SETTING UP A BASE FOR ALLIED TROOPS ON THE IRAN-IRAQ BORDER!!!!! Why We shouldn’t trust the spin of Patraeus and Neo-Con Supporters in Washington
By Kevin Stoda, Kuwait
Even before the recent French leadership's warning today that the world needs to prepare for a war with Iran, the Bush-Petreaus team were busy last week white washing the facts--facts which only independent media and national media outside the USA seem to be aware of. The following is a quick summary or round-up of the facts and editorials most of the world are aware from news this past week.
Last week, the BBC and local Kuwaiti news network (KUNA), reported that the U.S. under General Patraeus, had asked Britain to send 350 troops to the border of Iraq and Iran in the first of several steps to broaden the chances for direct conflict with Iraq.
The high-risk maneuver is described as follows in reports from Baghdad and on the border with Iran. “In signs of a fast-developing confrontation, the Iranians have threatened military action in response to attacks launched from Iraqi territory while the Pentagon has announced the building of a US base and fortified checkpoints at the frontier.The UK operation, in which up to 350 troops are involved, has come at the request of the Americans, who say that elements close to the Iranian regime have stepped up supplies of weapons to Shia militias in recent weeks in preparation for attacks inside Iraq.”
PROXY WAR
From the European and Middle Eastern perspective these questions are being pondered:
-Why is the U.S. media reporting that Iran is such a big threat?
-Why is the Senate and House not calling bush’s recent bluffs?
-Who has the biggest proxy war going in Iraq currently?
-“Who” is really fomenting “what kind of war”?
The claim seems to be that Tehran is causing more trouble in Iraq than the United States or Britain have been up to.
How can that be when we have the U.S. military on the ground in some Sunni corners of Iraq supporting displacement of Shia populations by handing out weapons to Sunni militias and visa versa?
Recent independent reports from Iraq show that it is the U.S. is involved in arming militias which is leading or has already led to ethnic- and religious- cleansing of certain peoples from certain regions.
Here is what Arun Gupta, an editor of "The Indypendent", has stated: “Now, one of the key things that Petraeus did was they decided -- him and his command decided -- that they were going to create this paramilitary force, the Special Police Commandos. They armed them. They funded them. They trained them. And they also issued the usual denials: ‘Oh, we're not giving them any weapons. This is an Iraqi initiative.’ And so, now he’s saying the same thing with the Sunni militias.”
USA--HANDING OUT WEAPONS?
Gupta reported on Democracy Now last week: “Also during his [Gen. Petraeus’] tenure, 190,000 weapons went missing. These were Pentagon weapons that were supposed to go to Iraqi Security Forces. A report came out last month stating that there was no proper bookkeeping done. There were more weapons, but what it found was that 190,000 assault rifles and handguns, along with all sorts of body armor and other military equipment, had just completely gone off track. There were no records of it kept. Such simple things as recording the serial numbers were not done.”
With this kind of surge in weaponry getting “lost” into militia hands, there is little wonder that each of the neighboring countries—Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey—are nervous and may desire to intervene in what is happening in Iraq.
However, from anyone’s perspective in the Middle East, creating a war with (Iran just at U.S. Neo-Cons did illegally in 2001-2003) is NOT WANTED, NOR DESIRED in the short-, mid- or long-term.
In short, the pressure for the U.S. to leave will likely increase the more the U.S. picks a fight with Iran—in any case, Iran is one of the worst economically run countries in the region and the one particular state regime most likely to fall under the weight of its own mismanagement without the U.S. lifting a finger over the next decade or two.
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