Iraq...again.

[Aliantha]

The gathering of allied forces in Iraq was all over the news here last night and today.

Is it the same everywhere else?

[Griff]

Perpetual war is how America rolls. Pray you Aussies don't get used to it.

[Aliantha]

Well we are usually in whatever the Brits and US are in, so we kind of are already. Its less than a yeah since our troops were officially out of Iraq, and now there are some on the way back already.

[Gravdigr]

A war in Iraq is like eating Lays potato chips, you can't have just one.

[xoxoxoBruce]

LA Times

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the military's top officer, repeatedly raised the prospect Tuesday of sending U.S. troops to fight alongside Iraqi soldiers against Islamic State militants, despite President Obama’s vows not to do so..

Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he would recommend using U.S. ground troops if he deemed it necessary to rescue a downed pilot, to call in airstrikes to assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces, or to help assault a key military objective, such as the captured city of Mosul.

“If we reach the point where I believe our advisors should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I’ll recommend that to the president,” Dempsey said at the top of his prepared testimony, using one of several abbreviations for Islamic State.

[tw]

This is the responsiblity of powers that be. However due to our recent history of destroying those principles - becoming the world's policemen - those nations must relearn what their responsiblitiies are.

Egypt and some Gulf states are doing that in Libya. Currently most do not have an air force sufficient to provide necessary support. So we are the emergency backup. We are sending in air support. And demanding that countries such as Saudi Arabia step up. And that means buying sufficient weapons so that America need not return.

Unfortunately, even Turkey has this "it is not our problem" mentality. Made worse by Cheney's belief that "Regan proved that deficits don't matter." It will take time for these nation to admit what their responsiblities are.

Of course, none of this is possible when the leader in Iraq is a self serving baffon. George Jr spend hours each day on video conferences with Maliki teaching him politics. Then Maliki only undermined the Iraqi army using the same strategy and purpose that S VietNam's leaders did to undermine their army. Holbrook stated this blunty into Maliki's face. Who then hated Holbrook rather than learn from an expert on how and how not to run a government that has the people's support.

Hopefully the new leader has a brain. And not a need to enrich himself in self serving power as Maliki wanted.

As usual, the General's solution is a major campaign. This president has on multiple occasions shot down that wrongheaded need to deploy more troops to a problem that much first be solved / addressed there by them.