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Old 08-12-2016, 08:05 PM   #26
tw
Read? I only know how to write.
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,933
Quote:
Originally Posted by sexobon View Post
Obama withdrew US forces from Iraq; because, he couldn't get certain concessions in a Status of Forces Agreement. That withdrawal opened the door for ISIS.
Even with American withdrawal, Daesh was (should not have been) a threat. But this problem began when officials in the George Jr administration openly declared that Maliki was, well, from the Washington Post on 3 Jul 2014:
Quote:
When Maliki was an obscure member of parliament, I was among the very few Americans in Baghdad who took his phone calls. In 2006, I helped introduce him to the U.S. ambassador, recommending him as a promising option for prime minister. In 2008, I organized his medevac when he fell ill, and I accompanied him for treatment in London, spending 18 hours a day with him at Wellington Hospital. In 2009, I lobbied skeptical regional royals to support Maliki’s government.

By 2010, however, I was urging the vice president of the United States and the White House senior staff to withdraw their support for Maliki. I had come to realize that if he remained in office, he would create a divisive, despotic and sectarian government that would rip the country apart and devastate American interests.
Maliki was George Jr's choosen man. George Jr's response to his own staff (who strongly recommended his removal) was to spend 2 hours daily on a video conference to teach Maliki politics.

Eventually Maliki made war with Sunnis and with Sahdr's army. What he did next made Daesh possible in Iraq.
Quote:
Maliki ... began a systematic campaign to destroy the Iraqi state and replace it with his private office and his political party. He sacked professional generals and replaced them with those personally loyal to him. He coerced Iraq’s chief justice to bar some of his rivals from participating in the elections in March 2010. After the results were announced and Maliki lost to a moderate, pro-Western coalition encompassing all of Iraq’s major ethno-sectarian groups, the judge issued a ruling that awarded Maliki the first chance to form a government, ushering in more tensions and violence.
Does this not sound like the government of S Vietnam? Even Turkmen, Kurds, and Christians were ostracized and obstructed for a deficient dictator's benefit. He consolidated power at the expense of Iraq. What remained was a weak but the only remaining leader.

Worse a legendary Iranian Gen Soleimani, who tried repeatedly to work with Americans in both Iraq and Afghanistan, now had the inside track on Maliki. George Jr successfully converted Gen Soleimani from a potential American ally into an American enemy. Soleimani said so personally by literally saying George Jr blew it.

Maliki was beholden to Soleimani because even Americans said he was a bad leader. Due to Maliki, Iraq was on the verge of a civil war. He even used American supplied M1A1 tanks to arrest Sunni leaders in their homes. A wonderful alliance forged by Petraeus that empowered Sunnis to drive out Al Qaeda was destroyed by Maliki - who only craved power. Maliki needed Americans out or subject to Iraqi laws that Maliki could change at will. As sexobon demonstrated, America had to remove all troops even though Obama did not want to. To protect American servicemen from Maliki.

Daesh sent a few hundred soldiers to attack a prison in Mosul. Daesh often used these tiny 'hit and run' attacks to obtain more recruits. Since Maliki was a self serving dictator who replaced American trained officers with political cronies, then three Iraqi divisions (maybe 30,000 men with artillery and M1A1 tanks) dropped all their weapons and ran from Mosul. Even Daesh could not believe how pathetic Iraq had become. America spend more on training the Iraq army than was spend on America's most expensive weapon system - F-22 Raptor. But we know 85% of all problems are directly traceable to top management. Who would ever suspect Maliki was that incompetent since even George Jr personally trained him?

That is Iraq today. It still has too many incompetent Generals and leaders. Even fewer Kurds with less weapons are responsible for most of Iraq's victories against Daesh. We now live with a legacy created ten plus years ago when we alienated Gen Soleimani and installed an incompetent Maliki. Iraq is now so dominated by incompetent leaders and Sunni-Shia hate that it cannot even retake Mosul without American and Gulf State air power.

What a mess. We put in power what eventually became what even Daesh could only pray for. Apparently Muslims can pray for and get the worst leaders. Daesh exists because we put Maliki in power. And then could not remove him until Daesh threatened to conquer Baghdad.
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