Archive for the ‘Gulf War’ Category

Obama and Afghanistan

October 2, 2009

President Obama has now enjoyed 9 months in power as the leader of the most powerful country in the world.  He was elected on the premise of being anti-Iraq and accused the previous administration of not focusing properly on the war in Afghanistan even going so far as to call it the true center of the “war on terror”.  With that, he promised to shift resources early on from Iraq to Afghanistan to stabilize and “win” the true “war on terror”.

It has been 9 months and one would assume that Afghanistan would have gotten more attention by now.  Certainly, the man’s been a little distracted with all of the economic “doom and gloom” going on back home in the United States.  Still, he hasn’t apparently backed down from his campaign promises (which would never be a surprise if he had).  To the contrary, he appears to be seriously considering the suggestions that the US Commander (Gen. Stanley McChrystal) is making – sending 30,000-40,000 more troops.  This number would put total NATO presence in the country to just over the former USSR’s commitment in the early 1980’s at 120,000 troops – a war that ended in failure.  The US Commander’s strategy is vastly different then the Soviet strategy, his being to build havens for the Afghan people to rebuild and not the total defeat of the Taliban insurgency.  The issue with this strategy is that the Taliban is in it for the long haul while NATO’s commitment for a similar time table is highly circumspect.

Obama has been told flat out by his commanders that the current strategy in Afghanistan is failure.  He can now do one of three things;

  1. Continue as is – prolonging the inevitable failure in hopes of a shift in regional politics or other miraculous changes
  2. Take McChrystal’s advice and shift forces
  3. Close shop and get out of Afghanistan

The Taliban are watching and waiting.  They have seen the British come.. and fail. They watched the Soviets come.. and fail.  They expect the same to happen to the United States and NATO.

All the while, Obama has to contemplate Iran and what to do there.  Any decision made regarding Afghanistan has to take serious consideration in what he might do with Iran.  To strike Iran hard and stay in Afghanistan – where a prolonged war he supported and has not taken on as his own in this Presidency will be his trophy.

I’ll talk about Iran in a later post – and God forgive me for making this suggestion because I was for our initial entrance into Afghanistan – but I suggest we pull out of Afghanistan and shift our focus on closing out Iraq and neutralizing the Iranian nuclear threat.  We can maintain a minor presence in Afghanistan and advocate for the rights of the Afghanistan people.

Alliance Responds to Iranian Genocide of Iraqi Sunni Civilians

August 28, 2009

Original Post – Sept 11, 2007 – archived recovery

September 11, 2015
Reporting by Vanessa Stevenson of MS-FOX News
Credit/Sources Reuters World Media

I am reporting from the Persian Gulf on the newest American Super-Carrier, the Gerald R. Ford. From my vantage point on top of the new dual band radar system that is monitoring the skies for hundreds of miles around, I am looking upon an unusually churned ocean as a flotilla of over 100 warships from the US Coalition prepare for military operations. This US Coalition, comprised of American, British, Australian, Italian, German combat ships as well as a number of Japanese support vessels (with the rumors of a newly commission Japanese Naval destroyer squadron being positioned to provide support from the Oman Sea), has been gathering for weeks in preparation of what is seen to be a major air-war with a follow-on my a coalition of Army and Marine units.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is said to have spoken briefly with Iranian President Ahmadinejad a couple of hours ago, in an attempt to forestall this invasion of Iraq and potentially the Iranian homeland. The Alliance military buildup is in response to the growing genocide of Iraqi Sunni populations by Iranian Security Forces. This buildup has quickened after last weeks reported chemical bombardment of the Sunni town of Talafar that killed an estimated 12,000 civilians. Iranian Ministry officials deny the use of WMD’s but did confirm attacks on insurgent forces in the town of Talafar. They estimated only 18 died.

Military sources believe that the Alliance is likely to begin targeting of Iranian “security” bases operating within Iraq to include the US Base outside of Kirkuk that was over-run by Iranian Security forces in 2008 shortly after the US Marine’s departure. It is also rumored that Alliance covert operations are operating throughout Iraq and Iran establishing ties and providing relief to insurgent forces resisting the Iranian occupation of Iraq.

—-

A summary of events leading to Operation Iraqi Freedom II

2007 -
The lack of significant progress in light of unrealistic goals of the troop Surge in Iraq led to the dismissal of another US General by Congressional action
US Senate & Congress demanding the roll-back of forces to begin by December of 2007

2008 -
Because of perceived American weakness, the Iranian backed insurgency pushed harder in early 2008 resulting in the reduction of US troop levels to less then 60,000 by the end of the year. US Troops remained in the “Green Zone”, a few other military positions in Ambar Province and Baghdad. A continued US troop presence would continue in Southern Iraq until the migration to a Kuwaiti based US Firebase. An estimated 15,000 US Troops would remain in Kurdish territories.

With the pullout of US Military forces in 2008, Iranian security forces began to multiply. With already an estimated 1000+ Iranian security forces and advisors operating in Iraq in 2007, by the end of 2008 over 50,000 would be providing ‘security’ in predominantly Shia populated regions.

Rumors of a campaign of violence against Sunni populations with the aim of forcing the hands of Sunni insurgents

2009 –
Iranian security forces numbering 200,000 now operate through-out Iraq except for the southern border with Kuwait and the Kurdish territories to the north.

Iraq government capitulates to Iranian demands and agrees to recognize the protection of Iraq by the Iranian military and demands withdrawal of all US forces from the country. The US declines the opportunity for complete withdrawal and maintains a ring of firebases in the southern port city near Kuwait as well as in Northern Iraq.

Insurgent attacks, supported by a growing Hezbollah and Iranian supplied, against US positions near the southern Iraq ports forces the US Marines to route across the border to Kuwait

Public Western outrage at the genocide of a small Sunni town outside of Bagdad rumored to be a Sunni ‘Insurgent Stronghold’.

US funding of Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq increases 200%

2010 –
Iranian military provide security for all of Iraq (except northern Kurdish Regions)
Iraqi government assumes state control over all oil resources in Iraq, banishing all Western aligned Oil companies out Insurgency continues. Genocide of Sunni populations continues.
Destruction of US Destroy Nasworth by Iranian insurgents in the Gulf

2012 –
The price of oil begins to move from the stable $80 a barrel to over $100 a barrel due to restricted contracts to Chinese firms for Iraqi oil
Insurgency continues. Genocide of Sunni populations continues.

2014 –
Iran and Iraq, jointly controlling over 30% of the worlds oil supply, declare an oil embargo over the US and any countries aligned with it.
Insurgency continues. Genocide of Sunni populations continues.
Joint Iranian and Iraqi military buildup occurs on Saudi border. Old arguments used to justify hostilities.

2015-
A continuation and expansion of the armed conflict of the middle east.

——

This article is a fictitious account of a world that may come. Arguments for peace instead of war.. for the sake of peace and peace alone.. tend to lead to further conflict. Two enemies that take a step back but one not defeated and disarmed leads to a continuation of conflict as soon as circumstances are convenient for one side or the other. Neither should, from a political viewpoint, be deemed evil however everyone must take a side. In Wester Society it behooves us to maintain and stabilize otherwise instable regions. This rule is further encouraged when said regions provide critical resources to the economies of our societies.

We should recognize the situation for what it is today, not how it might have been or how we would have liked it. Like the current US Administration or not, the situation is what it is. To retreat and allow the situation to spiral further is to invite future failures at a larger cost. No war is unwinnable for our western societies if we choose to expend the appropriate capital, treasure, and blood. We simply need to have the willpower and understanding of the need. Arguments that the US lost Korean and Vietnam conflicts are simply reinforcing arguments to stay in Iraq. The US lacked the political willpower to remain engaged and committed in both conflicts and now we are still dealing with a communist Vietnam and a Nuclear-Armed North Korea. Imagine what these countries might look like if we had remained to finish the job?

Shane Robinett