Iraq: Out of the desert into Mosul (closed)

[OUTLAW 09]

I think this hits the matter on the head. There will be no solution to the current situation in Iraq and Syria that does not address the Sunni/Shi'a proxy civil war being waged by Saudi Arabia and Iran. Any potential U.S. action in Iraq must be assessed in this light.

Yadernye---completely correct---the Holy War that has been on the drawing boards 1400 years ago is now in full swing.

Baqubah in Diyala province is the center of gravity for the Sunni's if they move towards Baghdad---we had our heaviest fighting there with the Thunder Runs in the Diyala river basin, the palms grooves rival anything I ever saw in VN bamboo jungles, Zarqawi and al Duri had a number of safe houses there, Zarqawi called for an Islamic state there and he died there, and AQI and the Islamic Army in Iraq a Baathist/Salafi Sunni group were never driven out of Baqubah and Diyala borders Iran. It has as well hundreds of small rat runs to all major Sunni towns and cities.

There have bee verified reports of Quds Forces and JAM fighting there now and dying as well there.

If the report below is correct from today's WAPO then with Iranian Shia fighting against Sunni's in Baqubah and surroundings then in fact the Holy War has started and we need to really stay out of what is developing and sit back and let the two regional hegemons Iran and the KSA fight it out as they have been doing in Syria.

The real danger is the Putin Doctrine in mini format---if Iran cannot dampen down the Sunni and lose control of the Sunni triangle and the Kurdish region anyway there will be then a push from the Iranian hardliners to "take control" of the Shia Iraq much as the Crimea. But instead of language and culture it will be about religion that causes an annexation.


From WAPO today:

Three police officers said the station, which has a small jail, came under attack by Islamist militants in Diyala province on Monday night. The attackers tried to free the detainees, all suspected Sunni militants, the agency reported. The police officers said the Shiite militiamen killed the detainees at close range.

As long as Malaki refuses to do a deal with the Sunni on power/oil revenue sharing the Holy War is a go and from reports coming out of Baghdad he is betting the Iranian card in this poker game.

Interesting to see that the Iraqi Ambassador to the US stated "we have selected the US as a "strategic partner" and we ask that partner for help BUT when the "partner" states who have not implemented power sharing and are in fact killing/torturing Sunnis everyday via your security forces then Malaki goes silent and does want he wants to do a trait shown to us since the 2010 elections when he basically committed a coup against the winner.

He has an interesting definition of a "partnership".