|
After U.S. Strike On Iraqi Forces Its Troops Will (Again) Have To Leave
Within Syria @WithinSyriaBlog – 17:43 UTC · Dec 29, 2019
Trump just made the mistake of his presidency.
That may be true or may be not true. Here is what happened.
On Friday a volley of some 30 107mm Katyusha rockets hit the K1 base which houses Iraqi and U.S. troops near Kirkuk, Iraq. One U.S. mercenary/contractor died, two Iraqi and four U.S. soldiers were wounded. Instead of finding the real culprits – ISIS remnants, disgruntled locals, Kurds who want to regain control over Kirkuk – the U.S. decided that Kata'ib Hizbullah was the group guilty of the attack.
Kata'ib Hizbullah is a mostly Shia group with some relations to Iran. It is part of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) which were founded and trained by Iran to stop and defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) when it occupied nearly a third of Iraq and Syria. KH is like all PMU units now under command and control of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.
To take revenge for the death of one of its mercenaries the U.S. air force attacked five camps where Kata'ib Hizbullah and other Iraqi forces were stationed:
In response to repeated Kata'ib Hizbollah (KH) attacks on Iraqi bases that host Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) coalition forces, U.S. forces have conducted precision defensive strikes against five KH facilities in Iraq and Syria that will degrade KH's ability to conduct future attacks against OIR coalition forces.
The five targets include three KH locations in Iraq and two in Syria. These locations included weapon storage facilities and command and control locations that KH uses to plan and execute attacks on OIR coalition forces.
All of the KH positions that were hit were in the western Anbar desert, 450 kilometer away from Kirkuk. KH has bases on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border where it is engaged in fighting the still active ISIS. The results of the air strikes were devastating:
Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai – 6:20 UTC · Dec 30, 2019
32 killed and 45 wounded the count of #US violent aggression on #Iraq security forces brigades 45 and 46 last night on a military position established to counter-attack and raid #ISIS remnant at al-Qaem, the borders between Iraq and Syria.
The al-Qaem/al-Bukamal border station is the only open one between Iraq and Syria which is not under U.S. control. The U.S. was furious when the Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdul Mahdi allowed it to be established. It was previously attacked by Israel which had launched its assault from a U.S. air force base in east Syria.
TØM CΛT @TomtheBasedCat – 6:11 UTC · Dec 29, 2019
It wasn't just Hezbollah Battalions members who were affected, there are also wounded among the ranks of the Missiles Forces / Rocket Battalion which is considered a separate unit apart from the numbered brigades.
The dead include Abu Ali Madiniyah, the commander of the 1st battalion of the 45th Brigade.
The strikes were in total disregard of Iraqi sovereignty and against forces under direct command of the Iraqi state:
In a statement, Abdul-Mahdi said Defense Secretary Mark Esper had called him about a half-hour before the U.S. strikes to tell him of U.S. intentions to hit bases of the militia suspected of being behind Friday’s rocket attack. Abdul-Mahdi said in the statement he asked Esper to call off U.S. retaliation plans.
The statement said Iraqi President Barham Salih also received advance notice from a U.S. diplomat, and also asked unsuccessfully for Americans to call off it off.
The strikes were designed to kill those who still fight ISIS in its most virulent hide outs:
Rania Khalek @RaniaKhalek – 18:44 UTC · Dec 29, 2019
The PMF group that was hit by the Americans has been fighting ISIS for years. They were on the front lines protecting Iraq from ISIS in Syria and engaged in the ongoing battles with ISIS in the Syrian and Iraqi deserts. They were THE line of defense.
The American attack on this PMF group is not only a disproportionate act of revenge, it is also a threat to regional security. AND it’s pathetic for a so-called super power to get into a fight with a small militia.
Here is video of the bloody aftermath.
There are some 5,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq in bases which also house 10,000nds of Iraqi soldiers and PMF troops. Revenge attacks are now inevitable:
In the aftermath of the American strikes, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi said, “We have already confirmed our rejection of any unilateral action by coalition forces or any other forces inside Iraq. We consider it a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and a dangerous escalation that threatens the security of Iraq and the region,” according to a statement released on Iraqi state television.
Abdul-Mahdi now finds himself facing the nightmare possibility of Iranian-linked paramilitaries, whose political wings hold enormous sway over his government, going to war with American forces on Iraqi territory, which would compound a disastrous few months in which the deaths of hundreds of protestors have been laid at his feet, prompting him to hand in his resignation to parliament.
The coming days and weeks will answer a number of questions about how this perilous situation will play out, primarily how far are the paramilitaries willing to act upon their rhetoric which has endlessly stated that the American presence in Iraq is a continuation of the occupation, in addition to their readiness to take military action in order to force out the Americans, “once again”.
The U.S. and Israel have already killed hundreds of Iraqi forces that are aligned with Iran. But these were the most egregious strikes. There is no doubt. The U.S. forces will have to (again) leave Iraq:
Brasco_Aad @Brasco_Aad – 19:55 UTC · Dec 29, 2019
Iraqi PMU Asai'b Ahl al-Haq statement on the American attack on Iraq tonight:
''The American military presence has become a burden for the State and a source of aggression against our forces and therefore it has become mandatory for all of us to expel them from Iraq.''
U.S. President Donald Trump had declared that he wants U.S. troops to leave the Middle East. But the 'deep state', the Pentagon and State Department bureaucracy, have resisted any such move:
Pompeo, Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, flew to Palm Beach, Florida, after the operation to brief President Donald Trump.
Esper said they discussed with Trump “other options that are available” to respond to Iran.
…
Trump was at Mar-a-Lago but did not appear with his top national security officials. After Pompeo and Esper spoke, the president traveled to his private golf club in West Palm Beach. The White House did not immediately say why Trump returned to the club after spending nearly six hours there earlier Sunday.
Yesterday's attacks guarantee that all U.S. troops will have to leave Iraq and will thereby also lose their supply lines to Syria.
One wonders if that was the real intent of those strikes.
Pompeo out, MacGregor in?
I don’t know if Trump is actually on top of all this ‘false flag’ stuff, which the rocker strikes on the K1 base last Friday possibly was. Is the purpose to escalate against Iran? Was it just an excuse to kill the people (in response) who are fighting last remnants of ISIS? I personally think Trump is too self-interested to properly represent the interests of the large banks, oil companies, mining companies and arms manufacturers. In other words, too self-interested to sign off on this ‘false flag’, if it was indeed one. Or indeed, if he even knew about the US strike in response.
The President doesn’t actually matter too much in US foreign policy. To be sure, he has an executive function to fulfill, but that’s mainly to obtain the broad-spectrum consent of the real power centers who dictate USFP, and to get them to broadly agree on specific strategies for continued capital accumulation.
That’s why I’m not so concerned about how sincere Trump is, or his personal ability to carry out a policy. It’s about the balance of forces in the imperial apparatus, and what is politically possible to accomplish there, given certain constraints (a militarily resurgent Russia, the rise of China, a still defiant and surprisingly strong Iran, DPRK with nukes, etc.)
I think Pompeo and others can keep Trump ‘out of the loop’ on such developments, but they /do/ still need to push him in a certain direction, like he were an untrained dog. Which Trump is — he wasn’t groomed to serve the interests of the large bourgeoisie like Obama before him was, and Obama was an excellent manager of US Empire. Trump himself comes from the lower levels of Capital, representing an historically weaker, less entrenched class which doesn’t derive its unearned income from loan capital, arms manufacturing… They’re opposed to foreign wars in a realist sense (“boots on the ground”) because they don’t see a cent of that income.
This is also why I think the heavily compromised “Left” wing of corporate media hysterizes about Trump about betraying supposed American values, undermining a ‘progressive’ facade — Trump just isn’t good at managing the Empire like Obama was. Withdrawal from Syria? Never mind about the countless, nameless victims of indiscriminate US bombing — withdrawal is a danger to our national security! It makes us look weak! We’re betraying our Kurdish “allies”! Playing into Putin’s hands!
Of course, the withdrawal from Syria was never completed, much less started to a meaningful degree. But that’s because the people /around/ Trump can just circumvent him.
We saw these sorts of contradictions under Obama (Pentagon-backed Kurdish militias versus CIA-backed Islamist contras), and indeed past Presidents, but it’s turned farcical under Trump, perhaps almost unmanageable. It seems the US can now only overthrow weak governments in Latin America (Bolivia) and Africa, which doesn’t bode well. Can’t really confront Iran or even Syria militarily. Can’t do it for Iraq, they’re supposedly a US ally. But a color revolution to oust an increasingly restless government is still possible, maybe.
I doubt Trump is doing some 5D “good cop/bad cop” chess to appeal to his dwindling base or fool his enemies or whatever — he really is just an untrained dog, and effectively offloading that institutional weight of the Presidency (regards foreign policy) to people not equipped or used to handling it, probably hampers US imperialism overall.
It’s not like the Bush era where everyone knew Cheney ran the show, where many key State Department enemies were still weak in the conventional theatre (Russia, DPRK), among other factors which enabled the Afghanistan + Iraq wars and occupations (which still resulted in over-extension, and at least opening the door to imperial decline).
And I’m sorry if this sounds a bit disorganized. Lots of compelling points made from people who disagree.
Posted by: David | Dec 31 2019 18:40 utc | 160
From Veterans Today by Gordon DUff
”
The attack Trump claims to be retaliating against was against an Iraqi base, not an American base, an attack by ISIS where an American oil worker was killed on an Exxon oil facility…where oil has been stolen from Iraq for years.
By the term “contractor,” the US is careful not to identify who he actually worked for and there is absolutely no reason for any Americans to be in Kirkuk. Iraq seized the K1 base which was taken from ISIS and their Kurdish allies in 2017. The Kurds have, since that time, threaten the base and were most likely complicit in staging the recent attack. From the BBC:
Here, the BBC admits that the K1 base housed PMU militias who were there to protect K1 from the Kurds…and ISIS.
It is also more than possible that, if ISIS and Kurdish forces attacked K1, they were aided by Israeli commandos who are now training Kurdish troops and who have largely replaced the US as the force backing the Erbil government.
From the Times of Israel, 2019:
“Israel has been providing aid to the Kurds in northern Syria since the US withdrawal from the area, a senior Israeli politician said Wednesday, warning that their defeat would allow Iran to further entrench itself in the area.
‘Israel has received many requests for assistance, mainly in the diplomatic and humanitarian realm,’ Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hatovely told the Knesset Wednesday in remarks reported by the Reuters news agency. ‘We identify with the deep distress of the Kurds, and we are assisting them through a range of channels.’”
The KI base, held by the Iraqi military and representative groups of both Sunni and Shia militias, is tasked with keeping Kurd in check. However, the Israeli website, Debka Files, has published articles and maps carefully citing the US domination of Kirkuk through K1, something sources on the ground find quite astounding.
“We haven’t seen an American in months.”
When ISIS hit Iraq in early 2014, the Kurds joined with ISIS against Baghdad and seized oil fields around Kirkuk and began shipping oil into Turkey, not by truck but by pipeline.
To provide cover, Turkey claimed the pipeline had been destroyed in an explosion but in reality, Turkey, working with Azerbaijan, used “pigs” that identified the stolen oil as Azerbaijani while the money went to Erdogan family members, Kurdish leaders and ISIS with key American political leaders, neocons, getting a cut of the action.
The base which was attacked housed not just Iraqi regulars but PMU units, who were also attacked, the same units Trump says staged the attack….on themselves.
This wasn’t a military base….but rather in Kirkuk, at Iraq’s oil fields, hundreds of miles from any US military facility and hundreds of miles from the facilities Trump ordered attacked.
Macgregor says Trump was misinformed, we say it is worse, so much worse. This is the US retaliating against Iraq for an ISIS attack where an American oil worker was killed.
The attack was using a Romanian built 122mm rocket, one supplied to ISIS by the US. All nations use similar launchers but most are supplied through Turkey and Ukraine by US allied fake NGO’s to terrorist groups in both Syria and Iraq.
Iran builds its own missiles, and doesn’t buy them from Romania. The US, however, does.
”
Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Dec 31 2019 22:45 utc | 170
By Gordon Duff – Veterans Today:
“
The attack Trump claims to be retaliating against was against an Iraqi base, not an American base, an attack by ISIS where an American oil worker was killed on an Exxon oil facility…where oil has been stolen from Iraq for years.
By the term “contractor,” the US is careful not to identify who he actually worked for and there is absolutely no reason for any Americans to be in Kirkuk. Iraq seized the K1 base which was taken from ISIS and their Kurdish allies in 2017. The Kurds have, since that time, threaten the base and were most likely complicit in staging the recent attack. From the BBC:
Here, the BBC admits that the K1 base housed PMU militias who were there to protect K1 from the Kurds…and ISIS.
It is also more than possible that, if ISIS and Kurdish forces attacked K1, they were aided by Israeli commandos who are now training Kurdish troops and who have largely replaced the US as the force backing the Erbil government.
From the Times of Israel, 2019:
“Israel has been providing aid to the Kurds in northern Syria since the US withdrawal from the area, a senior Israeli politician said Wednesday, warning that their defeat would allow Iran to further entrench itself in the area.
‘Israel has received many requests for assistance, mainly in the diplomatic and humanitarian realm,’ Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hatovely told the Knesset Wednesday in remarks reported by the Reuters news agency. ‘We identify with the deep distress of the Kurds, and we are assisting them through a range of channels.’”
The KI base, held by the Iraqi military and representative groups of both Sunni and Shia militias, is tasked with keeping Kurd in check. However, the Israeli website, Debka Files, has published articles and maps carefully citing the US domination of Kirkuk through K1, something sources on the ground find quite astounding.
“We haven’t seen an American in months.”
When ISIS hit Iraq in early 2014, the Kurds joined with ISIS against Baghdad and seized oil fields around Kirkuk and began shipping oil into Turkey, not by truck but by pipeline.
To provide cover, Turkey claimed the pipeline had been destroyed in an explosion but in reality, Turkey, working with Azerbaijan, used “pigs” that identified the stolen oil as Azerbaijani while the money went to Erdogan family members, Kurdish leaders and ISIS with key American political leaders, neocons, getting a cut of the action.
The base which was attacked housed not just Iraqi regulars but PMU units, who were also attacked, the same units Trump says staged the attack….on themselves.
This wasn’t a military base….but rather in Kirkuk, at Iraq’s oil fields, hundreds of miles from any US military facility and hundreds of miles from the facilities Trump ordered attacked.
Macgregor says Trump was misinformed, we say it is worse, so much worse. This is the US retaliating against Iraq for an ISIS attack where an American oil worker was killed.
The attack was using a Romanian built 122mm rocket, one supplied to ISIS by the US. All nations use similar launchers but most are supplied through Turkey and Ukraine by US allied fake NGO’s to terrorist groups in both Syria and Iraq.
Iran builds its own missiles, and doesn’t buy them from Romania. The US, however, does.
”
Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Jan 1 2020 10:39 utc | 188
I say again………… Gordon Duff’s attributions by “Realist” are rubbish!
Duff said no such thing!
What we have here is a Pompeo — CIA —- MI6 operative who trolls from behind the curtain…..
Spewing difficult to counter falsehoods for the purpose of obfuscating……
He trolls anonomously….. because he is a chickenshit yellow bellied coward…. who is hell bent on taking
those of us….. like myself, who went into harms way…..
He cannot stand the body public….. knowing the actualities of this crisis….. just as he and his ilk
find it acceptable…. nay wonderful…. to incarcerate Manning and Assange for the “crimes” of telling the world the atrocities committed by the US Army in Iraq….. which at this moment are continuing and ongoing…
In contrast….
China’s goals for 2020……….
What China plans to achieve in 2020
(People’s Daily Online) 18:32, December 31, 2019
The year 2020 looks to be a marvelous one for China, as the country has set a series of targets to ensure a successful conclusion to its 13th Five-Year Plan and success in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
Poverty Alleviation
By 2020, the state is committed to ensuring that the impoverished rural population has stable access to adequate food and clothing, compulsory education, and basic medical services and housing, and the per capita disposable income of those in impoverished regions will be double that in 2010.
Indices of major basic public services are expected to be close to the national average levels. In addition, the country is also committed to ensuring that the rural population living below the current poverty threshold and all impoverished counties are all lifted out of poverty; and to solving the problem of regional poverty.
In the next year, the country will witness an obvious growth in the education capability of impoverished regions, and the basic public education services in these regions are expected to reach national average levels.
By 2020, at least one county-level public hospital will be built for each impoverished county, at least one standardized hospital will be built for each township and at least one clinic will be built for each administrative village.
By 2020, garbage in over 90 percent of impoverished counties will be properly disposed of, and over 85 percent of toilets in rural regions will be made sanitary.
By 2020, basically every household in rural China will have access to digital radio and television services, and 98 percent of registered impoverished villages will be covered by broadband internet services.
Pollution Control
By 2020, 23.04 percent of China’s territory will be covered with forests, and the country’s forest growing stock will reach 16.5 billion cubic meters.
By 2020, the emission of sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide will be reduced by at least 15 percent, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen emission by at least 10 percent, compared with in 2015.
By 2020, the carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP will be reduced by 18 percent from that of 2015.
By 2020, total coal consumption will be controlled to within 4.2 billion tons.
By 2020, the total capacities of hydraulic, nuclear, wind and solar power generation will respectively reach 350 million kilowatts, 58 million kilowatts, 200 million kilowatts and 100 million kilowatts. Meanwhile, the consumption of nuclear power, wind power, solar energy and biomass energy will account for over 8 percent of total energy consumption.
By 2020, the air quality of cities at and above the prefectural level will be good or excellent for 80 percent of the year.
By 2020, the annual production of pure-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will reach 2 million, and a total of 5 million will be sold.
Education
By 2020, the number of students receiving higher education will be raised to 38.5 million, and the gross enrollment rate will stand at 50 percent.
By 2020, a number of universities and disciplines will be developed into world-class ones, and a number of disciplines will be in the leading position among world.
By 2020, all students from economically-challenged families will receive subsidies.
Medical services
By 2020, China’s total population will be controlled at around 1.42 billion.
By 2020, the average life expectancy will reach 77.3 years.
By 2020, a basic healthcare system that covers all rural and urban residents will have been established, offering basic healthcare services for all.
By 2020, a hierarchical medical system will be developed.
Elderly Care
By 2020, China’s Urban Employees Basic Old-Age Insurance and the Pension System for Urban and Rural Residents will cover 90 percent of the population, and basic medical insurance will cover more than 95 percent of people.
By 2020, over 35 percent of China’s comprehensive hospitals above Grade II level will establish geriatric departments.
By 2020, cities above county-level will each build at least one university for the elderly.
Science & Technology
By 2020, all prefecture-level cities will be covered by 5G networks.
By 2020, China will have completed the 35-satellite Beidou navigation system and launched services for global users.
By 2020, China will become an innovative country and rank among the top 15 countries in the world regarding innovation capability.
By 2020, China will have launched its first Mars exploration lander.
By 2020, China will have delivered its large passenger airliners and new regional passenger airliners.
By 2020, China will be able to independently produce over 70 percent of major important materials, completing the transition from a major material producer into a major power in this regard.
The US plans to use 2020 to intimidate and dominate Syria/Iraq/Iran…. while China plans on building hospitals and clinics and schools….
INDY
Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Jan 1 2020 12:18 utc | 191
|
