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If you didn't laugh you'd cry. And you can't laugh …

by Colman Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 06:04:33 AM EST

Let me get this straight: the utter failure of US/Western foreign policy and the legacy of their insane war in Iraq has created a situation where the correct strategic move might be the US Air Force (and hangers on) providing air support for the Iranian Satanic Republican Guard of Ultimate Evil against ISIS led forces?

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If you didn't laugh you'd cry. And you can't laugh … | 56 comments (56 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry. (4.00 / 4)
 It would be hilarious, except for the tens of thousand of people likely to die in that scenario.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 06:05:00 AM EST
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry. can't laugh (none / 0)
Do we need a Gmomem00t?

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 06:46:27 AM EST
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry. can't laugh (none / 0)
A Gnomesob? A Gnomehystericalgiggle party?
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 06:47:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry. can't laugh (none / 0)
A Gnomegropuhug.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 07:06:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! (4.00 / 7)


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 11:36:30 AM EST
Re: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! (4.00 / 2)
Now, now. If the guy on the left says you're wrong, you're probably wrong:

Tony Blair rejects 'bizarre' claims that invasion of Iraq caused the crisis - Guardian

"We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that 'we' have caused this. We haven't. We can argue as to whether our policies at points have helped or not: and whether action or inaction is the best policy. But the fundamental cause of the crisis lies within the region not outside it.

... He added: "This is, in part, our struggle, whether we like it or not."

To state it plainly: No, they didn't help.

Schengen is toast!
by epochepoque on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 07:22:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! (none / 0)
I suppose that all depends on your definition of "we"

if by we he wants to include all of us, then yes, that would be bizzare.

if by we he means himself, George and added hangers on, crazies and flunkies I'd say  Bang to rights

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 10:08:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! (none / 1)
By taking out Saddam Husein they pulled the plug out of the Devil's asshole - with predictable, and predicted, results.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Tue Jun 17th, 2014 at 12:00:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! (4.00 / 3)
The death of Al Mutanabbi Street
Salon.com - Aug 26, 2005

... Amir explained to any captive listener that he was working on a manuscript that tracked Baghdad's exploding inventory of graffiti. "Saddam is coming back," he had copied down from a dust-colored wall in the old city right after Baghdad fell. Beneath it was the response, "Yes, but he's coming back through your ass." By June of last year, he had more than 3,000 quotations from the street and he was carefully adding new quotes to his archive...
"When I appear on television and in magazines, that brings me to the attention of these [armed] groups. Many of my friends have been killed, even my colleagues from prison have been targeted. Before, we were suffering under Saddam, but now there are many Saddams." [...]

"In Saddam's time I only had one enemy, the dictator; now it is not very clear. He's disappeared. Saddam has become a ghost, he could be anywhere, " Mokhtar explained with a shrug.

by das monde on Tue Jun 17th, 2014 at 12:15:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think we should ask Tony Blair about it! (none / 1)
Preferably at the Hague.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Fri Jun 20th, 2014 at 04:22:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You have it wrong. (4.00 / 2)
The Iraqi pupppet has proven unsatisfactory and the US has already cut it adrift.  ISIS has long been a CIA asset, most recently against Syria.  

US policy is more straightforward and consistent than you think:  What we can't own, we destroy.  

--Gaianne  

The Fates are kind.

by Gaianne on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 12:54:53 PM EST
Re: You have it wrong. (4.00 / 2)
Ah, it's all an American plot. SHIELD is probably behind it all. DAMN THAT NICK FURY.

Or did you have evidence?

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 12:59:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: You have it wrong. (4.00 / 7)
I'd be pretty shocked if they were a CIA "asset".

I'm guessing we have funded and armed rebels in Syria, and that some of it has made its way to ISIS -- either directly or through the various turf wars going on between rebel groups.  I'd guess the latter, but knowing the idiots who rule us, they probably shipped weapons straight to them without any kind of research.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 04:51:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: You have it wrong. (4.00 / 5)
Yeah, law of untended consequences sounds highly likely here.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 06:14:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: You have it wrong. (4.00 / 9)
I think that it is entirely fair to recognize ISIS as the bastard children of the Arab Spring.  Which the US/EU (the EU really stepped up on this one)choose to embrace as a means of nonviolent regime change. It turns out that destabilization as a foreign policy has consequences, including totally foreseeable but ideologically inconvenient ones.

It's sad, but almost certainly true that many fewer Iraqis would be dead now if Saddam Hussein were still running the country. We in the West fetishize the idea of state violence against citizens, while ignoring that the absence of an effective state authority may lead "civil society" to engage in even greater violence against the public. We've all become the reluctant heirs of a modern day Ozymandias.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

by ManfromMiddletown (manfrommiddletown at lycos dot com) on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 09:31:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: You have it wrong. (4.00 / 4)
I think there's very little doubt that many fewer people would be dead if Saddam Hussein were still running the country.  I'm reminded of a joke Bill Maher made back in 2004 or 2005 that it was only a matter of time before we brought back Saddam.

It is what it is though.  I just hope the Quds can keep the really scary crazies out of Baghdad.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Sat Jun 14th, 2014 at 07:03:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: You have it wrong. (none / 0)
Twitter / mrderekpayne: Twitter rumours that Baghdad ...
Twitter rumours that Baghdad airport has closed under rocket attack. Flight radar not updating arrivals. pic.twitter.com/fkPNvvNQH1


Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 10:12:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: You have it wrong. (none / 0)
Quite frankly, I was dismayed the day they executed Saddam Hussein. Sure, he certainly had it coming, but we could just as well had him locked up somewhere, for contingencies.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
by Starvid on Tue Jun 24th, 2014 at 09:47:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: You have it wrong. (none / 1)
Of course it's an American plot. Didn't you know that Omidyar was funding them?
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Sat Jun 14th, 2014 at 05:16:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: You have it wrong. (none / 1)
That fact that its named after the spy agency that super-spy and bundle of mommy issues Archer works for ... with the White House now pretending that its "the Levant" rather than "Greater Syria" to make it "ISIL" ...

... I dunno, its like the grown ups left on a trip and left the interns in charge.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Fri Jun 20th, 2014 at 04:25:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Syria War and Nouri al-Maliki to Blame (none / 1)
In the eighties, the Reagan administration joined with Pakistan, ISI and Saudi Arabia to support jihadists from Arab nations to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden became involved organizing these foreign fighters in the AfPak region of Waziristan (Northern Territories). OBL founded al-Qaeda and Dr. Zawahiri of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood joined forces forming a formidable terror organization in the nineties.

Indeed, the CIA and ISI gave support, funds and arms to these foreign fighters opening training camps and creating a legion of 40,000 jihadists. Among these fighters were citizens from Tunesia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. After the Soviets were defeated giving rise to the Taliban in Afghanistan, many fighters returned to their homeland or joined OBL in Sudan. The blow-back has been experienced ever since. OBL lost his Saudi citizenship, was purged from Sudan and moved to Afghanistan with his group.

The uprising in Libya against Gaddafi was supported by al-Qaeda veterans and CIA linked Libyans living in the US. See info about present developments in my diary - Reagan's CIA Man In Libya Now Employed by Obama.

After the overthrow in Libya, thousands of jihadists moved to northern Syria to join the holy war against Assad and took over what started as a protest and uprising in Homs. The US with its GCC allies moved tons of munitions and weapons from Libya to Syria through territory of NATO ally Turkey and Jordan. Indeed the arms send to the Free Syrian Army were transferred to terror group al-Nusra front who fought for some months in a joint effort with forces from ISIS or ISIL.

Indeed it's legitimate to see the US allied to Al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan and the AQ affiliates fighting for "democracy" in Libya and now in Syria. Obama abruptly changed policy towards Syria last September - Obama Nixes Close Foreign Policy Advisors.

○ Jerusalem Post: Salafist Groups Forging Al-Qaida Base in Syria
○ Revisited: Engineering 'People's Revolutions' - A Color?

Cross-posted from my new diary - Syria War and Shiite Government of Maliki to Blame.

Amnesia and Gaza Genocide

by Oui on Sat Jun 14th, 2014 at 04:29:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
US, CIA and Changing Allegiances (none / 1)
Robert Dreyfuss, a Nation contributing editor, is an investigative journalist specializing in politics and national security. He is the author of Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam and is a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone, The American Prospect and Mother Jones.

Carter, Bzrezinski and the Soviet-Afghan War of the '80s

In 1979 the largest covert operation in the history of the CIA was launched in Afghanistan:

    "With the active encouragement of the CIA and Pakistan's ISI, who wanted to turn the Afghan Jihad into a global war waged by all Muslim states against the Soviet Union, some 35,000 Muslim radicals from 40 Islamic countries joined Afghanistan's fight between 1982 and 1992. Tens of thousands more came to study in Pakistani madrasahs. Eventually, more than 100,000 foreign Muslim radicals were directly influenced by the Afghan jihad." (Ahmed Rashid, "The Taliban: Exporting Extremism", Foreign Affairs, November-December 1999).

This project of the US intelligence apparatus was conducted with the active support of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), which was entrusted in channelling covert military aid to the Islamic brigades and financing, in liason with the CIA, the madrassahs and Mujahideen training camps.

U.S. government support to the Mujahideen was presented to world public opinion as a "necessary response" to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in support of the pro-Communist government of Babrak Kamal.

Same U.S. policy in Bosnia, Iraq, Libya and Syria: using militants and war lords for regime change, ending in chaos.

Amnesia and Gaza Genocide

by Oui on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 08:52:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: US, CIA and Changing Allegiances (4.00 / 3)

I cringed the first time I heard those words.  Now I just grit my teeth.

Now where are we going and what's with the handbasket?

by budr on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 10:23:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: US, CIA and Changing Allegiances (none / 0)
Bush Army in Brzezinski's Afghan Trap

(Truthout) June 20, 2008 - A decade later, we can look back upon the tactic Zbigniew Brzezinski was boasting about, also as a trap Washington was laying for itself. The US was working to give its own Afghan war to itself. It is a weird sort of war, in which it killed allied troops over a week ago and is struggling to cope with the aftermath.

The former national security adviser, who assisted President Jimmy Carter during 1977 to 1981, was alluding to the plan to aid and arm insurgents in Afghanistan months before the Soviet intervention, with Carter authorizing covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations in the region in July 1978. Codenamed Operation Cyclone, the CIA program for 1979 to 1989 was funded to the tune of $20 million to $30 million per year from 1980 to 1986, and $630 million per year thereafter.

Never Ending War in Afghanistan Full Documentary

CIA Anderson about the Soviet-Afghan War: "Fought with our goal and their blood."



Amnesia and Gaza Genocide
by Oui on Mon Jun 16th, 2014 at 02:49:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: You have it wrong. (none / 0)
Information Clearinghouse agrees: America's Covert Re-Invasion of Iraq but I find their narrative a little hard to believe. They also appear to be rooting for Hezbollah/Assad/Iran:
With the West declaring ISIS fully villainous in an attempt to intervene more directly in northern Iraq and eastern Syria, creating a long desired "buffer zone" within which to harbor, arm, and fund an even larger terrorist expeditionary force, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and others are offered an opportunity to preempt Western involvement and to crush the ISIS - cornering and eliminating NATO-GCC's expeditionary force while scoring geopolitical points of vanquishing Washington's latest "villain." Joint Iraq-Iranian operations in the north and south of ISIS's locations, and just along Turkey's borders could envelop and trap ISIS to then be whittled down and destroyed - just as Syria has been doing to NATO's proxy terrorist forces within its own borders.


A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 12:04:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry (4.00 / 10)
At least it's been nice watching people get a clear illustration of why we ought to be a lot more comfortable with the Iranians than we should be with the Saudis.

Lots of people around town freaking out about Iran getting involved, and I keep trying to explain that the Iranians are the best hope we've got of keeping the Wahhabi nutbags out.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 01:53:03 PM EST
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry (4.00 / 3)
The american-iranian alliance - riding again!

Life writes the strangest stories.

by IM on Sat Jun 14th, 2014 at 09:06:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry (none / 0)
Especially in the Middle East.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.
by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Sat Jun 14th, 2014 at 09:56:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry (4.00 / 2)
Why? Is this different from the US supporting the Khmer Rouge against Vietnam?
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 05:46:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry (none / 0)
How about, "especially when the US gets heavily involved in ground wars in Asia."

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Fri Jun 20th, 2014 at 04:27:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry (none / 1)
Yeah, but it still is more likely to end up like the frog and the scorpion: A scorpion encountered a frog on the bank of the Tigris and said to the frog: 'Take me across the river on your back and I won't sting you and kill you.' The frog agreed and they started across. In the middle of the river the scorpion stung the frog and the frog asked: 'Why did you do that? Now we both will die!' The scorpion responded: 'Because its the Mid-East!'

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Tue Jun 17th, 2014 at 12:13:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry (none / 0)
Well really, wouldn't it be better?

The stumbling-block in US-Iranian relations is not that the Americans don't like the Iranians, but that the Iranian leadership does not like the Americans. As long as that's the case, we'll have to hang out with the Saudis instead.

Which, I might add, is why the Saudis have become so alarmed by the tentative recent US-Iranian rapprochement.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid on Tue Jun 24th, 2014 at 10:01:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry. (none / 0)
Right.  Because pottery barn.

Now where are we going and what's with the handbasket?
by budr on Fri Jun 13th, 2014 at 09:03:21 PM EST
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry. (4.00 / 2)
Does that mean Colin Powell should be sent to Iraq to fix the mess-o'potamia?

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Jun 14th, 2014 at 10:21:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry. (none / 0)
perhaps Blair should be kicked out of a transport plane with a parachute, 10,000 feet above Faluja, just to provide a demonstration tofuture democratic leaders

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 10:22:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: If you didn't laugh you'd cry. (none / 1)
Because pottery barn.

The reason why London now belongs to Germany. Seriously, how did anybody take the pottery barn argument seriously?

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 05:48:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It comes (none / 0)
Mass executions in Iraq...
by das monde on Sat Jun 14th, 2014 at 09:28:05 PM EST
you can't laugh ... (4.00 / 4)
Although the problem does, in part, stem from the fact al-Maliki has entirely frozen out Sunni representatives in Government.

You can discuss for hours that the sunnis had things all to themselves for decades under Saddam freezing out the shi-ite majority in Iraq, but two wrongs don't make a right. The sunni outrage created the situation where a-Q and then ISIS could thrive, maybe the sunnis now regret the pact they made with the devil but it would never have happened if al-Maliki hadnt been such a shi'ite nationalist.

And I doubt very much that allowing the Iranians in to "sort" the problem out is going to make the sunnis feel any more welcome and may well inflame the sense of revolt. If the US thinks it's being clever making the Iranians into proxy peacekeepers, they're just about to find out what it's like to throw petrol onto  flames

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 08:32:52 AM EST
Re: you can't laugh ... (4.00 / 4)
I'd be very surprised if Iraq, as an entity, isn't done: breaking up into ethnic states sounds very likely, with all the fun and massive instability in the region that that'll cause. And the thousands of deaths.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 08:39:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 1)
Sounds like the sort of thing that gets Tony Blair excited.

Of course a beak up of Iraq would create Kurdistan, which would piss off the Iranians and the Turkish, both of whom have territory which the Kurds covet

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 11:28:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 1)
A breakup might not be too bad in the long run. Iraq is after all a multicultural colonial construct, which seems to need an iron-fisted dictator to keep it from sliding into civil war. If it (and Syria?) were converted from tribal multicultural mishmash into homogenous nation states, much cause for conflict could go away. And Iraq was already etnically cleansed back in 2006.

I think the Turks can be mollified, as their relations with the Kurds have improved radically  in the last decade or so.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid on Tue Jun 24th, 2014 at 09:58:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 1)
Certainly possible Iranian involvement makes the Sunni-Shi'ite dynamic worse, but Iran does seem to me to have some credibility in the Muslim world beyond Shi'ites.  If they move to expel ISIS but also pressure the government to dump Maliki and put forward a more conciliatory leader, they might be able to salvage something.

No good options, but it seems like the least shitty one at the moment.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 10:29:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 1)
The ISIS are going after Baghdad and the Shia holy places in Southern Iraq. I don't see Iran compromising on the latter, even if that means putting serious troops next to the Saudi border.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 10:50:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 0)
Seems to me that ISIS are Saudi proxies anyway. So, putting the two countries' armies in direct contact seems like a neocon wet dream.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 11:30:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 0)
Saudi proxies, CIA assets, I'm confused...

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 11:51:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 0)
So am I; or maybe it's the 1980s again and "we" are fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan?
by Bernard (bernard) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 11:56:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 0)
ISIS are bought and paid for by the Saudis. If there is a CIA connection, it's at 3rd hand

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 12:29:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 0)
maybe it's a Saudi succession fight, with one factions bought and paid for ISIS proxies, versus another factions brought and paid for CIA proxies, versus another factions brought and paid for Iraqui army proxies.

and all the time the Kuwaities are drilling under the border to set up a fourth gulf war  as a repeat of this one when it all fails

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun Jun 15th, 2014 at 10:19:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 0)
Saudi proxies, CIA assets, I'm confused...

Let me help: Big Oil.

So far as I can tell, the US is a puppet government run by Big Oil (Saudi, Kuwait, Texas), Big Money (Israel, New York, Florida, the City) and Big War (the rest of the US and a few select parts of Europe.)

Big Tech (California, Harvard) picks up whatever is left over.

There are some inhabitants on the American continent too, but no one gives a crap about those.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon Jun 23rd, 2014 at 06:42:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (none / 0)
"even if that means putting serious troops next to the Saudi border."  I have seen claims that Saudi Arabia has nuclear weapons waiting in Pakistan for when they ask for them - in return for financial support to create the capability. I think a smarter move by Iran would be to attack ISIS in northern Iraq and where ever they can find concentrations of fighters. I suspect that the Saudi Air Force would cut them up badly on the border, but not without serious casualties to the Saudis.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Tue Jun 17th, 2014 at 12:29:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: you can't laugh ... (4.00 / 4)
With US support of course.

Chelsea Manning on the U.S. Military and Media Freedom - NYTimes.com

Military and diplomatic reports coming across my desk detailed a brutal crackdown against political dissidents by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and federal police, on behalf of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Detainees were often tortured, or even killed.

Early that year, I received orders to investigate 15 individuals whom the federal police had arrested on suspicion of printing "anti-Iraqi literature." I learned that these individuals had absolutely no ties to terrorism; they were publishing a scholarly critique of Mr. Maliki's administration. I forwarded this finding to the officer in command in eastern Baghdad. He responded that he didn't need this information; instead, I should assist the federal police in locating more "anti-Iraqi" print shops.



Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se
by A swedish kind of death on Mon Jun 16th, 2014 at 05:01:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Really??? (none / 0)
AP: BREAKING: President Barack Obama says up to 275 US military troops will deploy to Iraq

This comes on the heels of another ap story:

The mission almost certainly would be small: one U.S. official said it could be up to 100 special forces soldiers. It also could be authorized only as an advising and training mission -- meaning the soldiers would work closely with Iraqi forces that are fighting the insurgency but not officially be considered as combat troops.

The troops would fall under the authority of the U.S. ambassador and would not be authorized to engage in combat, another U.S. official said. Their mission is "non-operational training" of both regular and counter terrorism units, which the military has interpreted to mean training on military bases, not in the field, the official said.

Take my finger, not my arm?!

Schengen is toast!
by epochepoque on Mon Jun 16th, 2014 at 08:08:56 PM EST
Re: Really??? (4.00 / 4)
Maybe they're specialists in evacuating people from embassy roofs.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Jun 17th, 2014 at 04:55:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Really??? (none / 0)
I think there are about 5,000 people at that embassy. You need a lot more specialists to evacuate them....
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Tue Jun 17th, 2014 at 05:43:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Really??? (4.00 / 2)
275 helicopter pilots?

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jun 17th, 2014 at 05:53:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Really??? (4.00 / 2)
The set-up team for the stargate they shipped there last week.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Jun 17th, 2014 at 06:08:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]
If you didn't laugh you'd cry. And you can't laugh … | 56 comments (56 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)


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