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Post by jdredd on Oct 21, 2016 16:17:03 GMT -5
www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/mosul-battle-produce-humanitarian-catastrophe-161020081949949.html"Although much of the threat comes from ISIL fighters, human rights organisations have found civilians are also vulnerable to mistreatment by the Iraqi army and the state-sponsored Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU). The PMU, comprised mostly of Shia militias but also include Sunni groups and others, was officially designated part of the Iraqi armed forces in February 2016, after it took centre stage in the fight against ISIL in 2014. The militias have been accused of abducting, killing, and torturing civilians in past operations to retake territory from ISIL.Abu Yazan said residents of Mosul hope PMU fighters "are not allowed to enter the city". "We are trapped. There is no safe place in Mosul. We fear random bombing, we fear for our lives if the sectarian militias enter Mosul." A recent report released by UK-based rights group Amnesty International detailed the brutality experienced by civilians at the hands of ISIL, PMU, and Iraqi security forces in previous confrontations." I keep wondering why America is wasting it's blood and treasure in the Middle East when there are NO good guys. Oh yeah, oil.
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Post by jdredd on Oct 30, 2016 15:16:08 GMT -5
So the battle to take back Mosul has been going on for two weeks now and "our guys" have not even entered the town yet. Why take it in 2 weeks when you can stretch it out for several months or more? All the more American taxpayer money into the pockets of Shia warlords. Everybody has Uncle Sucker's number.
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Post by jdredd on Nov 3, 2016 14:38:19 GMT -5
www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/11/wrong-call-mosul-battle-liberation-161103052127412.html"And despite the common belief that the US pulled out of Iraq in 2011, it continues to have troops deployed, and funds, trains and equips hundreds of thousands of Iraqi militia members. That is why we have groups such as ISIL, and Iraq will never be back on track for peace and reconciliation unless these issues have been addressed. The role of the United States must be challenged by the American people whose tax dollars are still funding death and destruction in Iraq.ISIL is not a bad guy we are trying to get rid of with the help of our good allies. It is just another militia that the US intervention has created the conditions for. There is no liberation going on. Mosul is run by a group of violent sectarian militias, and is on track to be handed over to another violent sectarian militia - but one that has the backing of the US government. What the US should do instead is what it should have done a long time ago: focus on ending the wars in Iraq, not winning them. Ending Iraq's bloodshed will take a long time, but the first step is removing the US and other foreign actors out of the equation. Only then will Iraqis be able to liberate and rebuild their country." And this is why you have to know your sources. No matter how good the journalism is at Al Jazeera, you have to know it is bankrolled by Qatar Sunni despots, which of course is not thrilled by the war on ISIL, which is also Sunni. Just like you have to take America's Pro-Zionist, pro-War with Islam media with a grain of salt. Or any of Murdoch's pro-Plutocracy media.
As for the American people challenging our bankrolling endless war in the Middle East? That will be the day.
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Post by jdredd on Jun 5, 2017 10:14:43 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2017 1:08:48 GMT -5
[quote author=" jdredd" source= FAKE NEWS ALERT!! NYT IS FAKE NEWS! SDS DOES NOT CONDONE FAKE NEWS! "LONDON — Declaring “enough is enough,” Prime Minister Theresa May vowed on Sunday to conduct a sweeping review of Britain’s counterterrorism strategy after three knife-wielding assailants unleashed an assault late Saturday night, the third major terrorist attack in the country in three months" Little Theresa says "Enough is enough". I'm sure ISIS is shaking in their booties.[/quote]
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Post by jdredd on Jun 20, 2017 5:01:26 GMT -5
www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/20/raaf-suspends-air-operations-over-syria-after-russian-threat-to-coalition-forcesAustralia has suspended air combat missions over Syria after Russia threatened that it would treat any plane from the US-led coalition flying west of the Euphrates river as a potential target. "Russia said it was responding to US planes shooting down a Syrian air force jet on Sunday. The US said its planes had acted to defend US-backed forces seeking to capture Raqqa, the Islamic State (Isis) stronghold in north-east Syria. “As a precautionary measure, Australian defence force strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased,” the Australian Department of Defence said on Tuesday. Australia has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates that strike targets in Syria and Iraq." Does this mean that one of our vassal states is having second thoughts about where our Fearless Leader is taking us all? Probably not. I'm sure they will want to get back to target practice with live targets as soon as they can. It's such good training.
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Post by jdredd on Aug 21, 2017 1:58:12 GMT -5
Hey, wasn't there some people run over in Barcelona by a "terrorist" a couple of days ago? Seems our memories are getting short on these pinprick attacks on The West by ISIS. Which is just the way it should be. I think the world is moving on from worrying about the big bad "Jihadists", and once they do, all the wind will be out of their sails, and they will go back to being what they are: A fringe bunch of criminal religious fanatics not worth losing a whole lot of sleep over. People are starting to worry more about Trump's Crazy Clown Circus IMHO. Maybe he needs to start a war to focus our attention on something besides him. Maybe he could flip a coin between going after NK or Iran. I don't think even he is nuts enough to go after someone who could fight back like Russia or China.
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Post by jdredd on Aug 30, 2017 13:39:36 GMT -5
Well, looks like ISIS is pretty much on the ropes. They have no one to blame but themselves, they played it pretty stupid, making enemies of almost everyone: Iran, Iraq, the Kurds, Assad, and of course the US. Might be a lesson there for Trump: Make too many enemies at once and it can come back to bite you.
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Post by jdredd on Nov 28, 2017 16:11:36 GMT -5
So now the US has stabbed the Kurds, our "allies" against ISIS, in the back and is allowing our Iraqi puppets to attack them. Not that I feel sorry for them. The Kurds were fools to join up with us in the first place in our phony "War on Terrorism".
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Post by jdredd on Dec 18, 2017 12:29:20 GMT -5
It looks like the ISIS boogeyman has pretty much been destroyed. I will have to give it to Trump, he finished what Obama started. But our "win" is also Iran's.
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Post by jdredd on Jan 23, 2018 13:56:25 GMT -5
SO I'm reading that we are backing off from the Middle East, and focusing more of our attention to the Chinese "threat". Which I think is more evidence that the whole "War Against Terrorism" was phony baloney to begin with.
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Post by jdredd on Apr 7, 2018 12:42:32 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/opinion/trump-isis-syria-russia.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-regionOn Friday, I called Kassem to find out his thoughts about President Trump’s decision, announced this week, to pull American troops from Syria, despite the Pentagon and others warning him that it will create a vacuum for Iran and Russia, both patrons of Mr. Assad. He was dismayed, but not surprised. The Americans had already seemed to lighten up on Mr. Assad. “I was brokenhearted to see how they let Assad massacre 2,000 people in less than two weeks,” he said, referring to the attacks on eastern Ghouta, which fell to Mr. Assad’s forces last month. “There were more chemical attacks, more atrocities. More people displaced from their homes. And no one did anything.” I called other friends in Syria; they all said the same thing. Mr. Trump is sending a clear message to Mr. Assad: As long as we can claim victory over the Islamic State, we don’t care what you do, or what Russia or Iran does. The message has already been received, in fact. In parts of Damascus , I was told, Iranian military officials are buying up real estate using Syrian businessmen as their front, turning it into an Iranian mini-fief within Syria. Their dream of an Iranian “land bridge” that allows them access to the Mediterranean is not quite there, but their influence will surely grow, as it has in neighboring Iraq.As for the Russians, the withdrawal of American troops is a huge victory. Without them, the war will come to a faster, more brutal end, a win for Mr. Assad and his patrons and proof that Moscow has the stamina to stay in a conflict until the end. This week, as Mr. Trump planned his exit, the presidents of Iran, Turkey and Russia met to decide Syria’s fate. Mr. Assad was not there." Iran taking over Syria? A Russian "victory"? Why should I care? And the Pentagon should butt out over policy. They always want more subjective "preventative" war.
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Post by jdredd on Sept 29, 2019 14:23:47 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/world/africa/strikes-isis-libya.html"WASHINGTON — For the third time in a week, the United States military carried out an airstrike on Thursday against Islamic State fighters in southern Libya amid indications the terrorist group was seeking to exploit the country’s civil strife to increase its recruiting. The Pentagon’s Africa Command said in a statement on Friday that the strike — which other officials said was carried out by an Air Force Reaper drone based in neighboring Niger — killed 17 militants in an unidentified location in southwest Libya. “We will continue to pursue ISIS-Libya and other terrorists in the region, denying them safe haven to coordinate and plan operations in Libya,” Rear Adm. Heidi Berg, the command’s director of intelligence, said in the statement, noting that the strike was coordinated with the Libyan government in Tripoli." Seventeen more dead alleged ISIS militants, in someday-to-be-considered-war-crimes airstrikes. More expensive ordnance expended. How long will America's crusades continue?
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Post by jdredd on Oct 9, 2019 22:45:33 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/world/middleeast/turkey-attacks-syria.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"BEIRUT, Lebanon — Turkey launched a ground and air assault on Wednesday against a Syrian militia that has been a crucial American ally in the fight against ISIS, days after President Trump agreed to let the operation proceed. As Turkish warplanes bombed Syrian towns and troops crossed the border, the chaos in Washington continued, with President Trump issuing seemingly contradictory policy statements in the face of strident opposition from his Republican allies in Congress." So I have two words for those Kurds who fought for us to defeat ISIS: Suckers! Seriously, it's been FIVE YEARS since I started this thread on our war with the "Caliphate", and it's not going to be over for a while. But America seems to be addicted to meddling in ethnic battles in the Middle East (and that includes Israel vs the Palestinians), so I'm sure it will continue until we go broke.
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Post by jdredd on Oct 11, 2019 11:06:33 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/us/evangelicals-syria-trump-criticism.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=US%20News"One called President Trump’s decision “an egregious act of betrayal.” Another said the policy could be “the biggest mistake of his presidency.” A third said Mr. Trump “is in danger of losing the mandate of heaven.” Conservative Christians have ardently stood by Mr. Trump at most every turn, from allegations of sexual misconduct to his policy of separating migrant families at the border and the Russia investigation. But this week, some of Mr. Trump’s top evangelical supporters broke rank to raise alarms over his move to withdraw troops from Syria, which prompted Turkish forces to launch a ground and air assault against a Kurdish-led militia that has been a crucial ally in the American fight against ISIS. As Turkish warplanes began to bomb Syrian towns on Wednesday, the prominent evangelist Franklin Graham called for Mr. Trump to reconsider his decision, and worried that the Kurds — and the Christian minorities in the region they have defended — could be annihilated." This is hilarious for one reason: Trump having the "mandate of Heaven"? But it does shine some light on some of the forces that keep America entangled in Middle East ethnic wars.
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