Iraqi forces withdraw from ISIS-held Tikrit

[mota bhai 2,675]

By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Iraq state forces have retreated from the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, held by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, after a renewed effort to take back the city was met with heavy opposition.

...

Tikrit lies 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad. It is home to loyalists of the former dictator Saddam Hussein and ex-army officers who united with ISIS to occupy large swathes of north and west Iraq last month.

...

The Islamic State holds authority over much of the territory immediately to the north of the city. The group posted photos on an associated Twitter feed late Tuesday of what it called "the Tikrit battle" of dead Jihadis from the battle that it referred to as "martyrs" and of tanks and trucks with mounted machine guns flying the trademark black and white Islamist flag, according to Reuters.

ISIS' media account on Twitter concluded Tuesday night, “Islamic State crush Maliki army in near Tikrit and shot down 2 helicopters, and gained many war spoils.”

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/07/16/Iraqi-forces-withdraw-from-militant-held-Tikrit-.html?ab

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Way back when people saw this coming, but everyone was so caught up in the militaristic jingoism after 9/11 that noone questioned the whole push for war.

Iraq was a house of cards and Bush and Blair broke it.

[mota bhai 2,675]

It's for the best. These colonial era nations are all in dire need of dismantling. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, even India.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It's for the best. These colonial era nations are all in dire need of dismantling. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, even India.

I'm not sure what's happening in Iraq is in anyone's best interests.

[rlogan 2,036]

The fact this is not universally acknowledged as the perfect example of how idiotic it is to listen to warmongers chirping about the USA being the world hyperpower, swashbuckling its way to perfecting every corner of the earth with bombs... this proves more of the same is coming. Here was a secular-government country we invaded on the pretense of it having Al Qaeda alignment (which it did not) - and these guys are even worse!

We learned nothing in Vietnam. We've learned nothing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, etc. Learned nothing in Central America. Almost nobody is willing to admit that rescuing whomever from Hitler in WWII came at the cost of turning much of it over to Stalin and communism. You aren't allowed to talk about the ghastly mistakes or what Roosevelt did to convince Americans we had to join in the war. Especially not the history of sending Taft over to Japan to tell them the USA wanted them to make aggressive imperialist expansion. Teddy Roosevelt was actually given a Nobel Peace prize for brokering the peace settlement with Russia after he was the one most pushing the Japanese to attack the mainland in the first place.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

It's for the best. These colonial era nations are all in dire need of dismantling. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, even India.

Something needs to give. I was reflecting today after talking to a Montangnard lady, who came here at age 15 after we pulled out of Nam. She just bought an Asian store we were in, my wife asked her if she was Philippino and she replied,"No Vietnamese". She explained people thought she was Philippino because, she was from a tribe of hill people. She was shocked when I asked her if she was Monagnard, and told her i was familiar with her people. She told me what loyal people, her people are. I explained I had heard many stories from SF, that served in Nam about her people, and how everyone admired them.

She then said, Yes and we paid a dear price for being loyal to the USA and they totally turned their back on us. I told her I was really sorry, and that I knew her story, as i hung my head, not real proud of my countries history at that very moment.

On the way home it dawned on me. The Kurds, much the same thing. Iraq it appears was another protracted Vietnam, with enough blame to go around, that no one party could possibly shoulder it all. I am 53. How could we make the same insane mistakes twice in one lifetime.

The fact this is not universally acknowledged as the perfect example of how idiotic it is to listen to warmongers chirping about the USA being the world hyperpower, swashbuckling its way to perfecting every corner of the earth with bombs... this proves more of the same is coming. Here was a secular-government country we invaded on the pretense of it having Al Qaeda alignment (which it did not) - and these guys are even worse!

We learned nothing in Vietnam. We've learned nothing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, etc. Learned nothing in Central America. Almost nobody is willing to admit that rescuing whomever from Hitler in WWII came at the cost of turning much of it over to Stalin and communism. You aren't allowed to talk about the ghastly mistakes or what Roosevelt did to convince Americans we had to join in the war. Especially not the history of sending Taft over to Japan to tell them the USA wanted them to make aggressive imperialist expansion. Teddy Roosevelt was actually given a Nobel Peace prize for brokering the peace settlement with Russia after he was the one most pushing the Japanese to attack the mainland in the first place.

Yeah well we know Nobel Peace Prizes are a joke, right ? BTW on the rest.. Good post

[rlogan 2,036]

Something needs to give. I was reflecting today after talking to a Montangnard lady, who came here at age 15 after we pulled out of Nam. She just bought an Asian store we were in, my wife asked her if she was Philippino and she replied,"No Vietnamese". She explained people thought she was Philippino because, she was from a tribe of hill people. She was shocked when I asked her if she was Monagnard, and told her i was familiar with her people. She told me what loyal people, her people are. I explained I had heard many stories from SF, that served in Nam about her people, and how everyone admired them.

She then said, Yes and we paid a dear price for being loyal to the USA and they totally turned their back on us. I told her I was really sorry, and that I knew her story, as i hung my head, not real proud of my countries history at that very moment.

On the way home it dawned on me. The Kurds, much the same thing. Iraq it appears was another protracted Vietnam, with enough blame to go around, that no one party could possibly shoulder it all. I am 53. How could we make the same insane mistakes twice in one lifetime.

The Hmong too. The CIA was using them in the "secret war" against the North Vietnamese. The few lucky ones managed to get asylum in the USA. Most were killed by our own (secret) massive bombing campaign in Laos, killed by NVA, died in re-education camps, or even if they lived, languished in squalid conditions for two decades in refugee camps in Thailand.

We will learn years from now more of the ghastly crimes we committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere and what horrific, torturous ends were met by people who trusted American representatives that lied to them at the same time they were lying to the American people.

But by then we will be involved in other stupid wars, lying about why we are there and making the situation worse than when we showed up. And China will have a GDP two or three times larger than ours.