The Final Push -- Splitting Up Iraq

"Clear and consistent"? When has US policy in the Middle East ever been clear and consistent? Is it clear and consistent in Libya, Syria, or Yemen where jihadi militias are armed and supported either directly or indirectly by Washington or its allies? Is US policy clear and consistent in Ukraine where far-right neo-Nazi extremists are trained and given logistical support by the US to fight a proxy war against Russia?

Sure, Obama wants to make it look like he opposes the bill, but how much of that is just public relations? In truth, the administration is on the same page as the Congress, they just want to be more discreet about it. Here's Harf again: "We look forward to working with Congress on language that we could support on this important issue."

Indeed, the administration wants to tweak the wording for the sake of diplomacy, but that's the extent of their opposition. In fact, the House Armed Services Committee has already complied with this request and removed the offending clause from the bill (asking for recognition of the Peshmerga and Sunni tribal militias as "countries") while, at the same time, "maintaining that some of the military aid should go directly to the two forces fighting ISIS..."

So they deleted a couple words from the text but meaning remains the same. Also, according to Huffington Post:

"Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Sunday he wants to identify 'a way to streamline the process of getting the weapons to both the Sunni tribes and the [Kurds] ... while at the same time not undermining the government of Iraq in Baghdad.'"

There's no way to "streamline the process" because the two things are mutually exclusive, Abadi has already said so. If Obama gives weapons to the Sunnis and the Kurds, the country is going to split up. It's that simple.

So how has Obama responded to these latest developments?

Last week he met with Kurdish president Masoud Barzani in Washington. Here's what happened:

"Asked by Kurdish outlet Rudaw whether he had secured any commitments on a change to the policy from President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden when he met with them Tuesday, Barzani responded, 'Both the vice president and the president want the peshmerga to get the right weapons and ammunition. ... The important point here is that the peshmerga get weapons. How they will come, in which way, that's not as important as the fact that peshmerga need weapons to be in their hands." (Kurdish Leader Aligns With White House Over Congress On ISIS Strategy, Huffington Post)

So Obama basically told Barzani he'd get the weapons he wanted. (wink, wink)

Can you see what a sham this is? Iraq's fate is sealed. As soon as Congress approves the new defense bill, Obama's going to start rushing weapons off to his new buddies in the Kurdish north and the so called Sunni triangle. That's going to trigger another vicious wave of sectarian bloodletting that will rip the country to shreds.

And that's the goal, isn't it: To split the country into three parts, to improve access to vital resources, and to eliminate a potential rival to US-Israel regional hegemony?

You know it is.

Listen to a two-part conversation with Mike Whitney on the debut episode of CounterPunch Radio.