The present problems of Iraq are 100% down to our murderous invasion and occupation. The idea that further western bombing will make things better is so deluded as to beggar belief.
I was surprised to find during my Burnes research that the imperialist powers of Britain and Russia were explicitly exploiting Sunni and Shia divisions to further their conquests of Islamic lands as early as the 1830’s. This has been the major tool of the neo-con Middle Eastern gameplan for some time, spreading disunity and crippling war throughout the Middle East, with the hope that this will benefit the interests of Israel.
The peculiar result has been that in general the West is very actively supporting Sunni armies and miscellaneous forces, but in Iraq is supporting the Shia. ISIS – which is heavily backed by the Saudis, who hate al-Maliki – brings this paradox into sharp relief. The current US and UK strategy is to persuade Saudi Arabia to get ISIS to reconcentrate their efforts against Assad, on the understanding they will be allowed to keep the Sunni areas of Iraq (the old neo-con plan of dividing Iraq is firmly back on the agenda).
The BBC News this morning said that ISIS would not be capable of using the billions of dollars of sophisticated western armaments they have captured. I think you will find the Saudis remedy that one quite quickly. It is quite possible we will see some token airstrikes to kill civilians in Mosul, in order to appease Obama’s domestic backers who are never happy if Americans aren’t killing enough people, but only after agreement has been reached with the Saudis that no serious harm will be done – except to the ordinary people neither Obama, the Saudis or al-Maliki care in the least about.
Ba’al
Yes I believe it is about power – US power, with a lot of small politicalfry swimming round the shark, cleaning its teeth and scavenging.
Because they are swimming round the shark, and not God, they get paid what God calls a miserable pittance, for serving the aims of the enemies of Islam.
If the CIA/Daish win in Baghdad and go onto Saudi territory which may be USUKIS’s forward plan, then the Saudis are going to get a taste of their own medicine. Right now both Jordan with CIA agent Abu Qatada, and Saudi with CIA Prince Bandar are in the frame for Arab springisation. i.e. a big dog shaking those countries like a rat and banging their heads on the ground before letting them go again.
It particularly annoys me when Jemand tries to portray this violence as part of the nature of Islam. The Muslims have been deceived into investigating philosophy in the past, and mysticism. Now they have been diverted into politics. Politics, like philosophy and mysticism are definitely not any part of Islam. If you go down these sidings, the track loops back into the jungle.
Muslims are told to do good deeds and set a good example. The points have been changed. They need to reverse back up the track, change the points back and get out of the political siding. If I was Kurdistan, I would not accept Kirkuk on the back of US/Daish activities. I would be siding with Maliki against CIA/Daish and kicking the troublemakers out of the country. Also I would make sure that the suited Daish who have UK passports and live in London were put back on the plane and returned to their masters in USUKIS Chavy Land.
Loved this…
http://hotcopper.com.au/threads/dear-tony-blair-love-iraq.2297814/?post_id=13522710
Just because you intervened in a Sunni-Shia row that’s been raging since the 7th century, removed the one unifying force in a nation of about six different ethnic groups, made a complete hash of the occupation which radicalised thousands and pulled out leaving us the 7th most corrupt nation in the world is no reason to beat yourself up.
Saddam and his boys were utterly monstrous, and thanks to your £1.1trillion war we now have a bunch of new and interesting monsters to deal with.
We’d love to introduce you to them if you ever come over this way.
Hope you like the oil, and thanks for all the fundamentalists!
Oh, yes.
Much being made on the BBC News about this development.
Drill free dentistry.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27866399
The state broadcaster ended the report with the advice to maintain good oral hygiene but omitted to warn about consuming sugary foods and sugary drinks which contribute to dental caries
There is no government action on this and in spite of the promises made earlier by Tory health ministers, nothing has happened. Are they supporting the Food Manufacturers’ lobby just like the line taken on Israel and Scotland Better Together.
Here is one of those ministers at the Food and Drink Manufacturers Assn. introduced by who else Michael Buerk. Notice it’s all ‘voluntary’ for the manufacturers and up to the individual to take their own action.
Some fizzy drinks contains 7 or 8 teaspoons of sugar btw.
Fitness4London have put two comments below that video.
Fitness4London
As one leading academic in this field recently said: “Putting the food industry in charge of public health is like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank” The 5 billion calories reduction target (and 1 billion alcohol unit reduction target) which Anne Milton proudly announces are a ludicrous charade. There are no effective regulatory measures in place to ensure these targets are met. There are no effective penalties for companies which fail to meet these targets. Total smokescreen.
Fitness4London
No wonder Britain’s health continues to get worse and worse, when government leaves it up to the food industry to lead the way to boosting public health. Anne Milton’s job title should be re-named: Parliamentary Under Secretary for Boosting the Profits of the Junkfood and Alcohol Industries. Her responsibilities include: removing statutory regulations that require reductions in saturated fat, salt, sugar, thus boosting the profits of companies which manufacture these addictive foods.
PS Anne Milton is now a Junior Whip.
This should help the situation greatly.
‘UN’s humanitarian chief Valerie Amos holds Iraq briefing
The UN Humanitarian Chief Valerie Amos is holding a news briefing about the Iraq crisis, along with those in Syria and Ukraine, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.’
References to her in previous pieces by Craig.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/?s=valerie+amos
Mark Lyall Grant, referred to in the first one, was on the media yesterday doing some of his usual handwringing. I certainly would not buy a used car from him as the saying goes.
TO ALL…
I note that Boris read Craig’s blog – then – he scrolled down and saw my post and surprise! surprise! – look at what he concluded:-
Johnson writing in The Telegraph on Sunday said that “I have come to the conclusion that Tony Blair has finally gone mad.”
The sentence was incomplete – since he really meant to add and say: “…because not only do I now know – but Craig and Courtenay did fully convince me.”
I guess that if B-liar did confess to the horrors that he caused in Iraq – he would be so distraught that the asylum would be the only place to contain and restrain him. He has truly gone bonkers.
The Blair’s latest maunderings were issued on one of Blair Inc LC’s several websites, and it is unlikely the meejah would have noticed them had their attention been directed there by a Blair flunkey. However, Blair itself appears to have been in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, which accounts for the pathetically pro-Sunni-dictator, as opposed to anti-Sunni-insurgent tone of the piece.
It’s also of passing interest that even the South China Morning Post failed to notice The Blair’s visit to China last week. Was it simply to meet Renzi? Or is he just finding new opportunities for Zurich Insurance?
for ‘had’ read ‘unless’, above. Sorry.
@
Peacewisher
15 Jun, 2014 – 1:47 pm
Speaking of deluded, Anon…. one can see why.
I’ve just listened to latest BBC TV news. Several minutes of Tony Blair (from Abu Dhabi) saying that current developments in Iraq not caused by the 2003 invasion and giving his opinions on what should now be done. ……
The jury has been out for a long time??
Jury in Rebekah Brooks trial retires to consider verdicts
Eight-month trial over alleged phone hacking, corruption and perversion of the course of justice enters final phase
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/11/rebekah-brooks-phone-hacking-trial-jury-consider-verdicts
Is betting on the outcome of a trial allowed?
Meyer on Bleyer* –
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2658093/No-Mr-Blair-Your-naive-war-WAS-trigger-savage-violence-writes-CHRISTOPHER-MEYER-Ambassador-US-Iraq-War.html
And he should know.
*Azeri rendition of His Name. Fact. Toni Bleyer.
Bley: v.i. To simultaneously bluster, lie and pray (ostentatiously)
Bleyer: N. One who bleys.
…. Infrastructure destroyed, puppet government appointed, balkanisation achieved, violent chaos sustainable indefinitely with minimal further input.
…. Threat to Israel removed.
Iraq is not a “failed Western intervention,” Iraq is “Western mission accomplished.”
Petition to sack Tony Blair as Quartet Representative
To the backers of Quartet Representative, Tony Blair:
United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon;
United States Secretary of State, John Kerry;
Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov; and,
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Baroness Ashton.
Tony Blair does not represent us and we request that you remove him as Quartet Representative.
[Your signature]
Signed.
Blair’s only interest in the project is personal aggrandisement.
But Fred
The statement you pretend to be addressing:That is because I was addressing the statement you made:
“All the main TV programmes and press outlets are so free that they do not cover important stories like RD’s fascists in Kiev attack on the Russian Embassy a day and a half ago.”
Includes other “important stories” like the ones you did not address. Care to address them? Or are you so supportive of our beloved MSM that nothing they say or do can be wrong?
Courtenay, you’re a man, my son, as Kipling said.
Guano, very witty about the polyfilla. It got me thinking about cracks, and filling them. But the image that might conjure among the non-eminences is too lurid to think about. 🙂
…. Threat to Israel removed.
Not yet. The one potential unifying factor on all sides, except perhaps the Kurds, is detestation of Israel. A crafty factional leader could play this card successfully. And I wouldn’t bank on the Kurds.
Note also that ‘we’ve always been at war with Eastasia’, in Orwell’s words, is in the process of changing into ‘we’ve always been at war with the noble insurgents battling to topple Assad’ – in mine.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/16/us-talks-iran-stop-iraq-militants
Whoops. That’s the evil theocracy which wants to wipe poor-little-Israel from the map, right?
Complicated, innit?
A sanity helper script for Craig Murray’s blog. 100% effective and 100% safe. Hide comments by any person(s) of your choice.
Get Your Goat Back With Habbabreak!
The idea that Saudi Arabia is a friend of ISIS is news to me. Bin Laden was stripped of his Saudi citizenship precisely because the Saudi royal family disapproved of him. I doubt that ISIS can expect much sympathy from Riyadh if the Americans decide to use drone attacks against ISIS armies in their conflict with Maliki, and Iran may well connive at the matter.
What a mess. Paul Bremer’s prevention of ex-Baath members from government employment contributed to it IMO.
Saudis aren’t too fussy about how their proxies remove Assad, (and neither, though their public profile is low at the moment, are the Israelis). They may not be friends of ISIS, but ISIS is well-supplied….
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304703804579382974196840680.
Paywall. Or Google ‘saudi assad rebels’, and get the full cached version (URL of this is too long)
Mary
“The ‘excellences’ contribute by informing each other and maybe the readers..”
__________________________
Yes, that’s what I said : there’s about 10 people who use this blog as a sort of chatroom (probably because a real chatroom wouldn’t have them).
As for the “maybe the readers”, well, you could argue that spoon-feeding them all this “material” (for want of a better polite word) just makes them lazy and disinclined to find out things for themselves. And that would never do, would it.
*********************
La vita è bella, life is great!
Guano
“my fault, I’ve got an ear infection,”
_______________
If that’s the only part of you that’s infected you’re doin’ good, boyo. 🙂
ISIS is a put up job. Guano is right. This is the next phase of the Syria campaign. It’s got nothing to do with Iraq. I imagine this new stronger ISIS is made up largely of the people and weapons left behind in Jordan by those two recent US “exercises”, supplemented by Saudi and/or Qatari personnel and cash.
They’re getting hammered in Syria but, all of a sudden, ISIS manage to take a huge swath of northern Iraq? How is that possible?
The US will set up a “safe zone” or some such bullshit on the Iraq/Syria border once they’ve bombed the crap out of the desert and that’s how they’ll open another front. It will also help block Iranian support for Assad coming through Iraq.
Not a peep on Auntie today about who funds ISIS or where they get their weapons from.
If this is US policy, it will inevitably blow back on them, whether physically or diplomatically. It always does. An unstable, well-armed, guerilla-infested countryside is not a good environment for oilwells.
Ba’al Zevul (Ah Shaddupa Your Face!) 16 Jun, 2014 – 4:13 pm
If this is US policy, it will inevitably blow back on them, whether physically or diplomatically. It always does.
For example ….?
“If this is US policy, it will inevitably blow back on them, whether physically or diplomatically.”
_____________________
Another lofty dictum, issued to the masses by the temporary tenant of Mt Olympus?
A Node,
” For example.?”
Erm….The Iraq War in 2003?
@John Goss
You made a statement which was not true.
I knew it was not true because I had seen the incident reported on the BBC web site including video obviously taken from a BBC News bulletin.
I pointed this out because I believe it is better if people form their opinions based on reality not fantasy.
End of story.
Don’t ‘they’ love their silly acronyms. Take TTIP for example. The TRADE AND TRANSATLANTIC, TRADE AND INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP.
AKA
A CHARTER FOR DEREGULATION, AN ATTACK ON JOBS, AN END TO DEMOCRACY.
Take action. Stop it happening.
Read all about it. John Hilary, War on Want. He is an excellent man.
http://rosalux.gr/sites/default/files/publications/ttip_web.pdf
38 Degrees are seeking donations to run a big campaign. Their e-mail today says:
‘Dave, a 38 Degrees member from Minehead in Somerset says “it’s absolutely essential that we campaign on this”. And tens of thousands of other 38 Degrees members agree – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is disastrous and together we have to do all that we can to stop it going through as it is.
TTIP is a hugely influential trade deal between the US and the EU. 38 Degrees members recently voted to prioritise stopping the part of the deal which lets businesses sue governments that introduce new laws that could damage their profits. This is already happening in other countries. Right now the Australian government is being sued by a tobacco company after introducing laws banning branding on cigarette packets.
Sounds sinister right? It really is. And, unsurprisingly, negotiations over TTIP are shrouded in secrecy. The deal’s being thrashed out right now by politicians and corporate lobbyists behind closed doors.
So if we’re going to beat this thing together, first thing’s first – we need to bring TTIP into the open. Let’s get TTIP out of secret negotiations, and into public conversation. We need to cause a massive public outcry to stop this trade deal from sliding under the radar.
Let’s create hard-hitting ads and splash them all over the country. From full page spreads in newspapers, to bus stops and billboards. The 38 Degrees staff team will work with an agency to come up with a brilliant design, and we’ll make sure it’s seen everywhere.
Together we can stop global corporations running our government and ruining our planet. Can you chip in a few pounds now to help fund a massive, people-powered ad campaign across the country?
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/TTIP-Ad-Fundraiser
TTIP would put the profits of big business ahead of everything else. It would weaken the rules which protect consumers, our environment, our welfare and health services, to much weaker levels seen in the USA. And it would stop future governments from rolling back privatisation of our public services, such as the NHS, energy companies, or the Royal Mail.’