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.

History Repeating Itself?

It would appear, if reports in the media are true, that remnants of Saddam's regime are trying to make a comeback in at least the city of Tal Afar.

What was it Bush once said?

"Mission Accomplished!"

The Clusterfuck That Is Iraq

What did Blair and Bush really think would happen when they kicked out Saddam without a coherent and robust plan for restoring Iraq politically and economically after the war?

Ten Years On

Ten years have elapsed since the start of the Iraq war.

Here are some sobering statistics, at least 116,000 Iraqi civilians and more than 4,800 coalition troops died in Iraq between the outbreak of war in 2003 and the US withdrawal in 2011, while the total cost to the US could reach $3 trillion according to new estimates.

Independence Anniversary

As per @pencilbloke:

"On this day in 1932 Iraq gained independence from the United Kingdom, thus ushering in a new era of stability and peaceful prosperity etc."

Quite!

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!

War Over

President Barack Obama has announced that the 9 year war in Iraq is finally over. All American troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of December this year.

The Lost War

Stephen M. Walt sums up the Iraq debacle succinctly:

"The United States and its allies lost the war in Iraq and are going to lose the war in Afghanistan...

By 'lose,' I mean we will eventually withdraw our military forces without having achieved our core political objectives, and with our overall strategic position weakened."

The wasted lives, the devastation, the financial cost all were for nothing.

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.

Gordon Brown Accused in WikiLeaks Cables

Cables obtained by WikiLeaks and published by Scotland on Sunday accuse the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown of pulling British troops out of Iraq to improve his chances of winning a general election, despite warnings from the UK's allies that withdrawal would represent a victory for terrorists.