Obama Owns ISIS Rise

[Kathianne]

Powerful essay in WSJ by Mario Loyola:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/my-iraqi-friend-and-the-obama-betrayal-1432938275


OPINION (http://www.wsj.com/news/opinion)
COMMENTARY (http://www.wsj.com/news/types/commentary-u-s)
My Iraqi Friend and the Obama Betrayal

When Islamic State began its murderous attack on Ramadi, I thought of Ismail and worried for his safety.


As the fight to retake Ramadi from Islamic State, also known as ISIS, heats up, I can’t help thinking of my visit to the capital of Iraq’s Anbar province nearly eight years ago, and of America’s broken promises since then.

In September 2007, I was in Ramadi for a gathering of Iraqi and American military commanders, politicians and local tribal leaders who had joined forces with the U.S. to defeat al Qaeda in Iraq. Then-Sen. Joseph Biden was there. “These are difficult days,” he told our Iraqi allies. “But as you are proving, you can forge a future for Iraq that is much brighter than its past. If you continue, we will continue to send you our sons and our daughters, to shed their blood with you and for you.”

It was a noble promise, and Iraqis believed it. The surge in U.S. forces and the “Anbar Awakening” had succeeded beyond all hopes. U.S. troops patrolled casually where just a few months before Marines couldn’t fight their way in. There as a journalist, I walked through one village east of Ramadi where an old vegetable vendor waved to me and said, a grandson smiling on his knee, “Thank you coalition.”

...


By the end of 2008, the U.S. and its allies had done the hard work of building a political coalition of Iraqi parties committed to reconciliation and to a long-term alliance with the U.S. I lost touch with Ismail after that, and had every reason to believe he was well.

Then came President Obama, and the end of the fragile reconciliation process in Iraq. At the end of 2011, he withdrew all U.S. forces, ignoring the advice of commanders on the ground and the private pleas of senior Iraqi leaders.

Things fell apart quickly after that. Suicide bombings, a trademark of Sunni terrorism, returned, as did the reprisals of Iranian-backed militias. Not surprisingly, Shiite-dominated Iran filled the vacuum created by the U.S. departure and ISIS fighters poured in from Syria.

When ISIS began its siege on Ramadi in April, slaughtering innocents and creating tens of thousands of refugees, I thought of Ismail and worried for his safety. Soon after that, he reached out to me. The good news: He was alive. The bad news: everything else.

...

[revelarts]

That's sadly not the whole story
3 thing briefly,

1st Bush set up the the timing on the 2011 withdrawal, and unless we want to say that Bush NEVER intended to honor that agreement then Obama can't have the whole blame on the withdrawal.

2nd the Isis Fighters are made up of the same Syrian and Libyan rebels that Obama and the people like McCAin and Garahm and even Romney agreed with and egged on.

3rd Many of the people in the Iraqi Insurgencies and NOW in Isis are some of the 40,000 former Bathist of Saddam that were stupidly put on the streets with out a job or pensions.


Does Obama hold part of the bag, absolutely. Is it all on him no. it started with the invasion of Iraq.

[revelarts]

How Saddam’s Former Soldiers Are Fueling the Rise of ISIS
October 28, 2014
Quote:

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As the Islamic State continues its march through Syria and Iraq, the jihadist group is quietly utilizing a network of former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party to help militarize a fighting force that has effectively erased the border between both nations and left roughly 6 million people under its rule.

The extent of this seemingly mismatched alliance is detailed in a new report by the New York-based intelligence firm, The Soufan Group. Despite a deep philosophical divide between ISIS and the Baath Party, the two sides have found “sufficient coincidence of interest to overcome any ideological disagreement,” the analysis, which will be released on Wednesday, found.

This “marriage of convenience,” as the report’s author, Richard Barrett describes it, can be seen throughout the ISIS hierarchy. The current head of the group’s military council, for example, is believed to be Abu Ahmad al Alwani, an ex-member of Saddam Hussein’s army. So too was al Alwani’s predecessor. Another member of the military council, Abu Muhanad al Sweidawi, was once a lieutenant colonel in Hussein’s air defense intelligence, but by early 2014 was heading ISIS operations in western Syria, according to the report.

Similarly, two deputies to the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, are former Baathists: Abu Muslim al Afari al Turkmani is believed to have been a senior special forces officer and a member of military intelligence in Hussein’s army. Today, as Baghdadi’s number two, he supervises ISIS operations in Iraq. The second deputy, Abu Ali al Anbari oversees operations in Syria. Both men are also thought to serve on the Islamic State’s main governing body, known as the Shura Council.

Even the appointment of al Baghdadi to lead the Islamic State of Iraq in 2010 is reported by an ISIS defector to have been engineered by a former Baathist: Haji Bakr, an ex-colonel from the Iraqi Revolutionary Guard. Bakr “initially attracted criticism from fellow members of the group for his lack of a proper beard and lax observance of other dictates of their religious practice,” the report notes, “But his organizational skills, knowledge of the Iraqi Army and network of fellow ex-Baathists made him a valuable resource.”....

The incentives for ex-Baathists may be equally opportunistic.

“What the Baathists probably get out of it is a way back into Iraq,” says Brian Fishman, a counterterrorism research fellow at the New America Foundation. Before the Islamic State’s emergence, Fishman notes, many Baathists had been effectively forced out of Iraq to neighboring Syria. Today, they’re back home, slowly acquiring influence and territory.

The question is, how long can the alliance last? One of the few points the two groups agree on, analysts say, is restoring Sunni rule in Iraq. Fundamentally, however, ISIS is focused on expanding the Islamic caliphate that it declared on June 29, 2014. For its part, the Baath Party in Iraq has been a largely secular, nationalist movement.

Some fissures have already begun to surface. In July, for example, Reuters reported that Sunni militants that helped ISIS capture Mosul rounded up as many as 60 senior ex-military officers and other onetime members of the Baath Party. That same month, a rival Sunni group made up of many former Baathists issued a statement denouncing the Islamic State’s persecution of Iraq’s religious minorities.

But predicting just how deep any split may go is hard to tell. On the one hand, says Barrett, ex-Baathists may decide it’s in their interest to continue harnessing the energy of ISIS in order to regain prominence in Iraq. Barrett says its easy to see ex-Baathists then tell themselves, “Once we achieve our objectives, our political objectives, then we’ll sort out all this business about these crazies who believe in a caliphate.”

On the other hand, Baathists may simply come to the conclusion that there is nowhere else for them to go. “They’re going to make the best of a bad job in a way,” Barrett says.

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How Saddam’s Former Soldiers Are Fueling the Rise of ISIS | The Rise of ISIS | FRONTLINE | PBS (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/iraq-war-on-terror/rise-of-isis/how-saddams-former-soldiers-are-fueling-the-rise-of-isis/)

[Kathianne]

That's sadly not the whole story
3 thing briefly,

1st Bush set up the the timing on the 2011 withdrawal, and unless we want to say that Bush NEVER intended to honor that agreement then Obama can't have the whole blame on the withdrawal.

2nd the Isis Fighters are made up of the same Syrian and Libyan rebels that Obama and the people like McCAin and Garahm and even Romney agreed with and egged on.

3rd Many of the people in the Iraqi Insurgencies and NOW in Isis are some of the 40,000 former Bathist of Saddam that were stupidly put on the streets with out a job or pensions.


Does Obama hold part of the bag, absolutely. Is it all on him no. it started with the invasion of Iraq.


Bush set the date via Obama election promises, that is on Bush. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111703097.html)

With that said, Bush administration handed a success to Obama who admitted that by declaring the withdrawal. He left it wide open to what appeared to be al Queda which morphed into ISIS, that is on Obama.

[revelarts]

U.S. dissolves Iraqi army, Defense and Information ministries
2003
Quote:

<tbody>

From Jane Arraf
CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief
Friday, May 23, 2003 Posted: 8:07 AM EDT (1207 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Sweeping away remnants of pre-war Iraq, Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, on Friday dissolved the Iraqi Armed Forces, the ministries of Defense and Information, and other security institutions that supported Saddam Hussein's regime.

An American senior coalition official said the move effectively disbands the Army, the Republican Guard and the Revolutionary Command Council, among others, and cancels any military or other ranks conferred by the previous regime.

"These actions are part of a robust campaign to show the Iraqi people that the Saddam regime is gone and will never return," the official said.

It also puts an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 soldiers out of work, as well as an estimated 2,000 Information Ministry employees.

Military members of the rank of colonel and above will not be entitled to severance packages and cannot work for the new Iraqi government, once it is established. Any soldier below the rank of colonel would be eligible to enlist in a new army.

CNN.com - U.S. dissolves Iraqi army, Defense and Information ministries - May. 23, 2003 (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/05/23/sprj.nitop.army.dissolve/)

</tbody>



Paul Bremer on Iraq, ten years on: 'We made major strategic mistakes. But I still think Iraqis are far better off'
Quote:

<tbody>
The first orders he issued as the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority were to ban members of the Ba'ath Party from holding public office, and to disband the Iraqi army.

Within months one of the bloodiest insurgencies in modern times was under way. There were also accusations of massive financial mismanagement. In 2005 a US administration report discovered that around $9bn allocated for reconstruction had disappeared. There was not, however, any suggestion that Mr Bremer was personally culpable for this.

Today, a decade on from the invasion, Mr Bremer strongly defends his decisions. "We took opinion polls... De-Baathification never polled below 95 per cent approval. The mistake I made was to turn this over to a small group of Iraqi politicians, and they then broadened it. I think that hurt us because it gave the impression that we were prepared to carry out a really wholesale De-Baathification of the entire society. And that was clearly not our intention."

He also stressed the decision to disband the army was approved by the British and US governments before he issued his famous decree, and admits to other shortcomings - especially his regime's failure to get the country going again. "To defeat insurgency you have to defeat them but also improve lives... clear, secure and build. We never really got the first phase done - securing the population, especially in large urban areas."...

Paul Bremer on Iraq, ten years on: 'We made major strategic mistakes. But I still think Iraqis are far better off' - Middle East - World - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/paul-bremer-on-iraq-ten-years-on-we-made-major-strategic-mistakes-but-i-still-think-iraqis-are-far-better-off-8539767.html)

</tbody>


Quote:

<tbody>
...Among the documents released is Bremer’s memo to Rumsfeld informing him of his intent to issue Order #2. In that memo, with the subject heading “Dissolution of the Ministry of Defense [MOD] and Related Entities” and dated May 19, 2003, Bremer stated, “In the coming days I propose to issue the attached order (Tab A) carrying forward the de-Ba’athification effort by dissolving Saddam’s key security ministries…. The order also makes clear we will begin the process of establishing new armed forces for the new Iraq to provide for legitimate self-defense needs.” Bremer also noted that “The order will affect large numbers of people: There were some 400,000 employees of the MOD alone”, and acknowledged “the risks of serious discontent, increased terrorism, and much higher crime rates that may result if we cut of [sic] all military and security sector pensioners in a heavily militarized society.”....Documents Indicate Policy Plan That Fueled Iraqi Insurgency Was Compartmentalized in Rumsfeld's Pentagon | Foreign Policy Journal (http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/02/17/documents-indicate-policy-plan-that-fueled-iraqi-insurgency-was-compartmentalized-in-rumsfelds-pentagon/)



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Credit were credit is due for the rise of all these new terrorist players in Iraq.

[revelarts]

But finally when it comes right down to it.
the only people to blame for being crazy terrorist are the crazy terrorist.

[revelarts]

Don't get me wrong It in no way diminishes Obama's Role.

Lybia and Syria created the safe havens and despite the Republican cheerleading for both. He's the president.

his His Support for AQ/Isis/AlNusra/ rebels in Libya and Syria
laid the rest of the ground work for the moves back into Iraq.

the "secret" training in Jordan of
U.S. TRAINED ISLAMISTS WHO JOINED ISISSecret Jordan base was site of covert aid to insurgents targeting Assad
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/officials-u-s-trained-isis-at-secret-base-in-jordan/#3Me7rSj3aTpPGvQt.99

[Max R.]

But finally when it comes right down to it.
the only people to blame for being crazy terrorist are the crazy terrorist.
Agreed. Those who blame Bush for ISIS, don't know history. Same for those who blame Obama, but there also seems to be an underlying message that Obama should commit "boots on the ground" to stop ISIS. I strongly disagree with that idea. It's time the Arabs and the Euros put on their big boy pants and fixed this problem on their own. We can supply air support and intel, but I'm tired of seeing American blood spilled protecting Europe and the Middle East.

ISIS is the natural evolution of Wahhabism; an idea that's been around since the 18th Century. It's an extreme form of Sunni Islam. Blaming it's rise on the Americans is Bull Sh*t.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/isis-having-spent-billions-the-wahhabists-of-saudi-arabia-and-qatar-find-they-have-created-a-monster-30533853.html
Isis: Having spent billions, the Wahhabists of Saudi Arabia and Qatar find they have created a monster

.....As Washington has now realised, the Islamic State will have to be stopped militarily. But real progress to re-civilise the cradle of civilisation which was Mesopotamia will require countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar – as well as the West, Iran, Israel and Syria – to make some hard decisions about the hierarchy of evil and where their greatest enemy lies.

[aboutime]

So tired of reading about all members of the so-called Human race who believe the Obama principles of...hoping ISIS, or ISIL and the enemies of Freedom, and the West...Namely Americans IS NOT A THREAT.

I agree with Obama. Get rid of our Military. Give Iran access to all the Nukes they want, Keep our borders open, and Just let EVERYONE ignore the Laws, our Constitution, and let Gang members, with criminals from ghetto neighborhoods RUN RAMPANT with all the Stolen guns they can find. Let them take everything WE THE PEOPLE who pay taxes have. That's the FAIR, OBAMA WAY to destroy America. And the only people who WIN wave BLACK FLAGS while driving U.S. Military vehicles that include Stolen Military weapons.

WHAT A COUNTRY!

[Gunny]

Powerful essay in WSJ by Mario Loyola:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/my-iraqi-friend-and-the-obama-betrayal-1432938275

They'll blame it on Bush.