Iraq: Out of the desert into Mosul (closed)

[OUTLAW 09]

Nonsense. It has everything to do with Wahhabism and KSA.

Again more non-sense. The competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia is about power, not religion. They are the competing regional hegemons in the Gulf, and Iran is inherently the stronger state by size, population, and resources. KSA's response has been to increase relations with the U.S., export terrorism, and build its alliance of Gulf kingdoms. At the same time, it has been desperate to shore up its religious legitimacy lest it face a revolt at home from the religious base.

The Saudis care less that the Syrian leadership is not Sunni than they care that Syria, since its independence, has been one of the leading voices of Arab nationalism and a competitor for regional hegemony; first through control of the opposition to Israel. KSA joined the Syrian civil war to destroy the ally of its main adversary, Iran, not because they're concerned about which prayers the Assad family uses.

See AP this is exactly why you are so often off base to the point of hanging onto the aged idea of negotiations which is suppose to solve everything.---but I guess it goes to the fact that you never served in Iraq either in the military or as a civilian.

Really go back and fully understand Khomeini and his Green Crescent expansionism of Shiaism. Go back and fully understand the Iraq/Iran war from 80/88 as an attempt by the Sunni's to reign in that Shia expansionism by Khomeini.

Go back and fully understand exactly how Hezbollah arrived carrying the Green Banners of Shia from Iran to "support" their brothers in Lebanon, fully understand how that led to the Marine Barracks bombing, how the US Embassy bombing destroyed virtually the entire CIA ME field agents as a pay back by "guess who" Russia for issues inside Iran just after the Revolution, then onto to Syria.

Once you fully understand all of this then go back and fully understand the Sunni Shia clash for the last 1400 years---and then fully understand the "Green Crescent" and what it means to the current Iranian leadership especially to the Iranian Supreme Religious Leader.

When you fully understand all of that then realize that when we arrive in 2003 in Baghdad we walked into a full scale Salafist insurgency against Saddam that had been going on since mid 90s and we the US and Bush knew absolutely nothing about this insurgency. Remember IS is not the only fighting group on the ground in Iraq---it is being supported by the Sunni tribes, and the Sunni coalition that fought us from 2003 to 2010 ie the IAI, the ASA, 1920, JM and then the al Duri first with his NB and now his War Councils.

One wonders why they are militarily so good --check the number of former Sunni Army and ISS officers fighting with the Sunni coalition.

On top of all of this the IS is using their experience gained in swarm attacks used against us from 2005 onwards which if one asks the 1st Cav especially in 2007 they were highly successful at doing.

If you had read my Musings article you would have understood a little about that insurgency and who led it---we were in a full scale Mao defined Phase Two guerrilla war and never realized it---even today the Army runs from that idea and it totally contradicts their COIN victory concept.

Zarqawi arrived in Baghdad in 2002 and linked into that Salafist movement and created then his QIBR, which we renamed AQI and then it morphed into ISIS and now IS after his killing.

This is indeed a Sunni Shia clash and that is what is behind the regional hegemony infighting.

We need to stay out of this clash as far as possible--yes protect the civilian refugees that are on the move, protect the Kurdish regions but allow the Sunni and Shia to finally work this 1400 years out of their systems.

I had a great Kurdish interpreter who had fought in the Iran/Iraq war as a Iraqi Army officer, and at the same time as a Phesmerga intel officer tell me during the ethnic cleansing---Arabs must fight each other so brutally until both are on the floor and can barely move--then and only then will they sit down and work a compromise--we are not there yet in this current cycle.

See AP we started now with the bombing--guess what up to the US air strikes al Baghdadi never voiced the IS desire to strike the US--that was broken when we bombed and now they will strike us and you think AQ was a problem--the IS is AQ on steroids--is gaining massive popularity among European Muslim men and their fighters are reaching a fighting ability that rivals even US standards. AQ was never able to achieve that--by the way most of the other major AQ groups have sworn allegiance to the new Caliphate and al Baghdadi.

It would have helped to have served some time in Iraq and if you had then you would not be stating it has nothing to do with religion.

AP you really do need to fully understand the region of Iraq and Syria and it's relationship to US/Russian politics--or have you recently noticed that instead of assisting the US in seeking a solution in Syria Russia has resisted us at every turn--so again AP notice the linkage back into the Ukraine?