Adonis Diaries

Posts Tagged ‘Iraqis

 

How US went from supporting Syrian Kurds, to backing Turkey against them – in just 9 days

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been left flailing as Washington desperately struggles to avoid being shut out of Syria by its own allies – following a crisis it helped provoke just days ago.

For all the backpedaling and reframing the US officials are now doing, the chronology of the volte-face from Afrin to Ankara is startlingly straightforward.

READ MORE: ‘No stepping back’ from Afrin campaign: Turkish Army takes offensive to Azaz district

January 13

US announces a 30,000-strong Kurdish YPG-led Border Security Force (BSF) to stave off a Islamic State “resurgence,”operating out of the quarter of Syria’s territory that the Kurdish minority now controls.

January 15

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls BSF an “army of terror” and promises to “strangle it before it is born,” saying it will imminently invade the north-western enclave of Afrin. Ankara says the US did not consult it over BSF, and insists Washington broke its promise to no longer arm YPG, whom Turkey views as separatist terrorists.

January 17

Tillerson to media: “That entire situation has been mis-portrayed, mis-described, some people misspoke. We are not creating a Border Security Force at all.” (Read a buffer zone for Turkey with Syria, as Israel want by the Golan Heights)

Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Adrian Rankine-Galloway says of the 8,000-10,000 YPG militiamen in Afrin: “We don’t consider them as part of our ‘Defeat ISIS’ operations, which is what we are doing there and we do not support them. We are not involved with them at all.” (Note that there are also another larger Kurdish enclave in the North-West by Iraq’s border)

January 20

Turkey attacks Afrin. If there wasn’t enough dis-ingenuousness here already, the airstrike-backed ground attack is called Operation Olive Branch. Turkey says that it will create a 30-km deep “security zone” inside the Syrian border, and announces plans to push the offensive further east.

January 21

“Turkey is a NATO ally. It’s the only NATO country with an active insurgency inside its borders. And Turkey has legitimate security concerns,” says US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. “We’ll sort this out.”

January 22

Tillerson to Turkey: “Let us see if we can work with you to create the kind of security zone you might need.” The kind of security zone that will operate on the same territory as the BSF? That force that was purportedly essential to the ‘Defeat Isis’ operations? Never mind all that.

Now, Tillerson deserves some sympathy.

If Al-Qaeda turned into ISIS the last time US forces abandoned the region, what will ISIS turn into? Turkish and Kurdish tensions also predate the conflict, and it’s not Washington’s fault that Ankara is its NATO ally, while YPG provided America’s most motivated force against ISIS. All in all, Washington is now trying to make the best of a bad hand.

But the entire episode is emblematic of the incoherent and doomed-to-fail strategy the US has pursued in Syria for the past 7 years.

What did the US think was going to happen after its BSF announcement? (Not the other infamous Jerusalem announcement).

Like the teenager who unexpectedly comes home with a tattoo, it didn’t tell Ankara in advance because it must have realized what the reaction would be, or perhaps underestimated Erdogan’s fury – frequent bouts of fury– before trotting out a series of implausible denials.

The bigger problem is that Washington supports actors who have few aims in common beyond their mission to destroy Islamic State – which for most of them is no longer a priority, and for some never was.

And apart from a by-now almost mythical 2011 pro-democracy movement, none of them share American aims anyway.

In fact, most are probably questioning why the US is even there.

For Syrians, this is their own conflict, Turkey borders it, Kurds have long coveted their own state, even Russia is here at the official behest of Assad.

America’s desire to pin its colors to Kurds or Turkey or anyone else in Syria shows that is raring to remain a part of the post-conflict stage, but everyone else has either greater motivation, more legitimacy, or both.

So at its current level of engagement – where it can’t even back its horses for a week – Washington is probably best-off helping quietly, and not lighting matches and then inching away in embarrassment while others wage real wars.

(Note that US has already 8 military bases in North Syria, without the consent of Syria government.

Igor Ogorodnev for RT

READ MORE: ‘No stepping back’ from Afrin campaign: Turkish Army takes offensive to Azaz district

 

541.  Law of silence: CIA; (Oct. 28, 2009)

 

542.  Iraq, Iraqis:  How wounded are you?! (Oct. 29, 2009)

 

543.  Slow down your investment money: Stupid; (Oct. 29, 2009)

 

544.  Is the United Nation Indispensable? (October 29, 2009)

 

545.  Kid-Soldiers; (October 30, 2009)

 

546.  Goddesses Within: Guide to female myths (part 1); (Oct. 30, 2009)

Iraq, Iraqis:  How wounded are you?! (Oct. 29, 2009)

Iraqis, your government palaces and institutions are being targeted. Three days ago, two blasts in Baghdad in front of the Justice Palace and the mayor headquarter killed 160 and injured over 550 civilians.  Three weeks ago, two blasts in front of the Foreign Ministry and the Treasury in Baghdad killed 100 and injured over 200 injured. Crimes against humanity are prevalent in Iraq on a daily basis.  The enemy wants the Iraqi people to kneel and cry “Uncle”.

Iraqis, you must have realized that the periods of least casualties among you were when you focused your attacks on the occupier. Why?  Because the occupier had to invest time and energy safeguarding his soldiers instead of leisurely planning suicide terrorist attacks on your civilians in order to divide and rule.  Your best strategy to maintaining your internal security and stability is to re-focus your operations against the occupier.  The occupier does not need to wait till 2011; he will vacate much sooner with your determination to fight him; not only will the soldiers of the occupying forces get out but also every servicemen, military or civilian personnel.

Iraqis, how wounded are you?  Have you learned the latest under-estimated statistics on your state of affairs? Do you know that over one million mothers are widowed?  Do you know that over two millions are orphaned, one million are counted as disappeared, one million are dead since the pre-emptive war in 2003, and 1.5 milions have immigrated?

Iraqis, you must have realized in the last six years that occupier main objective is to spread chaos; he needs the Chiaas and Sunnis to massacre one another and create the monster of sectarianism to its zenith. The occupier wants feudal and tribal sentiments to resurface to divide your country into uncontrolled parcels of islands where Iraqis would fail to communicate and interrelate.

Iraqis, how wounded are you?  Do you know that entire regions are environmental catastrophe for dumping oil in valleys and incinerating toxic materials?  Do you know that your oil production was used for three years to re-construct fictitious infrastructures that are nowhere to be found?

Iraqis, you are told that these terrorist attacks are the work of Al Qaeda; that is a lie. Al Qaeda is no longer an independent and parallel movement: it is totally controlled by regional powers. The regional powers under the mercy of the USA receive direct orders from the CIA to activate the splintered sections of Al Qaeda.

Iraqis, you are told that terrorist attacks are the work of regional powers on your border; that is another lie.  The regional powers on your border have hundreds of other tactics to influence and pressure political outcomes; it is not in their interests to destabilize Iraq by fomenting civil unrests while the main occupier is on the field and by the tens of thousands.

Iraqis, it is about time that you realize that the Northern Middle East Block (of Turkey, Syria, and Iran) is in its latest stages of formation. Iraq is the weakest and most strategic link; this block is waiting for the US forces to vacate Iraq and the sooner the better. The Northern block is the surest guarantee for the security and stability of Iraq.  Saudi Arabia and Armenia have already realized the inevitable strategic block and are changing their policies to align with this strategic and economic block.

Iraqis, how wounded are you?  You must already know that in the first year of occupation more than one thousand Iraqi scientists and intellectuals were assassinated and counted as disappeared. You don’t want this wave of assassinating to target every educated Iraqi and to set fear and apprehension in the younger generation. The nasty and greedy occupier has to go soon, everyone of them, and this will never happen until you chase him out of your land, by any means available.

Iraqis, do not be fooled that Barak Obama is to come to your aid; he is continuing the foreign policies of Bush Junior in their integrality.  Do not be fooled that Obama is ignorant of the CIA operations for destabilizing Iraq’s society:  the CIA is fundamentally the clandestine operator of the President’s decisions. 

Turkey, Iran, and Syria have all the interests in a stable and secure Iraq.  It is up to you Iraqi to prove that you hate the occupier and you want him out today.  As long as the occupier is in your land then it is your right and honor to resume attacking him to shorten his stay; the occupier will then start respecting your independence and your determination as a free people who wants his share of dignity under the bright sun.


adonis49

adonis49

adonis49

March 2023
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