Guest Post by Pat Buchanan
Perhaps, rather than sending troops into Iraq and Kuwait to defend U.S. troops already there, we should accede to the local nationalist demands, start bringing our troops home, and let Iranians, Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, Yemenis and Afghans settle their quarrels.
Fifteen years after the U.S. invaded Iraq to turn Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship into a beacon of democracy, Iraq’s Parliament, amid shouts of “Death to America!” voted to expel all U.S. troops from the country.
Though nonbinding, the expulsion vote came after mobs trashed the U.S. embassy in an assault that recalled Tehran 1979.
What provoked Iraq’s Parliament into demanding the ouster of all U.S. troops?
First, the five December U.S. strikes on Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces in retaliation for a dozen Kataib Hezbollah rocket attacks on U.S. bases, which killed a contractor and wounded four U.S. soldiers.
Then came President Donald Trump’s decision to launch a drone-strike and kill Iranian General Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport. Killed in the same strike was the Shiite Iraqi leader of Kataib Hezbollah.
During his return flight to Washington Sunday, Trump warned Iraq: Follow through on your demand that all U.S. troops get out, and we will insist that Baghdad repay the money we just spent on a major air base.
Moreover, said Trump, if Iraqis expel U.S. troops, then we will impose upon them “sanctions like they’ve never seen before, ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.”
Where do we stand now in Iraq?
Though Sunnis and Kurds abstained, the Iraqi parliament has voted to expel all our troops. The State Department has urged U.S. civilians to flee Iraq. 82nd Airborne units have moved into the region to protect the U.S. embassy. U.S. troops fighting ISIS alongside Iraqi troops have separated themselves and stood down. In Iraq, the war on terrorism is on hold.
Across the Middle East, U.S. diplomats, soldiers and civilians are on alert. The acting prime minister of Iraq, in an echo of Tehran and radical Shiites, is demanding that all 5,200 U.S. soldiers in Iraq depart.
How can our troops, detested by the PMF militias and their thousands of fighters, unwanted by the Iraqi Parliament majority, the acting prime minister, and much of the Shiite majority, remain safely inside the capital city of Baghdad or the country?
What a difference a presidential decision can make.
Two months ago, crowds were in the streets of Iraq protesting Iran’s dominance of their politics. Crowds were in the streets of Iran cursing that regime for squandering the nation’s resources on imperial adventures in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen. Things were going America’s way.
Now it is the Americans who are the targets of protests.
Over three days, crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands and even millions have packed Iraqi and Iranian streets and squares to pay tribute to Soleimani and to curse the Americans who killed him.
As emotions are running high and America’s friends in the region are mute, the twin goals of Iran and its militia allies appear clear:
Tehran wants to avoid a war with the United States, but to direct the passions of the moment toward forcing an expulsion of the Americans from the Middle East, beginning with their ouster from Iraq.
Thus, Tehran has signaled that its retaliation, its revenge for the death of Soleimani, a military man, will be proportionate. Tehran is telegraphing an attack on the U.S. military. Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah in Lebanon, has called on his followers not to attack innocent Americans in the region but to zero in on U.S. military targets.
Oddly, what the America-haters of the Middle East seek is what Soleimani wanted, and what Trump promised in his campaign of 2016 — an end to U.S. involvement in the forever wars of the Middle East.
Perhaps, rather than sending troops into Iraq and Kuwait to defend U.S. troops already there, we should accede to the local nationalist demands, start bringing our troops home, and let Iranians, Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, Yemenis and Afghans settle their quarrels.
Despite the rage in Iran over the killing of Soleimani, the political imperatives that existed before last Friday’s drone strike remain.
Iran does not want war with the United States. And Trump wants no war with Iran.
But Iran made a mistake in its extrapolation from that truth.
Assuming that because Trump did not want war, he would recoil from a fight, Soleimani believed he could kill Americans with impunity, as long as his fingerprints were not on the murder weapon.
Killing Soleimani was just. But what is just is not always wise.
Yet, his killing restores Trump’s credibility as a Jacksonian who avoids wars but who, wounded, will stab the enemy who cut him.
Trump has a red line. It is not shooting at American drones but shooting at American soldiers, the drawing of American blood.
The message the rulers of Iran should have received?
If they retaliate for Soleimani by killing American soldiers, diplomats or civilians, using either Iranian troops or proxy militias, Trump will retaliate against Iran itself.
Otherwise, “Come Home, America,” George McGovern’s slogan from the 1972 presidential campaign, has rarely seemed more relevant.
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My sense of it is that Trump’s been “rope-a-doped”. By now accelerating the situation to critical mass he’s opened himself to being stupidly shoved into open hostilities with Iran against this will. Let’s say some other actor who has skin in the game-I’ll let you fill in that blank-causes an act of surreptitious and anonymous aggression. Who will get the automatic blame? Now that evidence is a dead concept pure sophistry reigns.
Three D chess, my ass. This fool is a checkers player and not a proficient one at that.
PJB’s thinking on this has pretty much mirrored mine, except this portion:
Yet, his killing restores Trump’s credibility as a Jacksonian who avoids wars but who, wounded, will stab the enemy who cut him.
Trump has a red line. It is not shooting at American drones but shooting at American soldiers, the drawing of American blood.
Jackson wasn’t deploying forces around the globe. When he spanked the Seminoles, it’s because they were crossing into Georgia and butchering civilians. Hardly the same thing as model airplaning an Iranian general thousands of miles away in a third party’s territory.
I could be completely wrong, but I can’t fathom how Trump recovers from this. He absolutely needs white male Gen X and Boomers to get re-elected and I believe he lost a lot of Gen X. There were always the lingering doubts among studious observers about Epstein’s handling, healthcare, forever wars, and the border. This was a jump-the-shark moment in my estimation.
I generally hate all politicians-past and present but Jackson was one tuff old dude. Just what he did to the banksters deserves great credit. I like Pat but he plays the d c game so can’t be entirely trusted.
I don’t see how he survives this either. Americans in vast numbers are sick of these wars and the entire subject. It’s said there would be turmoil and slaughter if ‘we’ leave. I couldn’t care less. They’ve been killing each other for a thousand years-helps keep the population from overheating. My guess is those poor souls who need a daddy figure to lead them will stay with Trump. But that’s not enough. If the Dummos run Bernie and Tulsi they’ll take 40 states. But I doubt they will.
One other thing-as a Florida State fan I need to inform you that the Seminoles were never defeated and still live peacefully in their traditional lands.
BTW I love your nom de plume.
PJB is as trustworthy as they come, IMHO. I was proud to campaign with him. I think he’s full of shit on Nixon but I line up with him about 95% of the time.
Nope, the Seminoles were never annihilated. But Jackson did slap them around for the Georgian incursions. Interesting that Wiki leaves out mention of Jackson’s motives regarding protection of civilians. Does he have white privilege, too???
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_Wars
Well, that is just wrong….as one of the early pioneer families in Florida,…….the Seminoles did put up a good fight in three separate campaigns but were defeated. They were pushed deeper south into the Everglades while central Florida was occupied by whites. Ever been to Immokalee or Homestead?
Sure the Seminoles live peacefully now but to say they were not defeated is wrong. They did perform a little better than most native American groups against the invading whites but the outcome was never really in doubt.
http://floridahistory.org/seminoles.htm
Kinda bothers me that Wiki left out the inconvenient fact that the Seminoles killed multiple families in Georgia and got what was coming to them. They shouldn’t have gotten in bed with the King Kneelers. Never a good idea to trust those gap-toothed assholes, even today.
Jeez, the rabbit holes I fall into on TBP. I do it to myself. History is far more interesting to discuss than the present.
I only know what I was told at FSU and there are a lot more Seminoles in Florida than Cherokees in Georgia.
They made the mistake of trusting the Brits and the Cherokee made the mistake of trusting us. I love Andrew Jackson and I do understand his reasoning with respect to the Cherokee, but it really was a bridge too far to say the least. Junaluska saved his life at Horseshoe Bend and then Jackson frog marched him.
I grow 3 Blacktwig and 3 Junaluska apples – Jackson and the Chief’s favorite apples – on my property. Just to heal the spiritual divide, with much thanks to old Tom Brown.
https://applesearch.org/Junaluska_Apple_Discovery.html
What do you expect from a draft dodger with fake pussy boy bone spurs?
So many people are going to be so pissed off when nothing happens.
I wish you were right.
“If Baghdad Wants Us Out, Let’s Go!”
all other things being equal, sure. but are they?
“Fifteen years after the U.S. invaded Iraq to turn Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship into a beacon of democracy”
I think Pat Buchanan has good intentions but he constantly amazes me with how hopelessly clueless he is (as is the magazine he co-founded, “The American Conservative”). Our intention was never to turn Iraq into a beacon of democracy. Our intention was to conquer and destabilize Iraq as part of the neocon/Zionist plan to conquer and destabilize many countries in the Middle East. Initially they used WMDs as the pretext for the invasion to get support from the gullible American sheeple, and when that was proven to be a lie they shifted to bringing democracy (among other excuses) for remaining there. I just don’t understand how someone who has been involved in Washington politics for as long as Pat has can be so clueless.
I think Pat was using the term “beacon of democracy” in a satirical way. The excuse by W and the neocons was to spread freedom and democracy to Iraq, but the actual role was to steal or disrupt the flow of oil.
It is possible he was being satirical this time, but he frequently makes statements that are just as naive that I know for certain are not satire.
Whenever I hear someone support democracy I think of someone profiting from the scam or a sucker.
BTW, like Pat points out the Iraqi parliament just voted to have the u s military get out. Let’s see how Trump deals with that bit of democracy.
While we’re at it, can we please take the 24,000 US troops in South Korea off of North Korean border duty and send them to do some Texas border duty ? Maybe even let the 38,000 troops in Japan join ’em and guard Arizona ..
Trump wants no war with Iran? All the evidence is to the contrary. Trump is doing everything he can to goad Iran into doing something, anything stupid that will justify an American “response.” I’d even go so far as to say that the only thing preventing all-out war at this point is the possibility of damage to Israel.