Posted on 03/31/2015 2:04:40 PM PDT by Borges
With the launching of the US-backed military intervention in Yemen, virtually the entire Middle East is engulfed by military conflict, a state of affairs that has no precedent, with the possible exception of the two world wars fought in the 20th century.
Washington’s pursuit of policies from one conflict to the next that are seemingly at odds with one another has provoked mounting expressions of concern from major US think tanks and editorial boards—not to mention nominal allies in Europe—over “strategic incoherence.” To describe as glaring the contradictions that riddle US foreign policy in the Middle East does not do them justice.
In Yemen, the Obama administration has announced its full backing, with the provision of logistical assistance, arms (including cluster bombs) and targeting intelligence, to an intervention spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, the other Sunni oil monarchies and the Egyptian regime of Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
This coalition of dictatorships and crowned tyrants is waging a war against the most impoverished country in the Arab world. Their aim in bombing cities and killing civilians is to contain the influence of Iran, which has provided support to the Zaydi Shiite Houthi rebels who overthrew President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a puppet installed by Washington and Riyadh.
In Iraq, US warplanes have been bombing Tikrit, the hometown of the ousted and murdered Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, which is now controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This operation is providing air support to a besieging force comprised overwhelmingly of Shiite militias operating with Iranian support and advisors.
While the Pentagon had conditioned the air strikes on the withdrawal of these militias, some of which had resisted the eight-year US occupation of Iraq, it is widely acknowledged that this was strictly for the sake of appearances. The Shiite forces remain the principal fighting force on the ground.
Meanwhile, across the border in Syria, Washington is pursuing a policy seemingly at odds with itself, on the one hand pledging to arm and train militias seeking to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad, whose closest ally is Iran, and, on the other, carrying out air strikes against both ISIS and the Al Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, which together are the principal armed opponents of the Assad regime.
At the same time, negotiations led by US Secretary of State John Kerry in Switzerland are going down to the wire in a bid to secure an agreement with Iran that would curtail its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting (or partial lifting) of punishing economic sanctions imposed by Washington and its European allies. Failure to achieve such a deal could spell a turn toward more direct US military aggression against Iran. Success could well prove to be a tactical preparation for the same thing.
I don’t mind helping both sides, as long as we make sure they both lose. I don’t think that’s Obama’s plan though.
Lots Of Blood On Obama’s Hands
"Let me please introduce myself
I am a man of wealth and taste.
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a mans soul and faith
Pleased to meet you, dhimmis
Hope you guess my name".
Arab Spring was sure a great idea wasn’t it?.................
This has happened many times--Nader Shah's conquests of the eighteenth century, the Ottoman invasion of Egypt in the sixteenth century, Tamerlane's invasion in the previous century, the Mongol invasion of the thirteenth century, the Crusades, the Roman Empire's wars with the Turks, Arabs, Persians and Parthians, the Muslim conquests, Alexander the Great's conquests, etc.
Why do talkers keep bringing up the question of what accomplishments can Hitlery point to. Seems obvious to me - she lit the ME on fire.
Exactly.
Talk about rubbing it in.
If you think you are the 12th Inman its a great idea.
Obama throws around fire bombs better than basketballs.
When you can’t do anything else about it - laugh - or go crazy.
I think we now have a complete picture of the problem in your post.
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