The Associated Press reports that al Qaeda in Iraq is making a big comeback what with the vacuum we left behind, the unpreparedness of local forces to assume their own security responsibilities and political in fighting;
Iraq has seen a jump in al-Qaida attacks over the last 10 weeks, and officials believe most of the fighters are former prisoners who have either escaped from jail or were released by Iraqi authorities for lack of evidence after the U.S. military withdrawal last December. Many are said to be Saudi or from Sunni-dominated Gulf states.
During the war and its aftermath, U.S. forces, joined by allied Sunni groups and later by Iraqi counterterror forces, managed to beat back al-Qaida’s Iraqi branch.
But now, Iraqi and U.S. officials say, the insurgent group has more than doubled in numbers from a year ago – from about 1,000 to 2,500 fighters. And it is carrying out an average of 140 attacks each week across Iraq, up from 75 attacks each week earlier this year, according to Pentagon data.
But the left told me that the only reason Iraqis had security problems is because we were there. Well, now we’re not there and the problems are growing, apparently. Maybe if this administration had been able to negotiate a continued presence there, our troops would be able to help the Iraqis police their country.
Intelligence indicates as many as 2,500 al-Qaida fighters are now living in five training camps in the al-Jazeera area, according to two other senior Iraqi security officials. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, estimated that only 700 al-Qaida fighters were in Iraq when U.S. troops withdrew. Six months earlier, in June 2011, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the U.S. Senate that 1,000 al-Qaida remained in Iraq.
I guess no one could have predicted this, unless they had more than a half-a-brain, and were able to think beyond empty platitudes and anti-war bumper sticker slogans.
I have remained in contact with one of my terps over the last 4 years. I actually asked him how things were going since the US pulled out and he told me things were very bad.
Shocking I know
Another long, doomed cruise on the Failboat that is our security policies in the Middle East.
Well, I’m stunned, how about you?
There seems to be as much disconnect among people there, as people here. Until they acknowlege what they’re up against, they will not be successful in fighting it. The first action you have to take against a disease is to admit you have one!
“Maybe if this administration had been able to negotiate a continued presence there, our troops would be able to help the Iraqis police their country.”
And they could be there under the jurisdiction of Iraqi law……doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.
As a veteran of the Iraq War, let that fucking country burn… A message from your friendly neighborhood Consequence Management NCO (CA SGT)…
To be fair, we offered to stay, but the Iraqis wouldn’t let us without being subject to Iraqi law. The SOFA was agreed to by Bush and Maliki. Obama’s noninterference in that agreement is like the only thing I like about him. Iraq has to stand for itself now.
Yeah Lilyea I am sure if it were up to you we would stay in Iraq forever.. You war mongering piece of shit.. You wont be the one going and nobody from your family either..
I seem to remember a recent thread that mentioned the Iraqi army couldn’t keep their vehicles running!? If they can’t keep a car or truck running how are they going to conduct anti-insurgency operations?!
If they can’t keep a car or truck running, how are they going to keep their country running?
Barry is certainly gloating on campaign trail about ending the Iraq War and keeping a promise. Nevermind it was on Bush’s timeline, and conditions there rapidly going to hell -its all about looking good on the campaign stump & checking off the to-do-list for the empty chair.
Fuck em, we offered to stay and they wanted to try our soldiers in their kangaroo courts for who knows what? I’d rather a million Iraqis die than have a U. S. soldier have to endure the court system of a shithole 3rd world country. You reap what you sow
“Maybe if this administration had been able to negotiate a continued presence there, our troops would be able to help the Iraqis police their country.”
For how long? Forever? We can’t help every screwed up country on the planet, there are too many of them.
I say wall them off, let them kill each other, and if they cross the wall, wipe them out. Same with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and any other medieval place.
It’s threads like this and the posts, that really show the need for a “Like” button here.
as a 2x veteran of Iraq myself, let the country rot. We should’ve never wasted all those resources and money going in there and should’ve put tons of forces into Afghanistan instead. Afghan would probably be a little bit better then it is now.
I went late in the game in Iraq 07-07 and 08-09 and we barely even helped the Iraqi’s, with barely being escorting the graduating Iraqi Army/Police dudes back home to get their 2-3 days of leave then they take their paycheck and run afterwords and not even serve. A couple of other things too but did not “help” them. Thats about it, the second time we did squat to actually “help”.
Waste of time going into Iraq.
I agree with Lucky, let that country and the ‘Stan burn for all I care.
It doesn’t matter how long our forces stay there. When the time came for our troops to comply with B.S. ROE’s, when they had to second guess every move they made outside the wire for fear of persecution, was the day the cause was lost.
What kind of “war” is that? No wonder the enemy no longer feared us. If we cannot wage a proper ass kicking to the taliban and others who would hurt us, it is not even worth even one soldier to lose their life trying to train these idiot locals who cannot do one proper jumping jack after 10 years.
Agree with alot of the above posts. Been to Iraq twice. We had to watch the Iraqi police and army, as they were only just a little more trustworthy.
Their culture is get all for me, screw everyone else. Even family and neighbors.
They cannot get beyond their illogical hatred of each others denominations, much less anyone not muslim. Except for the Turkomans, Kurds, Copts, and a few others.
There is hope for some of them.
Most of the guys I served with over there agreed, as soon as we left, it would go back to business as usual, being a backwards, third world shit hole. Kind of sad, to waste all the American blood, effort and resources, that in the end, didn’t really accomplish that much.
I agree with the sentiment that have our folks and money out and let them go on and live in their fukked up world. As long as they stay out of our business.
And I say this with sadness, with friends, Terps and otherwise that I left in Iraq. I told them to leave while they could. Some did make it out.
You can’t help people who won’t join the modern world, and won’t try to make their country better for all their citizens.
I went the first time in 2004-5 and the second in 2009-10. The first thing I thought when I walked off the plane the second time is “This place looks (and smells) just a shitty as it did 4 years ago”, and that was in Baghdad. The only part of the country that was progressing was above the green line in Kurdistan. I’m tending to agree with the other multiple OIF vet posters, unfortunately. Now I’m in OEF for the first time, and I’m getting the same feelings.
Afghan is even worse, but we should’ve stomped them by sending all the troops there instead of Iraq, all of it is a security policy failure.
@17, I know in 2005 you could walk around Erbil without body armour. You are correct, North of the Green Line is the only place making progress.
In any of the places I went i never walked without some kind of cover or body armor, not even in the bazaar in afghan which was literally, a stone throw away and you could hop the fence over and land in it. we probably could but i wouldnt of taken that risk. The PC generals we have these days would’ve found out and smashed us all.
I went all over Iraq and didn’t really do much compared to other units and people. same with Afghan. I was always a late go-er, as went in 07(our battalion jumped on with one from hawaii that was short handed) and then 08-09 where we had 3 months to do a workup then deploy(again helping a short unit). then i volunteered with afghan with a reserve unit.
Erbil was a different kind of place. It was the only place that we ever went without body armour. Granted that could be because at the time I was attached to an ODA team and they where well loved up there. I’ve never been to Afghanistan so I can’t relate to any of the stuff there. During my second tour in Iraq (2008-2009) there wasn’t anything going on in the Diyala province. My Platoon was one of the few that made contact from my Battalion and that was once and only 2 or 3 bursts from an AK. Heck 1/3 of my Platoon didn’t even earn CIBs. But Iraq was still a shit hole, just a less violent one.