Cross-posted from Mike Malloy
Will you watch the President tonight, Truthseeker, as he rationalizes further US involvement in Iraq? Obama suffered (again) in the polls when he admitted last month that his administration didn't really have a plan to combat the ever-strengthening Islamic State. His plans for an incursion into Syria last year were sacked before they began, and critics in the GOP and elsewhere blame him for the rise of ISIS/ISIL as a result.
If you're wondering what impact these critiques have had on the administration's rhetoric, it's fairly obvious they are reacting by heavily borrowing from the Bush Crime Family's Mideast propaganda handbook. While they haven't quite stooped to calling the terrorists "evildoers," Obama did describe them as "a cancer" and Joe Biden promised to send them "to the gates of hell."
Cheney couldn't have said it better himself.
The administration timed the speech to coincide with the announcement of the new and improved Iraqi government, under Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. The hastily-assembled new ruling body will begin operations with several key positions missing, including a Minister of Defense, which makes coordinating a war effort with the US a little tricky. But hey, recent US invasions probably would've worked out better without a Secretary of Defense, so maybe it's all good.
Secretary of State John Kerry has announced that the United States has assembled a broad coalition to assist in defeating Saddam Hussein ISIL and we are prepared to train Iraqi forces to then defend their own nation. Uhm, isn't that what we said we've been doing there for the last 11 years?
"Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. will stand by the Iraqis as they deal with the threat of ISIS and said the country needs an inclusive central government that can lead Iraqi national forces against Islamist militants.
"He said it was important that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's new government stand up new Iraqi National Guard units that will protect their home regions, because the Iraqis can't rely on U.S. airstrikes against ISIS alone
"'It will not just be reserved to bombs or direct military assistance. It will be comprehensive, with Iraqi forces on the ground in Iraq with an army that will be reconstituted and trained,' Kerry said. Iraqi troops largely folded when ISIS first invaded the country during the Mosul invasion back in June.
"'This is a fight that the Iraqi people must win, but it's also a fight that the rest of the world needs to win with them,' Kerry said.
"He met with al-Abadi, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Ja'fari, Speaker Salim al-Jabouri and President Fuad Masum on Wednesday. The nominees for interior and defense minister have not yet been confirmed.
"Despite those meetings, Kerry could not give many specifics in terms of what tangible assurances those leaders gave him that they would continue to run the country this way, only that the U.S. is assured as long as they seem to be moving in the direction of inclusiveness.
"'The road to democracy is never easy,' he said."
And so it goes. What are the chances that, say, a few years from now we'll be assembling a broad-based coalition to combat the al-Abadi regime and train the Iraqi forces to defend themselves? That is, if some global environmental catastrophe hasn't permanently altered the geopolitical spectrum.
Speaking of which, wouldn't you love to see the President -- any President -- give a major prime time televised speech about global climate change instead of announcing the next war?
