XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: stench@codfish.com   
      
   Last week President Obama authorized sending troops back to Iraq.   
      
   #Why? It took the United States nine years to start with drawing   
   troops, and getting them all out was a long process.   
      
   #So now Obama has booked a return flight to Baghdad for 300   
   additional Special Operations troops. The stated purpose is to   
   assist in Iraq’s fight against advancing Islamist militants.   
      
   #Again, why?   
      
   #Beefing up the American presence in Iraq will only fuel more   
   fighting and put soldiers and Marines in harm’s way. And it   
   opens the door for more troops to follow.   
      
   #Obama said the additional troops were needed to better assess   
   the situation on the ground. The Islamic State of Iraq and the   
   Levant is getting closer to Baghdad, he said, which is why   
   troops are needed to determine “how we can best train, advise   
   and support Iraqi security forces going forward.”   
      
   #We’ve heard similar justifications for sending troops overseas   
   before — and not just with this war. U.S. involvement in the   
   Vietnam War began when the U.S. sent military advisers in 1960.   
      
   #Obama’s decision on Iraq is political rather than military.   
   That’s a well-established precursor to disaster.   
      
   #Some Democrats in Congress don’t want Obama, whom they   
   generally support, to re-engage in Iraq while some Republicans   
   would like to see Obama get blamed for fanning the flames of war.   
      
   #This is why House Speaker John A. Boehner and other Republican   
   critics of Obama chide the president for new involvement in Iraq.   
      
   #Sending in the so-called advisers is seen, at least by the   
   White House, as political middle ground.   
      
   #It’s a strategy that will ultimately fail.   
      
   #The radicals who want to take over Iraq have no political   
   timetable. They can, and will fight, as long as is necessary.   
   War in the Middle East drags on for generations.   
      
   #Whether U.S. troops go back into Iraq for six months or five   
   years, the situation is not likely to change much. When the U.S.   
   pulls out, the radicals move in.   
      
   #Having U.S. troops fuels the violence as the soldiers and   
   Marines are targets for those trying to undermine the new Iraqi   
   government.   
   #As we have said before, but it’s worth repeating, it is the   
   responsibility of the Iraqi government and its people to secure   
   their own country.   
      
   #The U.S. has spent at least a decade and billions of dollars   
   preparing Iraq’s army and security forces.   
      
   #If the Iraqis are not prepared to defend themselves at this   
   point, when will they be ready?   
      
   http://union-bulletin.com/news/2014/jun/23/sending-us-troops-   
   back-iraq-courting-disaster/   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)