Tag Archives: Nouri al-Maliki

ISIS Continues Its Reign Of Terror In Iraq

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Yesterday the U.K. Mail Online reported that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has attacked and destroyed several centuries-old graves in the northwest city of Mosul in Ninevah. Among the graves destroyed was the grave of the Old Testament prophet Jonah. Jonah was revered by both Christians and Muslims, but ISIS believes that giving special reverence to tombs and relics is against Islam.

The article also reports:

…more than 50 bodies have been discovered by Iraqi authorities in an agricultural area outside the city of Hillah, just south of Baghdad, today.

Military spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan Ibrahim said most of the 53 bodies were found blindfolded with their hands bound and several gunshot wounds.

The grisly discovery in Hillah, a predominantly Shiite city around 60 miles south of Baghdad, has raised concerns over a possible sectarian killing amid the battle against a Sunni insurgency.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused the Kurds in northern Iraq of harboring extremists. Meanwhile, the Kurds are working hard to protect their area of Iraq from ISIS.

ISIS is acting in a way very similar to the way the Taliban acted when they took over Afghanistan.

What is happening in Iraq is partially the result of the fact that American forces were withdrawn. Had American forces remained, we would have been able to exert enough pressure on al-Maliki to prevent his purging his military from Sunnis and putting his cronies in their places. One of the reasons the Iraqi army fled was that it was not the trained Iraqi army that we had assembled–it was a bunch of political hacks put in place by al-Maliki.

I am not optimistic about what is happening in Iraq. Even with American help, the country is going to disintegrate. The civil war between the Shiites and the Sunnis will continue and various terrorist groups in the Middle East will take advantage of that fact. It would be a mistake for America to get involved in Iraq again. However, we should support the Kurds and provide relief for the refugees who have fled to the Kurdish areas.

 

 

 

 

Looking Past The Present

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Various news outlets are reporting that America is considering a political alliance with Iran in order to bring stability to the situation in Iraq. While that might work in the short term, there is no way it makes sense if you consider the history of the region and the recent history of Iraq.

Fox News posted a story yesterday reminding us of some of that history. The past problems between Iran and Iraq were based on the Sunni Shiite conflict within Islam. Saddam Hussein was a Sunni, the rulers of Iran (after 1978) were Shiites. The Iran-Iraq war was started in 1980 by Saddam Hussein. It was ended by a United Nations resolution in 1988. As a point of interest, that eight-year war is responsible for the fact that as of 2013 almost 90 percent of Iran’s population is under the age of 55. Almost 25 percent is under the age of 25. In America, almost 75 percent of the population is under the age of 55, and about 33 percent is under the age of 25.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the current Prime Minister of Iraq is a Shiite. Almost immediately after taking office, he formed an alliance with Iran. He also persecuted Sunnis. Al-Maliki’s persecution of Sunnis and Iran’s destabilization of Iraq during al-Maliki’s rule have brought us to where we are now. They have created this mess, why are they offering to stabilize it?

The article at Fox News reminds us:

As reported by the Free Beacon, the report warned that Iran was working against U.S. goals in Iraq, by boosting Shiite militia groups — sectarian tensions are part of what allowed the Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and Syria to gain ground in the country’s north. The State Department report specifically said Iranian forces were working with Hezbollah to provide advisers in Iraq for Shiite militants “in the construction and use of sophisticated improvised explosive device technology and other advanced weaponry.” 

Further, the report said Iran has “remained unwilling to bring to justice senior al Qaeda (AQ) members it continued to detain, and refused to publicly identify those senior members in its custody.”

The reason Iran is willing to help us ‘stabilize’ Iraq is that Iran believes a stable Iraq will be a step forward in forming a regional caliphate. The plan is to include Iran, Iraq, Syria, and part of Saudi Arabia in that caliphate. Eventual plans include the region (later the world), but for now, Iran wants Iraq, Syria, and part of Saudi Arabia.

Iran is an international sponsor of terrorism. It would be a serious mistake to align ourselves with them in any way.

When The World Is Upside Down

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 A Time To Betray, a website run by a former CIA agent who infiltrated the Revolutionary Guard in Iran, posted a story yesterday about the visit to the White House by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The article can also be found in yesterday’s Washington Times. Mr. al-Maliki, an Iraqi Shiite, included Hadi Farhan al-Amiri, transportation minister in Mr. al-Maliki’s Iraqi government.

The article reports:

 Louis J. Freeh, who served as FBI director in the Clinton administrationand the early months of the George W. Bush administration, said it was shocking that Mr. al-Maliki would include Mr. al-Amiri in his visit to Washington.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has been involved in “countless acts of terrorism, which are acts of war against the United States,” Mr. Freehsaid in an interview.

Mr. al-Amiri served as a commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Badr Corps, a battalion that was tasked with operations in Iraq. He remained active in the Badr Corps during the late 1980s and 1990s, when he was working on resistance efforts against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.

Unfortunately, the rest of the information in the article is also not encouraging. While Mr. al-Maliki was visiting the White House, there was a group of protesters outside protesting in support of the Iranian exiles in Camp Ashraf, located about 49 miles north of Baghdad.

The article further reports:

The Iraqi government has set a Dec. 31 deadline to close the camp, which houses members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), listed by the U.S. as a terrorist group. The exiles’ supporters fear the camp’s unarmed residents will be massacred because of their opposition to Iran’s government.

Current and former members of Congress, former officials who served in Republican and Democratic administrations, a former Iraqi official and a former senior commanding officer at Camp Ashraf spoke at the protest.

“We did not fight and die … for you to deliver the integrity of Iraq to the mullahs in Iran,” said former Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, New Jersey Democrat, in remarks directed at Mr. al-Maliki.

My concern here is that Iraq will degenerate into a situation similar to the killing fields of Cambodia after America left Vietnam. America is leaving Iraq before the government can stand on its own. Despite statements from the President, Iraq will now become a satellite state of Iran, as have most of the other countries in the region. I believe we could have prevented this had President Obama taken the time to complete the job President Bush had nearly finished when he left office. It is unfortunate the President Obama values the support of his political base more than he values the safety of the Iraqi people and the people in the Middle East.

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Behind The Scenes On The Withdrawal From Iraq

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President Barack Obama shakes hands with Iraqi...

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On Friday The Cable posted an article discussing some of the behind the scenes discussions and issues that went into the plan to withdraw all American troops from Iraq by the end of this year.

The article reminds us:

Deputy National Security Advisors Denis McDonough and Tony Blinken said in a White House briefing that this was always the plan. 

…But what about the extensive negotiations the administration has been engaged in for months, regarding U.S. offers to leave thousands of uniformed soldiers in Iraq past the deadline? It has been well reported that those negotiations, led by U.S. Ambassador James Jeffrey, Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and White House official Brett McGurk, had been stalled over the U.S. demand that the remaining troops receive immunity from Iraqi courts. 

The article points out that there are ways to get around the immunity issue:

Administration sources and Hill staffers also tell The Cable that the demand that the troop immunity go through the Council of Representatives was a decision made by the State Department lawyers and there were other options available to the administration, such as putting the remaining troops on the embassy’s diplomatic rolls, which would automatically give them immunity. 

The bottom line here is simple. President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were both more concerned with politics that with the security of Iraq. Al-Maliki is very aware of the fragile coalition that holds his government together. President Obama wants to be re-elected. No one is thinking ahead regarding Iraq.


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Leaving Iraq Behind

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Sadr City

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I have said before that when America has a weak president (or a president that the world considers weak), the world is less safe. We are about to see the fruit of that as we come to the end of American involvement in Iraq.

CNSNews reported today that:

“Similar to previous Iraqi governments, the (Iraqi) government considers Jewish Iraqi citizens who emigrated from Iraq following the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and in the following decades as having renounced their Iraqi citizenship and the possibility of its reinstatement,” says the State Department report.

“Iraq’s criminal Code 201 stipulates that any person promoting Zionist principles, or who associates himself with Zionist organizations or who assists them by giving material or moral support, or works in any way towards the realization of Zionist objectives, is subject to punishment by death.”

In other words, “moral support” of “Zionist organizations,” “promoting Zionist principles,” or working in any way to achieve “Zionist objectives” remain capital offenses in Iraq. We are not leaving behind a government we can live with.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Iranian-backed Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who controls a sizable bloc in Parliament and half a dozen ministries in the current government, issued a fresh threat against the U.S. on Sunday, warning Washington that his militiamen would target any oversized presence at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad designed as he said to compensate for the full military withdrawal and retain influence in Iraq.

…In a press conference on Saturday Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who owes his second term in office largely to the backing of Mr. Sadr after last year’s deadlocked election, sought to project himself as a strong leader who overcame U.S. pressure to keep some troops in Iraq with full immunity from Iraqi law. Mr. Maliki said it was the immunity issue that scuttled a deal and that any U.S> trainers left in Iraq beyond Dec. 31 would not enjoy immunity.

Moqtada al-Sadr is an Iranian puppet. As soon as we leave Iraq, he will begin to move to turn the country over to the Shiites and eventually over to Iran. In March I posted an article at rightwinggranny about a movie smuggled out of Iran called “The End Is Near.” The movie details the foreign policy ambitions of Iran as they await the coming of the Twelfth Imam. The movie makes it clear that Iraq is going to be part of that ‘last days’ alliance. Because we do not have a determined president and because the American people are tired of war, we are letting Iraq fall into the hands of Iran. Shame on us.

 

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