SETTING UP A BASE FOR ALLIED TROOPS ON THE IRAN-IRAQ BORDER!!!!! Why We shouldn’t trust the spin of Patraeus and Neo-Con Supporters in Washington
SETTING UP A BASE FOR ALLIED TROOPS ON THE IRAN-IRAQ BORDER!!!!! Why We shouldn’t trust the spin of Patraeus and Neo-Con Supporters in Washington
By Kevin Stoda, Kuwait
Last week, the BBC and local Kuwaiti news network (KUNA), reported that the U.S. under General Patraeus, had asked Britain to send 350 troops to the border of Iraq and Iran in the first of several steps to broaden the chances for direct conflict with Iraq.
The British newspaper Independent noted: “British forces have been sent from Basra to the volatile border with Iran amid warnings from the senior US commander in Iraq that Tehran is fomenting a ‘proxy war’.”
The high-risk maneuver is described as follows in reports from Baghdad and on the border with Iran. “In signs of a fast-developing confrontation, the Iranians have threatened military action in response to attacks launched from Iraqi territory while the Pentagon has announced the building of a US base and fortified checkpoints at the frontier.The UK operation, in which up to 350 troops are involved, has come at the request of the Americans, who say that elements close to the Iranian regime have stepped up supplies of weapons to Shia militias in recent weeks in preparation for attacks inside Iraq.”
PROXY WAR
From the European and Middle Eastern perspective these questions are being pondered:
-Why is the U.S. media reporting that Iran is such a big threat?
-Why is the Senate and House not calling bush’s recent bluffs?
-Who has the biggest proxy war going in Iraq currently?
-“Who” is really fomenting “what kind of war”?
The claim seems to be that Tehran is causing more trouble in Iraq than the United States or Britain have been up to.
How can that be when we have the U.S. military on the ground in some Sunni corners of Iraq supporting displacement of Shia populations by handing out weapons to Sunni militias and visa versa?
Recent independent reports from Iraq show that it is the U.S. is involved in arming militias which is leading or has already led to ethnic- and religious- cleansing of certain peoples from certain regions.
Here is what Arun Gupta, an editor of "The Indypendent", has stated: “Now, one of the key things that Petraeus did was they decided -- him and his command decided -- that they were going to create this paramilitary force, the Special Police Commandos. They armed them. They funded them. They trained them. And they also issued the usual denials: ‘Oh, we're not giving them any weapons. This is an Iraqi initiative.’ And so, now he’s saying the same thing with the Sunni militias.”
USA--HANDING OUT WEAPONS?
Gupta reported on Democracy Now last week: “Also during his [Gen. Petraeus’] tenure, 190,000 weapons went missing. These were Pentagon weapons that were supposed to go to Iraqi Security Forces. A report came out last month stating that there was no proper bookkeeping done. There were more weapons, but what it found was that 190,000 assault rifles and handguns, along with all sorts of body armor and other military equipment, had just completely gone off track. There were no records of it kept. Such simple things as recording the serial numbers were not done.”
With this kind of surge in weaponry getting “lost” into militia hands, there is little wonder that each of the neighboring countries—Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey—are nervous and may desire to intervene in what is happening in Iraq.
However, from anyone’s perspective in the Middle East, creating a war with (Iran just at U.S. Neo-Cons did illegally in 2001-2003) is NOT WANTED, NOR DESIRED in the short-, mid- or long-term.
In short, the pressure for the U.S. to leave will likely increase the more the U.S. picks a fight with Iran—in any case, Iran is one of the worst economically run countries in the region and the one particular state regime most likely to fall under the weight of its own mismanagement without the U.S. lifting a finger over the next decade or two.
PROVOCATION ON BORDER?!
The U.S. generals and neo-con promoters (of this misguided approach of America’s) are trying to persuade its last few allies in the region to get involved in supporting a permanent U.S. presence on the Iran-Iraq border.
The BBC reports:
“The US military is planning to build its first base near Iraq's border with Iran in order to curb the alleged flow of weapons to Shia militants in Iraq. Maj Gen Rick Lynch told the Wall Street Journal that the base would be located 6.4km (four miles) from the border and house at least 200 US soldiers. US forces also plan to build fortified checkpoints on major roads leading to Baghdad from Iran, Gen Lynch said. . . . Last month, US officials said they might designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards a ‘terrorist’ organisation for helping to destabilise Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran has denied the allegations.”
In a way, sending only 200 U.S. forces to man a U.S. base on the Iran-Iraq border appears to be a step towards simply:
(a) setting up a target for enemies in a desert to take a pot shot at as they travel by,
(b) creating a point to incite a war for just about any reason imaginable, and/or
(c) setting up a beachhead for a future war or invasion of the oil fields of Iran.
In any of these scenarios, the intention is 180 degrees from what Americans and Congress are asking this administration to undertake at this junction in history.
Iran has already responded with venomous replies. Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, stated: "If they approach our borders, they will be within reach of our fire, which is not for their good.”
Larijani added, “Neither the Iraqi people nor the government will allow the US troops to remain in their country, Larijani said noting that what really counted was the Iraqi government which said it would not permit such a base to be set up near the Iranian borders.” Larijani also called parts of the Crocker-Petreaus full of “contradictions and lies”.
Larijani said “[Americans] should be accountable to the Iraqi people… asking
‘Iran supplies Iraq with drinking water and electricity but what have you brought for the Iraqi people?’ . . . [but ]. . .You play a key role in causing sectarian rifts among the Iraqi people.’”
WHY THE U.S. IS NOT TRUSTED ANY MORE THAN IRAN
Rick Rowley’s new documentary footage from Iraq, shown on Al-Jazeera English TV, takes viewers to refugees camps around Baghdad where no other American or Western journalists have gone before. His interviews with the refugees in the slums protected by the Mahdi Army. The footage demonstrates that the Al-Anbar province, which has been declared a success by the Neo-Con spin-doctors & General Petreaus , was calmed at a great price of ethnic cleansing. That is the remaining Shia peoples in Al-Anbar regions are now in refugee camps in Iraq or abroad.
Is this the kind of progress Americans want to continue to support?
I think—NOT!
USA: BUSY CREATING DEMOGOGUES
Demagogues are creating daily by the U.S. administration and the American media seems to lap it up. Evidence that the Bush steps toward provoking a war of sorts with Iran is serving to keep a rather incompetent government under President Ahmadinejad in Iran in office. At Friday prayers on the first weekend of Ramadan, Ahmadinejad received a boost from a high cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei said: “President Bush would be tried in an international court for what had happened in Iraq.”
While many people around the world and in Iraq have similar sentiments, the big byproduct of Khamenei’s speech is that President Ahmadinejad in Iran has now received a major level of support from religious leaders to continue goading the U.S. with its nuclear weapons program for years to come.
Let’s not do the same thing in America, don’t support Petreaus nor Bush’s narrations of the Middle East!
Don’t let this U.S. War in Iraq become longer than the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, SPEED UP the PULL OUT, NOW!!!!
Also, impeach Bush and Cheney—not because an Iranian leader says to do it, but because it is THE RIGHT THING TO DO AS AN AMERICAN.
NOTES
Gupta, Arun in “A Look At How Petraeus Helped Arm Warring Sunni and Shia Militias in Iraq”, http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/12/1410237
Leyne, Jon, “Irani Supreme Leader Slams Bush”, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6995000.stm
“People Power—Al Anbar Province 09 September 2007: Part 1”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naJQc6vFlFY
“People Power—Al Anbar Province 09 September 2007: Part 2”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsQ6twcWevY
Rowly, Rick in “EXCLUSIVE Report From Iraq: U.S. Fueling Sectarian Civil War in Anbar by Funding Former Insurgents to Fight Al Qaeda”, http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/11/1424208
Sengupta, Kim “The 'proxy war': UK troops are sent to Iranian border”, http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2953462.ece
“U.S. Plans Base on Iraq-Iran Border” , http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6987306.stm
Tehran Warns the U.S. off of Setting Up U.S. Military Base near Iranian Border, http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1841211&Language=en
By Kevin Stoda, Kuwait
Last week, the BBC and local Kuwaiti news network (KUNA), reported that the U.S. under General Patraeus, had asked Britain to send 350 troops to the border of Iraq and Iran in the first of several steps to broaden the chances for direct conflict with Iraq.
The British newspaper Independent noted: “British forces have been sent from Basra to the volatile border with Iran amid warnings from the senior US commander in Iraq that Tehran is fomenting a ‘proxy war’.”
The high-risk maneuver is described as follows in reports from Baghdad and on the border with Iran. “In signs of a fast-developing confrontation, the Iranians have threatened military action in response to attacks launched from Iraqi territory while the Pentagon has announced the building of a US base and fortified checkpoints at the frontier.The UK operation, in which up to 350 troops are involved, has come at the request of the Americans, who say that elements close to the Iranian regime have stepped up supplies of weapons to Shia militias in recent weeks in preparation for attacks inside Iraq.”
PROXY WAR
From the European and Middle Eastern perspective these questions are being pondered:
-Why is the U.S. media reporting that Iran is such a big threat?
-Why is the Senate and House not calling bush’s recent bluffs?
-Who has the biggest proxy war going in Iraq currently?
-“Who” is really fomenting “what kind of war”?
The claim seems to be that Tehran is causing more trouble in Iraq than the United States or Britain have been up to.
How can that be when we have the U.S. military on the ground in some Sunni corners of Iraq supporting displacement of Shia populations by handing out weapons to Sunni militias and visa versa?
Recent independent reports from Iraq show that it is the U.S. is involved in arming militias which is leading or has already led to ethnic- and religious- cleansing of certain peoples from certain regions.
Here is what Arun Gupta, an editor of "The Indypendent", has stated: “Now, one of the key things that Petraeus did was they decided -- him and his command decided -- that they were going to create this paramilitary force, the Special Police Commandos. They armed them. They funded them. They trained them. And they also issued the usual denials: ‘Oh, we're not giving them any weapons. This is an Iraqi initiative.’ And so, now he’s saying the same thing with the Sunni militias.”
USA--HANDING OUT WEAPONS?
Gupta reported on Democracy Now last week: “Also during his [Gen. Petraeus’] tenure, 190,000 weapons went missing. These were Pentagon weapons that were supposed to go to Iraqi Security Forces. A report came out last month stating that there was no proper bookkeeping done. There were more weapons, but what it found was that 190,000 assault rifles and handguns, along with all sorts of body armor and other military equipment, had just completely gone off track. There were no records of it kept. Such simple things as recording the serial numbers were not done.”
With this kind of surge in weaponry getting “lost” into militia hands, there is little wonder that each of the neighboring countries—Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey—are nervous and may desire to intervene in what is happening in Iraq.
However, from anyone’s perspective in the Middle East, creating a war with (Iran just at U.S. Neo-Cons did illegally in 2001-2003) is NOT WANTED, NOR DESIRED in the short-, mid- or long-term.
In short, the pressure for the U.S. to leave will likely increase the more the U.S. picks a fight with Iran—in any case, Iran is one of the worst economically run countries in the region and the one particular state regime most likely to fall under the weight of its own mismanagement without the U.S. lifting a finger over the next decade or two.
PROVOCATION ON BORDER?!
The U.S. generals and neo-con promoters (of this misguided approach of America’s) are trying to persuade its last few allies in the region to get involved in supporting a permanent U.S. presence on the Iran-Iraq border.
The BBC reports:
“The US military is planning to build its first base near Iraq's border with Iran in order to curb the alleged flow of weapons to Shia militants in Iraq. Maj Gen Rick Lynch told the Wall Street Journal that the base would be located 6.4km (four miles) from the border and house at least 200 US soldiers. US forces also plan to build fortified checkpoints on major roads leading to Baghdad from Iran, Gen Lynch said. . . . Last month, US officials said they might designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards a ‘terrorist’ organisation for helping to destabilise Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran has denied the allegations.”
In a way, sending only 200 U.S. forces to man a U.S. base on the Iran-Iraq border appears to be a step towards simply:
(a) setting up a target for enemies in a desert to take a pot shot at as they travel by,
(b) creating a point to incite a war for just about any reason imaginable, and/or
(c) setting up a beachhead for a future war or invasion of the oil fields of Iran.
In any of these scenarios, the intention is 180 degrees from what Americans and Congress are asking this administration to undertake at this junction in history.
Iran has already responded with venomous replies. Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, stated: "If they approach our borders, they will be within reach of our fire, which is not for their good.”
Larijani added, “Neither the Iraqi people nor the government will allow the US troops to remain in their country, Larijani said noting that what really counted was the Iraqi government which said it would not permit such a base to be set up near the Iranian borders.” Larijani also called parts of the Crocker-Petreaus full of “contradictions and lies”.
Larijani said “[Americans] should be accountable to the Iraqi people… asking
‘Iran supplies Iraq with drinking water and electricity but what have you brought for the Iraqi people?’ . . . [but ]. . .You play a key role in causing sectarian rifts among the Iraqi people.’”
WHY THE U.S. IS NOT TRUSTED ANY MORE THAN IRAN
Rick Rowley’s new documentary footage from Iraq, shown on Al-Jazeera English TV, takes viewers to refugees camps around Baghdad where no other American or Western journalists have gone before. His interviews with the refugees in the slums protected by the Mahdi Army. The footage demonstrates that the Al-Anbar province, which has been declared a success by the Neo-Con spin-doctors & General Petreaus , was calmed at a great price of ethnic cleansing. That is the remaining Shia peoples in Al-Anbar regions are now in refugee camps in Iraq or abroad.
Is this the kind of progress Americans want to continue to support?
I think—NOT!
USA: BUSY CREATING DEMOGOGUES
Demagogues are creating daily by the U.S. administration and the American media seems to lap it up. Evidence that the Bush steps toward provoking a war of sorts with Iran is serving to keep a rather incompetent government under President Ahmadinejad in Iran in office. At Friday prayers on the first weekend of Ramadan, Ahmadinejad received a boost from a high cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei said: “President Bush would be tried in an international court for what had happened in Iraq.”
While many people around the world and in Iraq have similar sentiments, the big byproduct of Khamenei’s speech is that President Ahmadinejad in Iran has now received a major level of support from religious leaders to continue goading the U.S. with its nuclear weapons program for years to come.
Let’s not do the same thing in America, don’t support Petreaus nor Bush’s narrations of the Middle East!
Don’t let this U.S. War in Iraq become longer than the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, SPEED UP the PULL OUT, NOW!!!!
Also, impeach Bush and Cheney—not because an Iranian leader says to do it, but because it is THE RIGHT THING TO DO AS AN AMERICAN.
NOTES
Gupta, Arun in “A Look At How Petraeus Helped Arm Warring Sunni and Shia Militias in Iraq”, http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/12/1410237
Leyne, Jon, “Irani Supreme Leader Slams Bush”, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6995000.stm
“People Power—Al Anbar Province 09 September 2007: Part 1”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naJQc6vFlFY
“People Power—Al Anbar Province 09 September 2007: Part 2”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsQ6twcWevY
Rowly, Rick in “EXCLUSIVE Report From Iraq: U.S. Fueling Sectarian Civil War in Anbar by Funding Former Insurgents to Fight Al Qaeda”, http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/11/1424208
Sengupta, Kim “The 'proxy war': UK troops are sent to Iranian border”, http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2953462.ece
“U.S. Plans Base on Iraq-Iran Border” , http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6987306.stm
Tehran Warns the U.S. off of Setting Up U.S. Military Base near Iranian Border, http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1841211&Language=en
posted by Kevin Anthony Stoda at 9:55 PM
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