Created A Mess in The
Middle East? Just Blame Iran
By Moon Of Alabama
March 21, 2015 "ICH"
- A disgraced former U.S. general, who gave
away top government secrets to get laid, has
some opinion on the fight against the
Islamic State in Iraq:
"I would argue that the
foremost threat to Iraq’s long-term
stability and the broader regional
equilibrium is not the Islamic State;
rather, it is Shiite militias, many
backed by — and some guided by — Iran."
With that logic the U.S.
should help the Islamic State in its fight
against militia who are backed by Iran.
Years ago the very same
general
created those sectarian Shia militias he
now tries to sell as a threat. The Wolf
Brigade, a Shia militia in Iraq created by
the U.S., was under his direct command when
it randomly tortured and killed Sunnis in
Mosul. The sectarian war in Iraq is for a
great part his personal doing:
[I]n order to advance to
a still higher command and get his
fourth star, Petraeus needed the support
of Wolfowitz and the White House. The
evidence that has emerged in recent
years indicates he was involved in the
key decisions to using Shi'a sectarian
paramilitary forces for
counterinsurgency operations in Sunni
population centers.
It is the same general who
created the new generation of warlords
in Afghanistan under the deceiving label
Afghan Local Police:
“This program mobilizes
communities in self-defense against
those who would undermine security in
their areas,” Petraeus told congress in
March 2011. “For that reason, the growth
of these elements is of particular
concern to the Taliban, whose ability to
intimidate the population is limited
considerably by it.”
It turns out that
while Petraeus was burnishing his bio
with black book fodder for Paula
Broadwell’s 2012 hagiographical All In:
The Education of General David Petraeus,
his “community watch” was becoming a
village horror show for Afghan civilians
in a number of ways—right under the
noses of the U.S. Special Forces who
armed and trained them, and who in many
cases insisted on appointing their
commanders, sometimes against the
locals’ adamant opposition.
Petraeus is a specialist
in creating violent militia. But wiping away
his own sponsoring of sectarian forces
Petraeus is now blaming the creation of
al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Islamic State on
Iran:
The current Iranian
regime is not our ally in the Middle
East. It is ultimately part of the
problem, not the solution. The more the
Iranians are seen to be dominating the
region, the more it is going to inflame
Sunni radicalism and fuel the rise of
groups like the Islamic State.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq and the
Islamic State were
created in U.S. prisons in Iraq when
Iraq was under U.S. occupation. Their
creation had nothing to do with Iran.
While Petraeus sees the
Islamic State still somewhat as an enemy of
the United State it is clear that he is
excusing their being as a somewhat natural
answer to a perceived bigger role of Iran.
But it was the U.S. that took down the
anti-Iranian Taliban government in
Afghanistan. It was the U.S. that took down
the Sunni led anti-Iranian government in
Iraq. It is the war the U.S. is waging
against Syria that created the Jihadist
forces there which then drew in Iran on the
side of the Syrian government. That Iran's
role in the Middle East now looks bigger
than fifteen years ago is the direct
consequence of U.S. policies and military
operations.
Like
Tom Friedman Petraeus is blaming Iran for
the consequences of polices he supported.
Like Friedman, who even calls to arm the
Islamic State, he shows sympathy for lunatic
Jihadis by excusing their existence while
blaming Iran.
There is little doubt
where this late hand wringing over the fate
of Iraqi Sunnis comes from. The Israel lobby
and the neocons are afraid that the U.S.
will make some kind of peace with Iran, at
least on the issue of Iran's nuclear
industry. Any U.S. deal with Iran will
diminish Israel's position and it will
lower the profits of U.S. weapon
manufacturers. They want to prevent this and
want to ally with the Sunni dictatorships
and their bastard child Islamic State
against Iran.
They should not worry so
much. I doubt that the Obama administration
is sincere in getting an agreement with Iran
unless Iran offers an unconditional
capitulation. The talks will end nowhere and
the U.S. will blame Iran for U.S.
intransigence. The Chinese government seems
to also have the
impression that the U.S. is stalling the
talks:
Chinese Foreign Minister
Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry on Friday that talks on
Iran's nuclear program must not fall at
the last hurdle, and that all sides
should meet each other half way.
...
"China is willing to increase
communication with the United States on
all levels, to together run the 'last
mile' of the marathon that is the Iran
nuclear talks."
Blaming Iran for the
sectarianism in Iraq -which the U.S.
created- for the rise of radical Jihadists
-who developed in U.S. prisons- and for the
consequences of the U.S. wars in the wider
Middle East is against all historical facts.
Blaming Iran for the failure of the nuclear
talks will be added to that collection.