Like it or not, what’s happening in Iraq right now is part of a rational process:
What the jihadis have accomplished is grim enough, but their showoff videos of beheadings and mass executions are minor surges in what is, like it or not, a rational process: The partition of Iraq into three, rather than the previous two, ethnic/sectarian enclaves. Before I.S.I.S made its big move, Iraq was an unstable, immiscible column divided into Kurdistan and “everything else,” with “everything else” ruled by a weak Shia army.
Now the natural three-term partition is in place again, with the Sunni of the center, Saddam’s tribe, back to doing what they do best. I don’t mean to minimize the brutality of the operation, but this is a fairly bloody part of the world, and we contributed rather significantly to that blood-mush ourselves.
As long as the Sunni jihadis focus their revenge on fellow Sunni Arabs, their truly scary potential for pogroms is limited. What I truly fear, as a fond former resident of Iraqi Kurdistan, is that these creeps should break through to the North, into the hills where what’s left of Iraq’s slaughtered minorities have found a temporary haven. But so far, they’ve failed to do that at all. All their gains have come among their fellow Sunni on the Central Plains, which has muted their bloodlust somewhat. If those jerks ever got loose among the Assyrian, or Yazidi, or Turcoman, or Chaldean, or Kurdish communities hiding in the hills…well, you don’t have to guess about what would happen. They’ve said very clearly what they’d do, and they’ve done it often enough that there’s no reason to doubt their word.
The post goes on to say that ISIS is a flat terrain army. And that it will stall in the hills. So far it hasn’t gone as fast in the hills.
However, the Kurds and the hill people don’t seem to be doing well even with American assistance.
“This is the message of the leader of the faithful,” the leader, known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, wrote in a message addressed to “America, the defender of the cross.”
“You should know, you defender of the cross, that getting others to fight on your behalf will not do for you in Syria as it will not do for you in Iraq,” he said. “And soon enough, you will be in direct confrontation — forced to do so, God willing. And the sons of Islam have prepared themselves for this day. So wait, and we will be waiting, too.”
ISIS fighters had come within 25 miles of Erbil in a rapid advance that took American military planners by surprise.
Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement that ISIS fighters near the mortar positions had been “successfully eliminated,” although he did not say exactly how many had been killed. Another Defense Department official said that the precision of the laser-guided bombs dropped was such that in the case of the strike on the stationary convoy, “you know that vehicle and the people in it don’t exist anymore.”
More rubble – less trouble.
Of course it is in part our fault.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that the Sunni militants taking over Iraq have quickly gained power because the United States armed their allies in Syria.
“I think we have to understand first how we got here,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think one of the reasons why ISIS has been emboldened is because we have been arming their allies. We have been allied with ISIS in Syria.”
Paul was asked whether the U.S. should shift its focus to Syria.
“We have been fighting alongside al Qaeda, fighting alongside ISIS,” he said. “ISIS is now emboldened and in two countries. But here’s the anomaly. We’re with ISIS in Syria. We’re on the same side of the war. So, those who want to get involved to stop ISIS in Iraq are allied with ISIS in Syria. That is real contradiction to this whole policy.”
Paul downplayed the idea that ISIS is an immediate threat to the U.S., but said it could be “at some point.”
Assad of Syria is no nice guy. But he stands between ISIS and the slaughter of the non-Islamic people of Syria and Lebanon. Going after Assad and succeeding would lead to another genocide in the Middle East.
And what are the genocide b’tards of Harm US up to today?
Throughout the war between Israel and Hamas, western journalists in Gaza failed to report anything other than civilian casualties caused by Israeli air strikes. It took the accidental, frightening appearance of Hamas rockets being fired on live TV–using journalists as human shields–for the media to report that Hamas was, as Israel had alleged, firing rockets from civilian areas. Now, with the ceasefire, journalists are finally reporting the truth.
On Wednesday, CBS News aired a report by Clarissa Ward on postwar Gaza. She noted that many civilians had lost their homes, including a man who claimed, “There is no Hamas here.” She then showed viewers the Israeli military’s map of Hamas tunnels in the area, and the camera panned across concrete tunnel archways being stored in the alley next door, next to a mosque. Ward noted that CBS had been denied entry to the mosque.
Ah. But that is old news. So what is Harm Us up to? The usual.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri on Friday laid the blame on Israel for the ceasefire in Gaza not being extended, saying the Jewish state did not provide a clear response to Hamas’s conditions.
Speaking at a news conference in Gaza City and quoted by the Ma’an news agency, Abu Zuhri said that the lack of response undermined Palestinian demands and that “Israeli stubbornness led to not extending the ceasefire.”
He accused Israel of stalling and wasting time, adding that it must accept all of Hamas’s conditions.
Well he does have a point. Israel is not accepting all of the demands of Harm Us. In fact Harm Us is not getting anything.
I estimate Harm Us has another 25 or 30 days worth of rockets left. After that things should quiet down considerably. More rubble. Less trouble.
Well this is all depressing. I think this post could use some humor. From July 5th 2009.
A UN team investigating possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the Gaza war has announced it will hold two days of public hearings in Gaza later this month.
It must be a happy days for the people of Gaza. After all they voted for Harm Us.