Guest Post by Patrick J. Buchanan
“The Kurds have no friends but the mountains,” is an old lament. Last week, it must have been very much on Kurdish minds.
As their U.S. allies watched, the Kurdish peshmerga fighters were run out of Kirkuk and all the territory they had captured fighting ISIS alongside the Americans. The Iraqi army that ran them out was trained and armed by the United States.
The U.S. had warned the Kurds against holding the referendum on independence on Sept. 25, which carried with 92 percent. Iran and Turkey had warned against an independent Kurdistan that could be a magnet for Kurdish minorities in their own countries.
But the Iraqi Kurds went ahead. Now they have lost Kirkuk and its oil, and their dream of independence is all but dead.
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More troubling for America is the new reality revealed by the rout of the peshmerga. Iraq, which George W. Bush and the neocons were going to fashion into a pro-Western democracy and American ally, appears to be as close to Iran as it is to the United States.
After 4,500 U.S. dead, scores of thousands wounded and a trillion dollars sunk, our 15-year war in Iraq could end with a Shiite-dominated Baghdad aligned with Tehran.
With that grim prospect in mind, Secretary Rex Tillerson said Sunday, “Iranian militias that are in Iraq, now that the fight against … ISIS is coming to a close … need to go home. Any foreign fighters in Iraq need to go home.”
Tillerson meant Iran’s Quds Force in Iraq should go home, and the Shiite militia in Iraq should be conscripted into the army.
But what if the Baghdad regime of Haider al-Abadi does not agree? What if the Quds Force does not go home to Iran and the Shiite militias that helped retake Kirkuk refuse to enlist in the Iraqi army?
Who then enforces Tillerson’s demands?
Consider what is happening in Syria.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, largely Kurdish, just annihilated ISIS in Raqqa and drove 60 miles to seize Syria’s largest oil field, al-Omar, from ISIS. The race is now on between the SDF and Bashar Assad’s army to secure the border with Iraq.
Bottom line: The U.S. goal of crushing the ISIS caliphate is almost attained. But if our victory in the war against ISIS leaves Iran in the catbird seat in Baghdad and Damascus, and its corridor from Tehran to Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut secure, is that really a victory?
Do we accept that outcome, pack up and go home? Or do we leave our forces in Syria and Iraq and defy any demand from Assad to vacate his country?
Sunday’s editorial in The Washington Post, “The Next Mideast Wars,” raises the crucial questions now before us.
Would President Trump be willing to fight a new war to keep Iran from consolidating its position in Iraq and Syria? Would the American people support such a war with U.S. troops?
Would Congress, apparently clueless to the presence of 800 U.S. troops in Niger, authorize a new U.S. war in Syria or Iraq?
If Trump and his generals felt our vital interests could not allow Syria and Iraq to drift into the orbit of Iran, where would we find allies for such a fight?
If we rely on the Kurds in Syria, we lose NATO ally Turkey, which regards Syria’s Kurds as collaborators of the PKK in Turkey, which even the U.S. designates a terrorist organization.
The decision as to whether this country should engage in new post-ISIS wars in the Mideast, however, may be taken out of our hands.
Saturday, Israel launched new air strikes against gun positions in Syria in retaliation for shells fired into the Golan Heights.
Damascus claims that Israel’s “terrorist” allies inside Syria fired the shells, to give the IDF an excuse to attack.
Why would Israel wish to provoke a war with Syria?
Because the Israelis see the outcome of the six-year Syrian civil war as a strategic disaster.
Hezbollah, stronger than ever, was part of Assad’s victorious coalition. Iran may have secured its land corridor from Tehran to Beirut. Its presence in Syria could now be permanent.
And only one force in the region has the power to reverse the present outcome of Syria’s civil war — the United States.
Bibi Netanyahu knows that if war with Syria breaks out, a clamor will arise in Congress to have the U.S. rush to Israel’s aid.
Closing its Sunday editorial the Post instructed the president:
“A failure by the United States to defend its allies or promote new political arrangements for (Syria and Iraq) will lead only to more war, the rise of new terrorist threats, and, ultimately, the necessity of more U.S. intervention.”
The interventionist Post is saying: The situation is intolerable. Confront Assad and Iran now, or fight them later.
Trump is being led to the Rubicon. If he crosses, he joins Bush II in the history books.
Lord, this bullshit has got to stop. For many years, the Kurds were recognized as the seemingly one faction in Iraq that had their heads screwed on. Now we fuck them. Allow their capital to be seized? Combat troops in Niger? And all the while, shifting alliances continue unabated.
Look, it’s a really bad neighborhood, I get that. AAMOF it seems to have been for a couple dozen centuries. Long before the Kurds were getting fucked, the Greeks were killing 100s of 1,000s of their own in the Peloponnesian War and in the most horrific fashion too. That war lasted almost 30 years, spanned n Africa and the Mediterranean all the way from Greece to Sicily. Then was peace for a few years and they went right back at it, only this time with new sides.
And you can just about insert any culture into that storyline. You got something that we want and we can kill you and get it? Well we’re gonna strap up. Hell, Sparta attacked Athens because they were afraid that sometime IN THE FUTURE, Athens would get so strong, they would dominate Greece.
IOW, in the ME nothing will change with the US getting the flock out of Dodge that I can see. Iran will soon have nukes if they don’t already. Some whack-o will light up Israel and Israel will respond. There’ll be a pause and it’ll start all over.
Hate to point it out but it’s hard wired into men. The only fucking thing we can do is come off as so vengeful that any nuke attack on us and we will literally turn your country into a wasteland. Of course that’s not going to stop fanatics so ya got that to deal with too.
I see Un in n Korea has let it be known he’s got a shit load of biological agents like smallpox loaded and ready to disperse should he go down. It never ends. The question shouldn’t be Are Mideast Wars Forever but Will War Be With Us Forever. Once there’s about 20 or 30 countries with nukes, that’ll resolve itself.
Good luck.
Are American Wars forever?
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Are there ANY countries we won’t fuck with??
The countries that can fight back.
Yes or at least until the end.
“Bibi Netanyahu knows that if war with Syria breaks out, a clamor will arise in Congress to have the U.S. rush to Israel’s aid.”
Tail wags dog. Yet, again.
The Kurds are the closest thing to ‘good guys’ we’ll ever see in the muslim world. They have all the right enemies and they certainly deserved their own country after WWII. That was Churchill’s error.
Buchanan has long been a closet anti-Semite. Read the Old Testament to learn what eventually always happens to anti-Semite nations.
They may be sorta good guys but, realistically, none of the bad guys will ever allow Kurds to become a fully functional autonomous nation.
It would unleash nationalistic hell. Next, the Assyrians will wanna make a comeback. Then Canaan, Cush, and Togarmah will want their day in the sun.
So solly, Kurds! Besides, a people named after a coagulated milk product don’t deserve their own country.
“It would unleash nationalistic hell”.
You’re exactly right about that. BTW, although I’ve fought against Yoebbels and Zara here, I’m a big critic/skeptic on Isreal’s underlying agenda. It’s just that I understand that even if the boss’s son is a spoiled rotten unworthy brat who you would like to kill, he is still the boss’s son.
And remember that it has been God, himself, who has been Isreal’s worst critic. He made sure that it was his own ‘chosen’ people who would be responsible for Christ’s death. The Jews will eat the biggest portion of crow in the end. But they will always remain the boss’s son, and it’s certainly to your advantage to be on good terms with the boss’s son.
” … made sure that it was his own ‘chosen’ people who would be responsible for Christ’s death. …”
It was the Romans who flogged Jesus, pounded the nails into his wrists, and thrust their spears into his side.
That is not to excuse the Jews … who filed the charges and pressured Pilate. But let’s be honest as to who did the ACTUAL killing.
Point taken, Stuck. But still, Pilot ‘washed his hands’ of the matter until the Jews persisted by shouting “crucify him!”.
There will be perfect justice in the end. You just want to be on the right side.
‘ … until the Jews persisted by shouting “crucify him!”.”
That could just be overstated by the Gospel writer.
How many Jews cried out “crucify him”? Thousands? Hundreds? Or, a small group of discontents paid by the ruling religious elite?
Cuz it was Passover season, and the population of Jerusalem likely swelled to over a million Jews …. and the week prior literally thousands were in the streets spreading palm branches and crying out “Hosannas to the highest!”.
I certainly do agree it pays to be on the right side of The Boss.
I had never given consideration to the idea that the ‘crucify him!’ chant might have come from a paid-for ‘Soros’ crowd. A great point.
Wasn’t there some guy named Barabbas the Jews preferred? Seems like I read that somewhere.
vodka
Thanks.
That the “crucify him” crowd could have been a Sorus-type group is bolstered by the fact that such a group is recorded in Scripture …. when (((they))) paid off Judas with 30 pieces of silver. So, the precedent is already existent.
God is not a real estate agent…
You need to wrap your mind around the fact that the World has an owner. I’m sorry to be the one to divulge such a disappointing fact to you. Doubt it at your own peril.
Propaganda is getting deep around here. Every religion says it’s the right one.
Don’t confuse correlation with causation. What eventually happens to anti-semite nations is what eventually happens to all nations. The Toltecs collapsed without having a single Jew on which to hate. You get 200 years, then you decline, then maybe you fix your shit in time for another 200 years. You either rejuvinate, like China, or you decline into a tourist backwater, like Italy.
Israel should defend itself. It has its own nukes. Khomeini’s purported (and disputed) statement that he was willing to let Iran go up in flames notwithstanding, Israel’s nukes should dissuade the Persians from attacking Israel proper, and if it doesn’t then we can’t stop it either. Israel has a lot of chutzpah to not only expect funding and arms from the US and expect us to defend them in the event of an attack but also to expect us to remake the whole region in order favor the Sunni Arabs over the Shia.
It is easy to see the pervasiveness of Israel’s Mossad (if one knows where to look), arguably the most effective spy agency on the planet, please read “By Way of Deception” by Viktor Ostrowsky. From the Lavon affair (a “false flag” operation designed to draw the USA into a war with Egypt by making it look like Arabs bombed the U S interests section–a planted bomb exploded prematurely, exposing this as a Israeli planned and executed “incident”) to the deliberate attack on the USS Liberty (NOT “misidentification”, but another attempt to draw the USA into a war with Egypt and to hide the deliberate massacre of civilians in an Egyptian city, Deir Yassin), to Jonathon Pollard and NSA spying utilizing a company named Amdocs (which handles all US telephone billing records), you will find that Israel looks out for Israel’s interests ONLY. Normally, there is nothing wrong with a country looking out after it’s own interests, BUT Israel has a nasty habit of spying (and setting up) it’s “friends”.
Who the hell died and appointed Israel the “master” of the middle east?? Iran (and all other middle-eastern countries) KNOWS that any nuclear “discharge” would affect the whole middle east . . . Any country that possesses nukes is not stupid . . . Israel has over a hundred nukes, manufactured with stolen American classified technology, refuses inspections of its nuclear facilities and is, in general, a “pain in the ass” to the rest of the world, along with (blackmailed) “big brother” United States of America.
It is no secret that the U S State Department is infested with dual-nationality Israeli-Americans who form (and foment) the bulk of our neocon “foreign policy” straight from Tel Aviv. In fact there are 40 or so congressmen and senators with dual-nationality “ties” to Israel.
Most people are unaware that Israel holds a “Damocles sword” over the world. Any attack on Israel will be met with a nuclear device being detonated in a city of Israel’s choosing. Israel calls this the “Samson option” and is very real.
Israel refuses to abide by IAEA guidelines concerning its nukes as its nukes are distributed around the world. Israel would not be able to produce all of them. No delivery systems are needed as Israel’s nukes are already “in place”. Look for another “false flag” operation with the blame being put on Iran. You can bet that some Iranian passports will be found in the rubble.
Israel also threatens to detonate nuclear devices in several US cities, thanks to Dolphin-Class submarines sold (or was it given?) to Israel by Germany. Talk about total INSANITY; the so-called “Samson Option” is it.
In international relations, there is no such thing as friends. There are friendly nations, but you have no friends. The Brits manipulated us into WWI the same way.
Israel has defended itself many times before. It will most assuredly defend itself when push comes to shove. God made a promise and Israel may be punished but they will not be wiped out.
a couple of you mentioned troops in africa–
here is a story that says caitlyn graham and charles schumer were unaware that we have 1000 troops in niger–now they want to re do the authorization 4 the use of military force–
wasn’t it rand paul who was slapped down and ridiculed for wanting a new authorization?
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/sens-lindsey-graham-and-chuck-schumer-didnt-know-us-has-1000-troops-niger?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTkRSbU1XVTBabU0zTnpBdyIsInQiOiJHeFlhN1l1ME04SmkzWWxKcVVPMmE4RjdvS1E5VTJPNUl3MzdnQlRcL1VadXFJb3RVa2pRVitLXC9peFh6cyt1UDhUNjNIK1hCSW14UUZ2OWs1MzNQdG5zUjNZZHZnN0VBblhiNmk5UTlcL1FPaE5SaG5nZEJVV252MG1aTUhOWm9GWSJ9
GTFO of the Middle East, Korea and Africa. Let the yellow, brown and black folks kill themselves. Make bigger and better bombs for defense.
Tampa…that’s Lispy Graham.
thanks for the correction machinegun–
Beware foreign entanglements.
Permanent war for permanent profits. The American way since at least 1913.