The fall of post invasion Iraq

[The Grand Nudger]

And the whole 10+ year war would have effectively been for naught.

Well, not naught, strictly speaking - never underestimate the importance and allure of increased economic opportunity - even if it was only temporary.
(Mins mercenary quote would seem to be a great example of the above)

[Cato]

I think it's a travesty that we're not arming the Kurds.

[Anomalocaris]

I think it's a travesty that we're not arming the Kurds.

We were, and they appear adequately armed. Kurds have ambitions which upset neighbors like Turkey. By arming the Kurds to a degree that they would feel emboldened in their dealings with turkey it would serve to further convince turkey that its long term geopolitical interest diverges sharply from those of the west, and it's future thus resides in opposing the west

[DeistPaladin]

I just wish in 2003, we had listened to Dick Cheney.

No, not that one. The one who was Secretary of Defense ten years prior.





But they did delay the collapse until the next president was in office so they could claim everything was great until Obama screwed it all up by projecting his weakness all over the world. So mission accomplished, I suppose.

[Cato]

We were, and they appear adequately armed. Kurds have ambitions which upset neighbors like Turkey. By arming the Kurds to a degree that they would feel emboldened in their dealings with turkey it would serve to further convince turkey that its long term geopolitical interest diverges sharply from those of the west, and it's future thus resides in opposing the west

40.000 Yazidis perched on a mountain side facing starvation or slaughter probably have a different definition of 'adequately armed'.

Are you confusing Iraqi Kurds and Syrian Kurds? The JDP is on record supporting self determination for Iraqi Kurds. Turkey has ignored Baghdad and negotiated energy deals directly with Iraqi Kurdistan. The Turkey-Iraqi Kurd issues of a decade ago simply don't exist anymore. Besides, ISIS poses a much greater threat to Turkish interests than armed Iraqi Kurds.

[Minimalist]

By consistently backing the wrong side we are already in effect arming everybody over there and letting them kill each other with great enthusiasm.

Probably the best possible outcome.

[ccapehart1980]

we should have seen this coming our CIA has pulled some bonehead stuff. this is what happens when you conjur up a big bad terrorist organization for people to fear and a big bad terrorist leader
to give you some backround Al quada was never a real terrorist group it was a data bass that stored our CIAs Mujahadeen Assets during the soviet invasion of afghanistan
and the last person to know this fact was a british parliment member robin cook who mysteriously Died of a heart attack and the post mortem said he had hypertensive heart disease but had no previous medical history to indicate such a condition and osama bin laden was an asset for our intellegance services
so now after all the smoke and mirrors and BS after weve delt a crushing blow to the phony terrorist organization called al quada . A Real terrorist organization emerges and i mean real as these guys are extremely well funded. armed to the teeth well trained and organized and if thats not bad enough these guys are true believers either join our nation of islam or die these guys are friggen psycopaths they are killiing anyone without hesitatiion who doesnt join there nation of islam men women dogs cats goldfish
The Only way to deal with ISIS is to kill every last one of them because anyone of them wouldnt hesitate to kill us

---

ive spent 18 months in iraq and most of those people over there are generally very hospitable and nice but all they really want is to be left alone
and go about there business

[Zack]

Ccapeheart you might want to get a pregnancy test because you missed a couple periods.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Are we witnessing a genocide of the Yazidis in Iraq at the moment?
50000 estimated stranded on a mountain surrounded by IS who are reportedly murdering them (in some instances) by burying them alive:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28739975

Good to see the Kurds making back lost ground on the back of US air strikes. But will it be enough? Evacuating 50000 people from Mt Sinjar will be impossible, so can their destruction be stopped?

[Thumpalumpacus]

I like the idea of giving support to the Kurds. I definitely had misgivings about it, due to Turkish concerns, but it seems like they're the only ones who'll stop the IS assholes.