A SEAL killed in Yemen

[Aquina1300]

Originally Posted by Tinbuk3

Understood .. just offering my perspective as a combat veteran.
And simply put its mine and has no reflection on any other for better or worse.
Like I said its just a job ,I did it for everyone whether they agree or not like it or not.
Any resentment I may expound isn't aimed at individuals who understand self respect but rather at those who hide there ignorance behind a façade of political correctness.
It is deceitful and pointless to say the least and everyone is a victim of it.

[beuwolf88]

Aquina you say "We won the GWOT in 2008"

Does that mean Obama lost it in 2009?

What happened in 2008 anyway that makes you think that especially given the fact that the Seal died fighting terrorists in 2017?

[Aquina1300]

Originally Posted by beuwolf88

Aquina you say "We won the GWOT in 2008"

Does that mean Obama lost it in 2009?

What happened in 2008 anyway that makes you think that especially given the fact that the Seal died fighting terrorists in 2017?

What we set out to do in Iraq in 2003, was to get rid of Saddam, the Baathists and radical Islamists terrorist organizations. We wanted to replace it with a democracy and the rule of law.

As of 2008, Iraq had a Constitution that it's parliamentary members ratified, there were two national elections and three provincial elections. The Iranians were pushed out of Basra along with Iraqi Shia who supported them due to an operation by the Iraqi Army and American Special Operations Forces. Maqtada Al Sadr's stronghold in the poverty stricken Sadr city was crumbling. The Sunni Awakening councils were working and Sunni leaders were advising their sons to join the Iraqi police force and the Iraqi Army. Some of those recruits were killed in terrorist attacks but they continued to enlist. Al quaeda in Iraq was demoralized, very weak and fast losing support even before Abu Musab al Zarqawi was killed. After that scumbag and his top leaders were blown to pieces, the sunni support for that sort of Islamism was at the lowest it had ever been. There was a peaceable transition of power from Allawi to jaafari to Maliki. Despite all this "Iraq can't be a Democracy" bullshit, Iraq had been a stable quasi democracy in the past, before Saddam and his uncle and the Baathists.
The death rate was so low in 2008, that western media decried the unemployment from grave diggers put out of work. The Iraqi economy, surprisingly, was pretty stable from 2005 to 2008. COIN, led by Patraeus, worked. The Iraqi people proved very quick to turn on the terrorists, of any sect, once they knew they could be protected. Really, all that was needed in 2008, was to secure the victory and to impede Iran from getting a political foothold in Iraq.

Even before we pulled all combat troops out of Iraq in 2011, we had undercut our mission. Our troops stop patrolling. Diplomatic protocals broke down - Maliki couldn't get anyone of significance from the Obama White House to talk to him. Maliki was ignored. The embassy that we had built became more like a place to stash our remaining troops before handing it over to the Iraqis. But then in 2011, on the most ridiculous reason of "failing to get a Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA)", Obama pulled what remained of our support for the nation state of Iraq and the Iraqi government out. It is utter bullshit that we couldn't have gotten a deal with Maliki if we tried. It would have been easy but Obama got elected to lose the war and he was damn sure that was the only campaign promise he was going to keep. We did nothing about the growing fanatical influence Iran was having on Iraqi shiites. We gave no support to the Sunni Awakening Councils. We turned a blind eye to the retribution visited upon the Sunni by the Shia. The once representative government of Iraq started to turn into an Iranian backed Shia organizing body that looked to settle scores more than to unite the Iraqi.

In this new sectarian infighting, is it any wonder that the Saudis and UAE, Qatar and Oman would back the Iraqi Sunni? A Cold war was brewing between Iran and Saudi and marginally Turkey and Egypt and our White House ignored it except for occasionally assisting those misogynist nutcases in Iran who pretend they speak for God. Saudi and the other Gulf oil states did what they thought they needed to do- they backed Sunni radicals in Iraq and in Syria to undercut that Iranian lackey, Al Assad. of course, that led to the rise of ISIS, which was mischaracterized as something that grew out of the Arab Spring in Syria. It wasn't an organic development. It was an attempt to overthrow Al Assad because he was an ally of Iran. The Gulf Arab states went for it and under the leadership of the Egg McMuffin brigade, who always think they have the real global power, they pushed for Al Assad outster. So basically, to stop a sectarian war rooted in revenge by Iraqi Shia on Iraqi Sunni, the Gulf Arabs (and the U.S.) decided to overthrow an Iranian ally in a completely different nation and blame it on the Arab Spring.

yeah, we had virtually won the war in Iraq in 2008 and Obama along with the McMuffins and our Gulf Arab allies, made our loss complete.

The populaces in the western world can all do the told-ya-so game and play gotcha with Bush, Rumsfeld whatever, but that just demonstrates how fully the anti-war left propagandized the western world. The reality is, COIN worked, the surge worked, the Sunnis were putting down their arms, the Shia were power sharing in government and even attacking their own Shia radicals. Despite all the naysaying, the facts speak for themselves.

Bush ultimately did win the GWOT in Iraq. Obama lost it.

[beuwolf88]

Ok. That answers the question thanks.

I would think that the best thing for the US is staying out of the conflict area and dealing with the fact that the Shia are a lot easier to peacefully deal with than ISIS.

[Aquina1300]

Originally Posted by beuwolf88

Ok. That answers the question thanks.

I would think that the best thing for the US is staying out of the conflict area and dealing with the fact that the Shia are a lot easier to peacefully deal with than ISIS.

I hope we do stay out of the conflict for the most part. If we do act, I hope it's short, targeted and limited in nature.

The raid the Navy SEAL was killed in, was actually planned under the Obama Administration, according to the rumor mill.

[BurntBulb]

It's not so much as the oath of the professional soldier, but that they must 'retire' or 'resign' before they can hold any other elective or appointive office.
So why isn't this same measure applied to other professions and their oaths, when they occupy offices, whether elective or appointive, as it is required of the military?
By this we see the denial of equal representation before the constitution.
The corruption of 'common law' and perversion of 'redress'.
no oath of any office is superior to the representation of the people.

[Private-Parts]

I wish Yemen wasn't in Europe - oh well...

map-of-the-world-according-to-americans.jpg

[TheEngineer]

Originally Posted by Private-Parts

I wish Yemen wasn't in Europe - oh well...

Attachment 147739

finally ... someone gets it ...

reward yourself and have a sauna ...