From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:
Perhaps the most astounding thing about recent events in the Mid-East is the extent to which outcomes that seem far-fetched one week become reality the next.
This dynamic began back in June when Iran’s most powerful general vowed to “surprise the world” with his next move in Syria. Just weeks later, he was in Moscow (in violation of a UN travel ban) hatching a plan with Putin to launch an all-out invasion on behalf of Assad on the way to forcibly enacting a dramatic shift in the Mid-East balance of power. Before the West had a chance to react, Moscow was establishing an air base at Latakia.
As all of this unfolded we began to suggest that it would be only a matter of time before Russian airstrikes began in Iraq.
The setup, we contended, was just too perfect. Iran controls both the military and politics in the country and so, we speculated that The Kremlin would get a warm welcome if Putin decided to launch an air campaign against ISIS targets across Syria’s eastern border.
Sure enough, Baghdad moved to establish an intelligence cell with Russia, Syria, and Iran in September and when PM Haider al-Abadi said he would welcome Russian airstrikes, it was clear that the US was about to be booted out of the country it “liberated” more than a decade ago.
Subsequently, Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford traveled to Baghdad and gave Abadi an ultimatum: “…it’s either us or the Russians.”
Well, despite Dunford’s contention that Abadi promised not to enlist Moscow’s help, just days later Iraq gave Moscow the green light to strike ISIS convoys fleeing Syria.
A desperate Washington then attempted to prove that the US could still be effective at fighting terrorism by sending 30 Delta Force soldiers into battle with the Peshmerga on a prison raid mission in the Northern Iraqi town of Huwija. Conveniently, one American soldier apparently had a GoPro strapped to his helmet and the footage was almost immediately leaked to Western media.
Our contention (and again, this is in no way an attempt to trivialize the death of Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, the first US soldier to die in Iraq since 2011): Washington sent 30 Delta Force spec ops soldiers into a fight the Pentagon knew they would win and then filmed it to prove to Baghdad and any other interested Mid-East governments that the US can fight terrorism just as effectively as the Russians. The video was then used as a pretext for Ash Carter to tell the Senate that the US is now prepared to engage directly on the ground in Iraq and Syria. The US media then proceeded to document a “new” strategy whereby at the very least, Washington is set to send Apache gunships to Iraq to assist Iraqi, Kurdish, and Iran-backed militias in the fight against ISIS.
There are several absurd things about this strategy and we encourage you to read our assessment from Wednesday, but the point here is this: it turns out that after 13 months of ineffective airstrikes and what amounts to nearly 13 years of occupation, Iraq doesn’t want any help from the US.
To continue reading: Iraq to Washington: “We Don’t Need Your Help Fighting Terrorism”
