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...s-in-iraq.html

[a1fabweld]

Am I an azzhole for not giving a shit about what happens in the middle east? (Aside from our service men & Women)

[TehLlama]

Am I an azzhole for not giving a shit about what happens in the middle east? (Aside from our service men & Women)

More of a case that with sufficiently inept leadership, the likelihood of those problems being exported to us increases exponentially. There are many reasons to care, at a minimum just understanding enough to hold political leadership accountable when they're running against the advice of military advice is relevant as a voting citizen of a republic; realistically more if you're inclined to be curious, or at least want to be somewhat informed (that said, free pass given for anybody in a specialized/high information field; just seems odd to me that those tend to be the best informed folks anyway).

[Big A]

Maliki says Abadi's appointment as Iraqi PM 'has no value':
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0GD0QY20140813

Iran Joins U.S. in Backing Replacement for Iraq’s Maliki:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...-s-maliki.html

Kurds Push Attack in North Iraq as Maliki Clings to Power:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...-to-power.html

[Big A]

Iraq's Maliki Steps Down "To Stop Bloodshed", Blames CIA, Supports Abadi As New Prime Minister:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-0...prime-minister

[KingCobra]

Yup. Always better having someone gas civilians and using helicopter gunships to shoot up people trying to flee the country than this.



I'm going to stand by my idea: Arm and train the Kurds. The Kurdish militia was ignored by the US under both Bush and Obama until now. Hell, sell them F-16s and AH-1s if they can afford them. Put some Green Berets on the ground with the Peshmerga and light up everything that isn't Kurdish, Peshmerga, or under their protection in the meantime.

Inform Iran that so long as they leave the Kurds alone, they can do likewise with the Iraqi Shi'ites.

Call up Putin and give him the green light on supplying arms and advisors to al-Assad, so long as he (al-Assad) is willing to play nice with the Sunni moderates.

Formally recognize the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan. Then let Iran and Syria annex as much of Iraq as they think they can hold against ISIS's "Islamic State".

Actually, the Kurds are doing extremely well right now of fighting IS, all the way up until they ran out of supplies defending the civilians on the mountain in northern Iraq. Once they got more supplies they went back to doing extremely well.