Iran says it's ready to expand military links with Iraq

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/iran-says-ready-expand-military-links-iraq-202119055.html

AFP – 4 hrs ago

Iran stands ready to expand its military and security ties with Iraq, its armed forces chief of staff said Sunday, a week after the exit of US forces from the neighbouring Arab country.

General Hassan Firouzabadi hailed the "forced departure" of the US and allied forces that he said "was due to the resistance and determination of the Iraqi people and government," the state Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The statements were made in messages Firouzabadi sent to his Iraqi counterpart, Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari, and to Iraq's acting defence minister, Saadun al-Dulaimi, IRNA said.

The departure of the US troops "was due to the resistance and determination of the Iraqi people and government," he said.

"I hope the humiliating failure of the United States after nine years of occupying Iraq will serve as a lesson for them to never think of attacking another country," he said.

Firouzabadi added that Iran was now "ready to expand its military and security ties with Iraq."

Zebari led a delegation of Iraqi military chiefs to Iran last month to explore greater cooperation between the two defence forces.

US analysts have expressed concern that Iran could exploit the vacuum left by the US withdrawal to bolster links with Iraq's Shiite-led government.

The United States frequently accused Iran of arming Iraqi militias that attacked US forces when they were deployed there.

US President Barack Obama said on December 14 that, while the situation left behind in Iraq was not perfect, "we are leaving behind a sovereign, stable, and self-reliant Iraq."

His administration has warned Iran against trying to interfere in Iraq.

[Neonred 3,718]

You know what is going to happen in Iraq, right?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

You know what is going to happen in Iraq, right?

If you mean civil war...it's already started. The Shia run government has already put arrest warrants on the two highest Sunni government officials who have taken refuge in the Kurd run north, and the bombings have already begun. In the mean time women's rights have taken a big hit and now are about zero. Once secular Iraq under Sadam is now run by a bunch of Islamic wingnuts.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Didn't know you were a fan of Sadam WhyMe. he was your kind of sadistic dictator was he?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Didn't know you were a fan of Sadam WhyMe. he was your kind of sadistic dictator was he?

Because I pointed out the facts it makes me a fan of Sadam? LOL? I could stick my head in the sand and not read what's happening and pretend like it makes me a better American, but then I would be like all the other morons who thought Bush wanted to invade Iraq to get rid of WMD's and spread democracy.

Reality > keeping ones head up ones ####### and pretending it smells like a rose.

[lostinblue 1,989]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/150880

Saudi King Calls for Arab Super State

Saudi King Abdullah I has called for the formation of an Arab Union that would dominate the Middle East - is this Israel's future adversary?

By Gavriel Queenann

First Publish: 12/19/2011, 10:11 PM

King Abdullah

Wikimedia CommonsKing Abdullah of Saudi Arabia formally called for the formation of a Gulf Union on a backdrop of regional unrest and growing tensions with rival Iran.

"I ask today that we move from a phase of cooperation to a phase of union within a single entity," Abdullah said during his address at the opening session of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council conference in Riyadh.

"You must realise that our security and stability are threatened and we need to live up to our responsibilities," said King Abdullah.

"Our summit opens in the shadow of challenges that require vigilance and a united stance," he added.

The GCC -- comprised of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates -- was formed in 1981 as a security alliance to counter post-revolution Iran.

While Abdullah did not speak directly to the nature such a union might take, the six-member GCC has been openly discussing transforming their alliance into a unified diplomatic and military confederation for months now.

It has also been actively moving to expand its ranks. The GCC opened integration negotiations with Jordan earlier this month, and is engaged in exploratory talks with Morocco.

Last week GCC officials revealed they were making the inclusion of Egypt - the region's most populous and militarily powerful Arab country - a priority.

The GCC nations have technically been at war with Israel since 1948, raising uncomfortable questions about the future of Israel's treaties with Egypt and Jordan should those nations join.

The move also comes on the heels of the GCC flexing its muscles in the Arab League, where it moved to isolate key Iran ally Syria over the bloody crackdown of President Bashar al-Assad that has killed over 5,000 civilians.

In a clear reference to Syria, Abdullah urged his GCC allies to help their "Arab brothers so that the blood stops flowing and to guard against the risks of foreign intervention."

Analysts say isolating Assad also weakens Iran's proxy in Lebanon, the Shi'ite terror organization Hizbullah, which relies on Syria as a land-bridge to Tehran.

Earlier this year Abdullah met with Lebanon's Saudi-educated former Lebanese Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri, whose Future Movement is closely allied with the anti-Hizbullah opposition in Beirut.

According to the analysts, the move also makes it more difficult for Iran to maintain its insurgency in Iraq as the United States begins its final withdrawal from the war-torn country.

Iraqi leaders have long complained to U.S. officials that Riyadh and Tehran are respectively backing competing Sunni and Shi'ite insurgencies in their country.

If pro-Saudi opposition groups Lebanon and Syria were to come to power they too could be targeted for recruitment into Abdullah's proposed union, as might Iraq.

Earlier this year Saudi Crown Prince Turki bin Faisal al Saud said, should Iran obtain nuclear weapons, that Riyadh would seek them as well.

Such a move would place the potentially nuclear armed Arab super-state on all of Israel's borders.

Ten years from now we will see a different middle east. In reality not to our favor.

Obama vacations while the middle east burns.That pipeline NEEDS to be built. More coal plants put on line. Energy security is number one priority. Something that works, not payoffs to Obama supporters windmills and solar plants that cannot pay for themselves.

Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) has long been a commercial reality in South Africa. Sasol II & III in Secunda, South Africa, contain 80 Lurgi gasifiers between the two plants and produce 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline through a proprietary Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process from synthesis gas (syngas). Sasol II has been in operation since 1974, with Sasol III commencing operation a couple years later.

http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/coalpower/gasification/gasifipedia/6-apps/6-3-5_projects.html

Overall oil and natural gas deposits in the Beaufort Sea principally in the region of Gull Island and extending about 40 miles from it on what is commonly called the Alaskan North Slope combined with the Kuparuck fields covering an area of about 30 x 60 square miles is larger than the combined oil reserves of Iraq and Saudi Arabia combined. Gull Island that is located about 5 nautical miles from Prudhoe Bay could produce so much oil that the Alaska pipeline would have to be expanded five fold. Wellhead pressure on the surface is 90 pounds; the oil does not even have to be pumped. The same holds true for the Kuparuck field.

The Gull island fields have not produced one single dry well in an arc stretching 40 miles out from the island. All the chemistry is identical so it is one single pool of oil under 90 pounds per square inch of pressure extending 40 miles out into the Beaufort Sea. Just one capped well came in at 30,000 barrels per day through a 3 ½” pipe. For size the operating Prudhoe Bay field is presently pumping two million barrels a day Gull island could dwarf that and potential output and the Kuparuck field is fifty times larger. What is even more interesting is that the sulfur content of this oil is very low a chemical analysis indicate 0.90% Sulfur, wax content 6% Asphalt content 2% pour point –15 deg. F.

The Bakken field is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, it is estimated at 503 billion barrels. (U.S. Geological Survey report) The technical name is the Williston Basin and it stretches from Northern Montana through North Dakota and into Canada. Furthermore it is what is technically called light sweet oil, whose production cost is only $16. per barrel. That by itself is sufficient oil for American consumption through 2041 if production had begun in 2006. Placing this into perspective just this field has eight times more than Saudi Arabia, 18 times more that Iraq, and 21 times more than Kuwait.

http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/12.11/madeindc.html

We need a real department of energy not a bunch of green paper pushers.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Because I pointed out the facts it makes me a fan of Sadam? LOL? I could stick my head in the sand and not read what's happening and pretend like it makes me a better American, but then I would be like all the other morons who thought Bush wanted to invade Iraq to get rid of WMD's and spread democracy.

Reality > keeping ones head up ones ####### and pretending it smells like a rose.

Did I say I thought Bush did the right thing invading Iraq? No. You failed.

Did you praise Iraq under Sadam? Yes. Again with the fail.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Did I say I thought Bush did the right thing invading Iraq? No. You failed.

Did you praise Iraq under Sadam? Yes. Again with the fail.

I said Sadam was secular, I didn't praise the guy. Try again.