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[SecDef] Carter says Iraq’s ‘will to fight’ at issue after Ramadi
Associated Press ^ | May 24, 2015 11:46 AM EDT | Ken Dilanian

Posted on 05/24/2015 9:08:44 AM PDT by Olog-hai

The Islamic State group’s takeover of the provincial capital Ramadi is stark evidence that Iraqi forces lack the “will to fight,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged, a harsh assessment that raised new questions about the Obama administration’s strategy to defeat the extremist group that has seized a strategically important swath of the Middle East.

Although Iraqi soldiers “vastly outnumbered” their opposition in the capital of Anbar province, they quickly withdrew last Sunday without putting up much resistance from the city in Iraq’s Sunni heartland, Carter said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” […]

The White House declined to comment on Sunday. …

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iraq; isis; isisiraq; ramadi; rop
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If Carter thinks that Iraqi forces would possess the “will to fight” for the “Great Satan”, he has no understanding of the situation there. A rapid withdrawal is a demonstration of where their loyalties lie.
1 posted on 05/24/2015 9:08:44 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai
I wonder how long it will be before Obama forces Sec. Carter to walk back (”clarify”) his comments. I'm guessing it will be less than a day.

But for the more conspiratorially minded, it's possible that Obama told Carter to say this. Because the weaker Iraq looks, the more we will "need" Iran's help.

2 posted on 05/24/2015 9:18:08 AM PDT by Leaning Right (Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)
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To: Olog-hai
A rapid withdrawal is a demonstration of where their loyalties lie.

Can you blame them after the POTUS pulled the rug out from under them last time?

3 posted on 05/24/2015 9:20:24 AM PDT by oldbrowser (We have a rogue government in Washington.)
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To: oldbrowser

I wouldn’t classify this bunch in with those that were actually calling for US forces to stay.

Now watch Obama call for Iran to “solve” the problem.

Back on HBO’s “Not Necessarily The News” in the 1980s, there was a segment that jokingly declared that Iran and Iraq were merging into a new country called “Iranq”. Now we’re seeing it happen.


4 posted on 05/24/2015 9:24:18 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

Duh!


5 posted on 05/24/2015 9:24:26 AM PDT by VTenigma (The Democratic party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
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To: Leaning Right

Exactly right. Obama simply must have the Great Satan help Iran become an even stronger regional power—armed with nukes to boot.


6 posted on 05/24/2015 9:25:33 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

A big part of the problem is we sided with the Shites. For whatever reason, they are not good soldiers. Which is why the minority Sunnis held power in Sadaam’s Iraq.

With regard to foreign entanglements, the US has a habit of siding with the majority. In some cases this is smart. In others (like Iraq), it is not. When you have minority rule in a given country, you really need to ask yourself why that is. In many cases, it may be because the majority is just not fit to hold power.


7 posted on 05/24/2015 9:25:49 AM PDT by rbg81
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To: Olog-hai
If Carter thinks that Iraqi forces would possess the “will to fight” for the “Great Satan”, he has no understanding of the situation there. A rapid withdrawal is a demonstration of where their loyalties lie.

They're not exactly defending Richmond, VA. Ramadi is 100 miles from Baghdad, and sandwiched between two of Iraq's few lakes, in a country where water is scarce. They're fighting for water, and they're fighting for their lives. What they've demonstrated is that they won't fight even if the outcome, if they're captured, is certain genocide. Iraq's Shiite leadership is a shambles. Bush picked Maliki and Obama picked Abadi. Both are equally worthless.

8 posted on 05/24/2015 9:27:54 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: Olog-hai

the iraqi will to fight died with the end of the iraq-iran war in the ‘80s.


9 posted on 05/24/2015 9:28:04 AM PDT by bravo whiskey (we shouldn't fear the government. the government should fear us.)
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To: bravo whiskey
the iraqi will to fight died with the end of the iraq-iran war in the ‘80s.

5000 dead GI's would seem to contradict this assertion. The issue isn't that Iraqis won't fight - it's that only Iraqis opposed to the government will fight.

10 posted on 05/24/2015 9:31:20 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: rbg81
All the libs who were for the Iraq war insisted that we side with the Shi’ites. I would have insisted on siding with ourselves and (at least) the Kurds and regarded the main Sunni and Shi’ite groups in Iraq both as the enemy. So we ended up with the utter madness of having the Islamic Dawa Party (who was exiled in Iran for years) take over the region, which was in and of itself a de-facto takeover by Iran.

Both the major Sunni and Shi’a groups there practice national socialism. The Ba’ath party is national-socialist in particular, and they are friendly with both Sunni and Shi’a (Bashar Assad’s Alawites, for an example of the latter). It is not for nothing that Sun Tzu pointed out that in cases where you know yourself but don’t know the enemy, every victory you gain will be matched by a defeat.
11 posted on 05/24/2015 9:32:16 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Zhang Fei

No, it shows where their loyalties lie. They are not going to fight on behalf of the Great Satan.


12 posted on 05/24/2015 9:33:35 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

They won’t even fight for one another. They left hundreds of their own behind where they face sure execution.


13 posted on 05/24/2015 9:48:58 AM PDT by wiggen (#JeSuisCharlie)
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To: wiggen

Sure execution?

If IS(IS/IL) just slaughtered indiscriminately, then nobody would support them. Instead, they would and do have an appeal to a segment of society there.


14 posted on 05/24/2015 10:00:20 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai
FTFY: They are not going to fight on behalf of the Great Satan even to avoid being exterminated.
15 posted on 05/24/2015 10:42:01 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: Zhang Fei

Why would they be exterminated? Who in IS(IS/IL) would exterminate “good Muslims” when there are still Christians in the region to exterminate (which they have been, almost to a man)?

Take note that this is being played up to raise Iran’s profile in the region.


16 posted on 05/24/2015 10:48:31 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai
Why would they be exterminated? Who in IS(IS/IL) would exterminate “good Muslims” when there are still Christians in the region to exterminate (which they have been, almost to a man)?

Because to ISIS, Shiites are worse than non-Muslims - they are apostates:

ISIS: Fighting 'Infidels' Takes Precedence Over Fighting Israel

Iraqi Official Confirms Authenticity Of Photos By ISIS Showing 1,700 Shiite Soldiers Massacred

17 posted on 05/24/2015 11:00:51 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: Olog-hai

Saddam ruled Iraq through a military dictatorship composed of Sunni officers. Without US intervention, the Sunni/Bathist mafia were quite capable of keeping Iraq under their control.

Saddam’s officer corps, who decamped to Syria when the US invaded, created ISIS as a vehicle for reasserting their control over Iraq. Islam was not their core motive, but was crucial in attracting the support they needed.

Nothing has changed to give Iraqis the political unity or will to resist a Sunni/Bathist reconquest after the US ousted Saddam. Obama simply made reconquest inevitable by removing most US combat forces from Iraq. Obama expected some form of what we are seeing now, and wants it to obliterate Bush’s “imperialist” legacy and close the door to any reassertion of US influence.


18 posted on 05/24/2015 11:02:56 AM PDT by Chewbarkah
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To: Zhang Fei
IS(IS/IL)’s word is worthless. Fighting so-called “infidels” never takes precedence over fighting the Little and Great Satans. IS(IS/IL) has indeed already set it sights on Israel.
19 posted on 05/24/2015 11:08:49 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai
IS(IS/IL)’s word is worthless. Fighting so-called “infidels” never takes precedence over fighting the Little and Great Satans. IS(IS/IL) has indeed already set it sights on Israel.

4 questions ISIS rebels use to tell Sunni from Shia

It's not ISIS's words that has Shiites worried - it's the massacres of Shiites everywhere that ISIS has won. The Iraq War caused Sunnis and Shiites to migrate towards areas with majorities of their own sects. Christians were targeted by both and generally stayed put. That's the reason so many Christian civilians were caught up, relative to Shiites, in the majority Sunni areas where ISIS's campaign has won territory. But any Shiites ISIS has caught, it has executed. It doesn't need Shiite cannon fodder - it has 1b+ Sunnis to recruit from. All it needs to do is keep winning and keep killing non-Sunnis.

20 posted on 05/24/2015 11:17:30 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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