Reuters: U.S. strike kills militia leader blamed for Iraq attacks - U.S. official
BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military carried out a retaliatory strike in Baghdad on Thursday that killed a militia leader it blames for recent attacks on U.S. personnel, a U.S. official told Reuters.
Iraqi police sources and witnesses said a drone fired at least two rockets in eastern Baghdad at a facility used by the Iraqi militia group al-Nujaba'a.
Police and militia sources said the rockets hit a vehicle inside the Nujaba'a headquarters and killed four people, including a local group commander and one of his aides. Health sources confirmed the death toll.
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WNU Editor: The Iraqi government has responded .... Iraq Condemns U.S. After Drone Strike in Baghdad (DNYUZ/New York Times).
US Kills Top Iranian-Backed Militia Commander At His HQ In Baghdad
US carries out strike targeting Iraqi militia leader in Baghdad: official -- FOX News
US targeted member of Iranian proxy group in Iraq strike, US official says -- CNN
US strike kills Iran-backed militia leader in Baghdad as regional tensions rise -- The Guardian
US says strike kills pro-Iran militia commander at its HQ in Baghdad -- Times of Israel
Iraq: Drone strike in Baghdad kills top Iran-backed militia official -- Middle East Eye
5 comments:
Reasons to be in Iraq.
- Assist the Kurds
- The Anbar Sunni were our allies
Reasons not to be in Iraq. the Shia dominated government are incompetent, thieving ingrates who were bailed out twice and still stab us in the back.
More reasons to be in Iraq.
- Because Iran and Russia do not want the US there.
Looking at the current situation in Iraq, you never would have guessed that the USA spent billions of dollars and thousands of its young men invading Iraq twice! Yet here Iraq is, still giving succor to the enemies of the USA.
Part of the reason for this succor, is because Obama pulled out in 2011.
GWB for all his faults not engaging the Iraqi PM every day was not one of them. Obama said he had a phone and open. Was Obama's hand broken so he could not call the Iraqi PM?
Call it hand holding. Call it whatever. the Iraqi PM had a hard life where he was forced to flee form Saddam's secret police. It made him very tribal, very in group vs out group. With Bush gone the the PM went with his druthers and persecuted Sunni. It happened under Obama. it would never have happened under Bush.
Obama not doing what Bush did enabled ISIS to have such spectacular victories in 2014.
You're right that Obama wasn't up to the job but to say that the civil war didn't begin under Bush is crazy revisionism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_civil_war_(2006-2008)
You write as if the entire point of the Iraq war wasn't simply to just destabilize a regional adversary of Israel and keep them in limbo perpetually while "Greater Israel" is established on parts of their territory. A functioning liberal democracy without ethnic tribalism was never possible.
ISIS tried to ignite the civil war. They blew up the Golden Mosque in Samarra. As far as Ayatollahs go, my favorite one is or was Sistani. He counseled people not to take the bait.
Maliki, who once fled Iraq for Syria and Lebanon to save his life, would have done during the time of GWB what he did under Obama. Maliki kicked his Sunni VP out of power and then began legal proceedings.
I do not know all of what I do not know, but I can infer from general human (mis)behaviour and later from history as it unfolds. Maliki, Sistani and the VP could all be SOBs. But what i can see and what I have read is that GWB's daily phone calls kept Maliki reassured and from going tribal. The phone calls and power kept it in check.
The idea was to have 7 to 11 thousand or so troops stationed in Iraq to act as a backstop. It improves the morale of Iraqi troops, so they do not flee at first sight dust from an ISIS
convoy approaching their positions like happened in Mosul. They know thy can call the cavalry. Three things lead to the collapse of the Iraqi Army in Mosul. The cavalry was no longer there. Obama took them out through faithless negotiation. Ghost payrolling. the local military leaders went wheels up at the first sight of ISIS.
What I have not addressed is the secret police and the damage they did under GWB or Obama.
You need to reread you wiki link after talking to someone who was stationed at Ramadi. When Al Qaeda takes over a Ramadi hospital and will not let the local Sunni use it, that is not civil war. That is fucking outsiders.
Ethnic tribalism is ever present. It is not a relic of the past. Marx is only ever half right. It is ever present. It is present in places like Catalonia. It is present in East Germany. An outsider usually does not see it in Europe on the 1st pass. Look at Tusk. I never saw that one coming.
Ethnic tribalism may never go away, but it can subside into the background given fair, good and efficient governance.
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