ISIS Top Commander Trained By USA

Gulmurod Khalimov has become the top ISIS battlefield commander in Iraq.

He may prove to be a thorn in the side of the West, for unfortunately he has been trained by the USA.

As per ZeroHedge:

"What makes the ascent of Khalimov particularly embarrassing for the US is that The former paramilitary unit commander of the Tajikistan armed forces received his battlefield training from American advisors and even came to the United States on several occasions to receive special counterterrorism training through the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security/Anti-Terrorism Assistance program. 

Then last year, Khalimov defected to ISIS where the Daesh forces in Iraq welcomed the new addition to their ranks with open arms especially since he was acquainted with US military and intelligence tactics."

Still, so long as the USA military industrial complex makes money out of this mess who cares?

The USA Planned The Turkish Coup

#Turkey pro-govt Yeni Şafak goes full conspiracy theory:
US Gen John F Campbell is #TurkeyCoupAttempt mastermind.https://t.co/6Hmk40YwCM

— Yannis Koutsomitis (@YanniKouts) July 25, 2016

Given how incompetently the coup was planned and executed (in a country with experience of coups) it is not impossible that this was a CIA cock up, or simply an Erdogan false flag.

Turkey To Expel Ambassadors

Turkey has stated that it will expel ambassadors who were involved in the coup.

The question is, does this also apply to the US in which resides Gulen whom Turkey wishes to extradite?

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend - Why The USA Kowtows to Saudi Arabia

It's the oil price stupid!

USA Gives ISIS 45 Minute Warning

Evidently the USA is now playing a "gentleman's war" when it comes to ISIS, as it gave ISIS 45 minutes warning that the USA was going to bomb its oil trucks!

An "interesting" strategy!

Partition Coming?

Whilst the appointment of Haidar al-Abadi as replacement Prime Minister to Nuri al-Maliki (if the appointment actually sticks) may placate the Americans, it remains to be seen if the man is able to bring back Iraq from the brink of partition.

History is not on his side.

Mission Accomplished - Not!

The US is continuing with air and drone strikes against ISIS in Iraq, and Obama has warned that this will take some time.

Thus we have come full circle, having knocked over a regime and destabilised a country without any plan for post conflict stabilisation, the only other option that can be applied is an ongoing military operation in the futile hope that something will "come along" and fix this mess.

Mission accomplished!

Kerry Warns Nations To Stay Out of Iraq

As Syrian warplanes have apparently bombed Sunni militants’ positions inside Iraq, US secretary of state John Kerry has warned that other nations should stay out lest the situation get out of control.

Who says Americans don't do irony?

Iraq Asks For US Air Strikes

Iraq has asked for US air strikes against advancing jihadist militants, who have seized key cities and towns.

Apparently, President Barack Obama has told Congressional leaders he does not need thier approval for any action in Iraq.

US Troops Leave Iraq

Yesterday President Barack Obama spoke at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, and paid tribute to the US troops who had served in the Iraq war.

He sated that Iraq is now sovereign, stable and self-reliant; and noted that the future of Iraq is now in the hands of the Iraqi people.

Today the US Secretary of Defence, Leon Panetta, said that "the dream of an independent and sovereign Iraq is now a reality".

What is the legacy of the war?

- Corruption
- Instability
- Crippled armed forces (eg the airforce will not be capable of defending the borders until 2015)
- Meddling by the Iranians

Mission accomplished!

How To Lose $6.6BN

When the US belatedly realised that it would have to rebuild Iraq, after the 2003 invasion, it came up with a plan to transport billions of Dollars in cash via Hercules cargo planes (each plane could carry around $2.4BN).

Many years, audits and investigations later the US Defence Department cannot account for what happened to around $6.6BN of that cash.

This remarkable admission of fiscal incompetence comes at a time when the US (primarily thanks to the wars in the Middle East) is broke.

The Los Angeles Times reports that for the first time federal auditors are suggesting that some/all of the cash may have been stolen. Given that cash (as opposed to credit or capital equipment) was used in such huge quantities, it is hardly surprising that it was stolen.

Quite why the US thought that cash (as opposed to credit or capital equipment) was the best way to rebuild a war torn country in the Middle East beggars belief.

Iraq is none to happy with the situation and Iraqi officials are threatening to go to court to reclaim the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the UN's oil-for-food program.

Given that the US is now broke, and in danger of defaulting on its debt, it will be interesting to see if that claim succeeds.

The Age of Deception

The former chief UN nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei has published a memoir ("The Age of Deception") in which he suggests that Bush administration officials should face international criminal investigation for the "shame of a needless war" in Iraq.

ElBaradei accuses US leaders of "grotesque distortion" in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Quote:

"..deliberate deception was not limited to small countries ruled by ruthless dictators.."

"The Age of Deception," is published today by Henry Holt and Company.

Libya - Iraq II?

The enthusiasm for regime change in Libya displayed by the USA, UK and UN may well sound very "noble" when esposed by skilled political oratators.

However, if the UN succeeds in throwing Gaddafi out, who exactly is lined up to replace him and how long will troops be expected to be stationed there whilst "democracy" and a political infrastruture is installed?

Have we learned nothing from Iraq and Afghanistan?

A Dictatorship Reborn

Despite deposing and executing Saddam Hussein, on the pretext of "democratising" Iraq, it seems that the US mission to bring "freedom" to the people of Iraq has failed.

The Washington Post reports that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is using special forces to deal with demonstrations in Iraq:

"Witnesses in Baghdad and as far north as Kirkuk described watching last week as security forces in black uniforms, tracksuits and T-shirts roared up in trucks and Humvees, attacked protesters, rounded up others from cafes and homes and hauled them off, blindfolded, to army detention centres."

Out of the ashes of one dictatorship it seems that a new one is emerging.

As I have noted several times before, you cannot impose democracy on a society or country using the barrel of a gun.

Criminal Behaviour and Blatant Corruption

The Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction report to Congress has found that corruption and waste has cost the US taxpayer an estimated $12BN wrt reconstruction monies "invested" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The report found that "criminal behaviour and blatant corruption" were responsible for much of the waste related to the nearly $200BN spent since 2002 on US reconstruction and other projects in the two countries.

Round Two - Blair Testifies

Tony Blair is testifying to the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war, his second appearance before Chilcot.

He has stated again that the 9/11 attacks were the root cause of the war.

The British decision to back the invasion of Iraq was based on Blair's belief that Britain had to back whatever the States wanted to do, in order to maintain the so called and over hyped "special relationship".

This if course is a lousy premise for any policy, handing over responsibility for foreign policy to another country is destined to end in disaster.

Fantasy Merchants

It seems that George W. Bush and his advisers focused on toppling Saddam Hussein as soon as Bush took office, and discussed how to justify a war in Iraq.

AFP report that Donald Rumsfeld, US Defence Secretary in 2001, said before the invasion of Iraq:

"If Saddam's regime were ousted, we would have a much-improved position in the region and elsewhere."

What planet were these people living on?

Blackwater Fined

The BBC reports that the private defence company Blackwater has been fined $42M for violating US export and arms traffic laws.

The nearly 300 breaches include the export of illegal weapons to Afghanistan and the unauthorised training of foreign nationals.

The settlement means that Blackwater, now known as XE Services, will be able to bid for government contracts.

"XE has not commented on the settlement of this case. But its directors have recently stressed that XE is a different company to Blackwater, having implemented a number of management and procedural changes."

So that's alright then!

Last Combat Troops Leave

The last US combat troops have left Iraq, seven-and-a-half years after the US led invasion.

At the end of August there will be 50,000 US troops serving in Iraq, as Iraqi security forces take responsibility for securing their country.

As to what happens then, we shall see.

Leaving Iraq To The Wolves

Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein's former deputy, has accused the US president of "leaving Iraq to the wolves" as a resulkt of the decision to withdraw combat troops during a period of increasing violence.

Aziz told The Guardian that the United States should stay in Iraq, in order to correct the mistakes it had made since the 2003 invasion.

"We are all victims of America and Britain.

They killed our country in many ways. When you make a mistake you need to correct a mistake, not leave Iraq to its death."

He went on to say:

"For 30 years Saddam built Iraq and now it is destroyed. There are more sick than before, more hungry.

The people don't have services. People are being killed every day in the tens, if not hundreds.

I was encouraged when [US President Barack Obama] was elected president, because I thought he was going to correct some of the mistakes of Bush. But Obama is a hypocrite. He is leaving Iraq to the wolves."

Aziz was jailed for 15 years in 2009 for murder, and given a seven-year term in August 2009 for his role in expelling Kurds from Iraq's north.