Good article on this war and the power struggle between The House of Saud and the Iranian religious leaders.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com 2014 6/12 dated article
Iraq Descends Into Religious Civil War
by cofty 29 Replies latest social current
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nonjwspouse
Iraq and Iran have been fighting for a long, long time. My friend couldn't go home for his fathers funeral in Iran because once he got off the plane he could be immediatly taken to the iraq/Iran front. One friend did get taken, right off the plane. :(
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designs
These wars for ideology and resources are devasting. These militant factions within Islam that want power will sacrifice anyone to achieve their aims.
Russia lost something like 20,000,000 thwarting the Germans in WWII. General Giap of North Vietnam lost something like 3,000,000 to gain control. That would have been the equivalent of 30,000,000 Americans killed.
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transhuman68
Constant war in the Middle East is beneficial for the West- they sell us oil, and we save their asses by selling them guns, bombs & tanks. It's good business. Not so much fun for the people who actually live there though...
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designs
it was the sane populus in Germany and Japan that prevented those countries from becoming militarists again and setting a new course for themselves. It will take something similar within Islam.
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88JM
Who is funding and arming ISIS ?
Saudi Arabia yes, but it seems they are capturing newly-delivered arms from the USA to the Iraqi's too:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/how-the-us-is-arming-both-sides-of-the-iraqi-conflict.html
So the answer to who is arming Isis is that it's also partly the US, indirectly.
It's also worth mentioning that Isis are a particularly nasty bunch - even Al Qaeda denounced them:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/03/al-qaeda-denounces-syrian-jihadist-group-isis.html
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designs
88- shows what war is really about.
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tootired2care
In 2009, an ISIS warlord head was released from prison. Brilliant move team Obama!
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fulltimestudent
Deleted - clumsy fingers
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fulltimestudent
Two interesting claims by English writer Patrick Cockburn in an OP for the UK Independent (13-06-2014).
The most interesting is his claim that:
It is becoming clear that Isis is not the only Sunni militant group involved in the Sunni insurgents’ multipronged offensive that was carefully co-ordinated. Among those engaged are the Jaish Naqshbandi, led by Saddam Hussein’s former deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, former members of the Baath party, the Mukhbarat security services and the Special Republican Guard. It is these groups, rather than Isis, which captured Tikrit.
If Cockburn is correct, then Saddam's people have been able to reorganise themselves right under the noses of the Americans.
The other point is this:
Iran (As protector of Shia interests) is moving to stop the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) from capturing Baghdad and the provinces immediately to the north of the capital.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (i.e.Iran) is taking a central role in planning and strategy in Baghdad in the wake of the disintegration of the Iraqi army in the country’s north, an Iraqi source has told The Independent.
With the Iraqi army command completely discredited by recent defeats, the aim of the IRGC is to create a new and more effective fighting force by putting together trustworthy elements of the old army and the Shia militias. According to the source, the aim of the new force would be to give priority “to stabilising the front and rolling it back at least into Samarra and the contested areas of Diyala”. The Iraqi army has 14 divisions, of which four were involved in last week’s debacle, but there is no sign of the remaining units rallying and staging a counter-attack.
So now the USA will be placed in the situation that if they wish to hold onto any shred of respect in Iraq, it seems they will have to rely on the Iranian Army.
Oh! how the boasters have fallen.