We had two huge bases there -- a Navy is SUBIC BAY and an Airforce at Clark Air base.
At that time, there was a segment of the population who kept chanting -- YANKEE GO HOME !
Well, guess what? We left ( accelerated by the explosion of a volcano named Mount Pinatubo which covered the bases with dirty ashes ).
And then lo and behold, a few years after 9/11, the Pinoys (that's short for Filipinos ) "invited" (wink wink ) us back to help them fight the Abu Sayef (an offshoot of al-Qaeda) in their south/ Guess what? We still have soldiers there....
Obummer might tell us that he "ended" the war in Afghanistan and Iraq...
The reality is... HE ABANDONED the war.
We might not be interested in war, but war is interested in us.
My mother used to say, “If you go to war, you better go to win.”
If Obummer can screw it up, he will.
On the golf course. Why do you ask?
Wonder what the Shiites are bitching about ... why don’t they just ask their buds in Tehran to help out?
Still paying off the war and tending to our wounded (or not).
Are we interested in war enough to pay for it up front and institute a draft? Don’t bother, I already know the answer.
Well said.
Ingrates. I am being harsh here because somewhere along the way, an American died for them. Actually, many.
In a way I hope that they learn the hard way that they were wrong. Then maybe they’ll appreciate what we have done for them. Then again, maybe they never will.
Show us the money.
Well Shi’ite people of Iraq please take note.
The primary sectarian violence between different Iraqis - since the fall of Saddam - has been overwhelmingly between Shi-ites and Sunnis for the most part, with Kurds more often than not on the sidelines.
The U.S. supported Shia AND Sunni of Iraq who wanted to have a peaceful and inclusive government with each other against all groups seeking to impose solutions by violence and terrorism. On both sides of that issue again the groups, both peaceful and violent were predominately Shia and Sunni.
The Sunni-Shia violence did not spill over much into the Kurdish region until just recently.
And, if the Shia Iraqi majority is looking for blame they need to look in the mirror, for their continuing support for Maliki as he continued his over-reach for power and use of his time in power as “pay back” time for the Iraqi Shia at the expense of the Iraqi Sunnis, sowing sectarian divisions and providing cause for young disillusioned Sunni men to go along with the jihadist promises for a change.
The question for the Iraqi Shia is not what is the U.S. going to do, but what are YOU going to do. The American people are waiting to see if a Shia majority government in Iraq and the Shia majority itself, is going to be an all inclusive civil society or is again politicians time in office going to be all about how much can I get for those of my religious confession and to hell with anyone else.
Without the American people knowing if the Shia majority is only concerned about themselves, or all Iraqis, then the American people are not clear that the violent sectarian divisions between Iraqis will end merely by defeating ISIS - for the moment. Meanwhile, the Kurdish part of Iraq has continuously demonstrated that security within Kurdistan for everyone in Kurdistan is a top government priority and only after the Shia majority government in Baghdad fell down on that score in Sunni dominate areas under its control did the Sunni-Shia violence spread to Kurdistan.
The loss of the Christian community in Iraq did not begin with ISIS, it’s been going on since the fall of Saddam and the cause has been Shia and Sunni violence and intimidation against it. So where was the Shia majority all that time before ISIS, which is just the latest insult to Iraqi Christians?
When the Shi’ite of Iraq get their own house in order, then we can talk about how we can help them.
Guys, Barry barely gives a crap about us, and we live here. You guys? To borrow Danny Elfman’s immortal lines, he can’t believe that anyone would want to do such terrible things, but why should he care?
Let’s not forget that Obama helped cause this mess with his cavalier attitude toward Iraq and his Islamist sympathies!~
His Arrogance is a Sunni under orders from the Saudis to let ISIS slaughter the Shiites. Helping the Kurds protect the oil fields with the oil revenues going to the Kurds will further weaken the Iraq government. Once Iraq falls, they can turn their entire focus on Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, etc. If you are a Shiite, you’re gonna be a dead one soon.
One word: SOFA. What commander in their right mind would send US troops into areas where they are subject to Iraqi legal prosecution and courts? Kurds give us free reign. Sunni and Shia don’t. AMF. They can bludgeon each other near death before they figure they have issues only the Americans can moderate and protect them from if we’re allowed to.