Wednesday, July 2, 2014

The 'Sons of Iraq,' abandoned by Obama, are now being slaughtered by ISIS

Sunnis who battled al Qaeda with us were left to the mercies of Maliki. Now the ISIS killers are slaughtering them.
(WSJ) A former colleague with whom I served in the coalition forces in Iraq recently sent me one of the slick YouTube productions by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, now rampaging through the country. I was extremely reluctant to watch the video by this al Qaeda spin-off. I was already depressed about the chaos in Iraq, given how much effort my colleagues and I spent with Iraqis after 2003 attempting to forge the great democratic experiment in the Middle East.

As the video of jubilant ISIS members extolling their bloody conquests slipped by, I began to fast forward to get through the madness, but I froze when I saw ISIS thugs attacking captured Iraqis. Many of the men being taunted, tortured and killed were leaders of the Sahwa, the Sunni militants who once fought against the American military and the Iraqi government before they realized that their bigger enemy was al Qaeda and joined us in the fight. U.S. forces, grateful for their support, dubbed them Sons of Iraq.

The Sahwa's decision to ally with us was the primary contributor to the calming of central Iraq from 2007-09. Without the Sahwa, I suspect the outcome of the vaunted military "surge" would have been vastly different. The number of Iraqis in the Sahwa movement grew into the tens of thousands, as U.S. forces' outreach to small groups of armed men evolved into larger circles of family members, friends and tribal groups.

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His cut and run tossed all gains into the toilet... because he had no clue about the repercussions of his actions... even though he was warned about those repercussions.

A good leader is thinking three steps down the road. Our failed leader keeps falling into potholes and saying "Ooops! That pothole is the fault of the GOP, global warming, the Easter Bunny."

The Arabs are playing chess while Obama is figuring out if the king he just earned in checkers can be named Barry. Russia, where chess is also widely popular, comes close second.

His cluelessness stems from his idiotic world view that the US and Western 'imperialists' are the root of all the world's problems. That was the essence of his apology tour and reflects his leftist upbringing and schooling. It makes him an easy rollover for those who are not nearly as apologetic.

A good chunk of his cluelessness comes from believing that different cultures react the same way to the same information. So, when Obama is in Egypt yammering away about resets and the importance of Islam, he sees it as being conciliatory and they see it as being a pussy.

His recent rating as the worst post-WWII president is well deserved. It's just a shame that he managed to con so many for the last election with the help of his media lapdogs.