Category Archives: Iraq
ISIS Strategy Session
President Obama still isn’t impressed by the JV team. Ten months into the contest he doesn’t yet have a strategy for ISIS. He’s reaching out to Sunni tribes in Iraq to scout more fighters. Thomas Sowell says the president blew a big lead and now the game is his to lose.
Climate of Fear
The Islamic Caliphate is capturing and holding territory in Anbar province and Syria. ISIS murdered 262 people in Palmyra over Memorial Day weekend. If past behavior is any guide, antiquities there could be doomed. President Obama called the defeat of Ramadi a “tactical setback”.
In a commencement speech at the Coast Guard Academy last week the president hinted at his military priorities. He named climate change the top national security threat.
Knowing What We Know Now
Megyn Kelly asked Jeb Bush if, knowing what we know now, he would have supported the invasion of Iraq. It would be a great question to ask Hillary Clinton since, as a Senator, she voted for the war. Alas, Hillary is above questioning so Megyn’s question is only being asked of Republican candidates.
Nobody asked him, but Professor Victor Davis Hansen answers the question here.
It’s a good question. Most of the Senate Democrats who voted for the the war quickly turned against it. Many Republicans and public opinion soon headed for the exits too.
With everybody against him, President Bush finally fired Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, poured more troops into Iraq, and put General David Petraeus in charge. The NYT published MoveOn.org’s ad calling him General Betray Us. Hillary called him a liar.
As it turned out the Petraeus plan worked. In 2010 Joe Biden proclaimed events in Iraq the Obama administration’s finest hour. President Obama withdrew U.S. forces as he had promised.
Islamic man-burning barbarians soon filled the vacuum. Obama called them al Qaeda’s JV team. On Sunday the JV team routed the Iraqi defenders in Ramadi – 70 miles from Baghdad.
At present the last line of defense appears to be Shiite fighters from Iran.
Knowing what we know now, who in their right mind would answer yes?
Enemy of Your Enemy
Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces are fighting in Iraq against ISIS. That would be the Islamic Republic vs the Islamic State. President Obama is negotiating a secret nuke deal with the Islamic Republic. Not that this has anything to do with Islam.
In his speech before Congress, Bemjamin Netanyahu reminded his audience that in this case the enemy of your enemy is still your enemy. Many Democrats saw Bibi and Boehner as the enemy and boycotted the speech. Here’s a list of no-shows from IBD.
Charles Krauthammer points out that Netanyahu hinted Israel could live with an agreement if Iran changes is aggressive ways. President Obama, another no-show, dismissed the speech as “nothing new”.
Violent Extremism is No Virtue
President Obama has convened a Summit 0n Countering Violent Extremism to break the code of why they hate us.
State department spokesperson Marie Harf explains we can’t kill our way out of this war. We need shovel ready jobs.
Update: I changed the cutline on this one. I wanted to use it in the first place but didn’t think anybody would get it. But now that Harf’s comments have gone viral here it is – a Bokbluster exclusive.
