FUFZ
You couldn't be more irrelevant than Al Gore
Posted on 10/22/2011 2:36:10 PM PDT by Evil Slayer
As the media did a victory lap over Friday's announcement by President Obama that all American troops would be removed from Iraq by the end of the year, Fareed Zakaria took a surprisingly contrary position.
Speaking from Tehran with a variety of CNN hosts throughout the day, Zakaria said this development was a disappointment for the United States and a victory for Iran.
(video follows with transcript and commentary)
JOHN KING, HOST: A simple question up front. U.S. troops leaving Iraq by the end of the year, Iran has to view this as a victory.
FAREED ZAKARIA: Oh, I'm sure it views it as a victory. Iran views what had happened in Iraq entirely from a kind of geopolitical prism. That is the U.S. and Iran are competing for influence in Iraq. They have viewed it that way from the start of the fall of the regime and they have their agents in there and Iran has long ties to many of threat groups that are now dominant in Iraq.
Prime Minister Maliki and his party were in exile in Iran for 10 years. Many of the Kurdish leaders, including the current president of Iraq, was in Iran. Many of them speak fluent Persian. They have long and ongoing ties. Muqtada al-Sadr, when he finds that things get difficult for him in Iraq he head backs to Iran. So all of these political officials have been nourished sustained by Iran. And as American troops draw down, Iran's influence can only increase.
KING: And this sounds incredibly crass, but is this a fair bottom line? That after almost nine years, billions of dollars in U.S. money and nearly 4,500 lives lost of brave U.S. service men and women, that Iran wins?
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
We’ve been in *&^%ING Germany since ‘45.
Korea since what....’51?
Who died and made us world cops?
Bring ‘em all home.
There will be very little to stop them now.
Hello nuclear war in the ME.
Seems to me that a decade is more than long enough.
We don’t speak German. And, I don’t want to pray 5 times a day to some “insane allah”. It’s bad enough having a muzzie in the whitehouse and MY CHRISTIAN RELIGION constantly challenged.
We have bases in lots of places for strategic reasons.
Landstuhl, Germany was where we transported our injured military.
With N Korea, we better be in S Korea.
Its about OUR interests...not being a cop...although being THE cop is part of being No. #1...
Go call Ron Paul.
He is probably right. Yesterday the MSM was spinning this as a big foreign policy “Win” for Obama. Yet, basically the Iraqis are telling us to GTFO no residual military presence. It does seem like a ripe target for an expansive Iran. And you can be sure the MSM will be silent as they take over in all but name.
Sorry Fareed. You should know we don’t have the money to do it.
I expect as the last US troops leave, Iranian tanks will be rolling into Baghdad and desperate Iraqis will be hanging on to the skids of departing helicopters...a repeat of the fall of Saigon in 1974.
Well,guess the generals should just call you then...
Obama botched the withdrawal and strategy with our state Dept to make ths an effective draw down and securing our interests. Welcome to Vietnam Redux!
What is enough time then?
“Its about OUR interests...not being a cop...although being THE cop is part of being No. #1...”
Thank You
Bump
I know that carpet-bombing is rather ineffective (strategically) and crass, but it might be more cost-effective in getting these peoples attention.
The real problem is that we’re fighting touchy feely war against people who only respect total defeat.
FUFZ
Yup, it’s surprising. Obviously, Obama didn’t take his advice.
btw - It’s scary that the deputy national security adviser would say this... just have to hope he doesn’t actually believe it.
KING: At the White House today the deputy national security adviser, Denis McDonough, said they’re not that worried about Iran’s influence. He says Iran is further isolated, has been weakened in recent years.
If you amend that to say “No. 1 bankrupt sugardaddy chump” you might have a point.
Does this mean a resumption of the long-running Iraq-Iran border war? Perhaps we may call upon China to mediate their differences. After all, China has a growing thirst for petroleum and natural gas, and this would be an excellent opportunity to enforce concessions from both participants.
Only because the first Gulf War separated the two, was the action damped down, but Iran has never stopped its campaign to choke off the Sunni factions within Iraq, and provide clandestine support to the Shi’ite faction.
Some might say, given that Iraq is a buffer state, between the Sunnis and the Shi’ites, its purpose as a battleground for the coming Armageddon will soon be fulfilled.
But then, none of the dire predictions of Revelations would seem to mean much to the Chinese.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.