The US troops in Iraq

USA and Iraq etc

Biden’s Middle East Policy in his Own Words: Understanding the New Administration’s Priorities

In keeping with this less adversarial approach, the United States will lead the world through globalization, not Americanization. Trump’s policy was based upon the slogan “America First,” which his administration translated into many isolationist protocols. The Trump administration thus dealt globalization and its principles a serious blow. In a reversal of this trend, the Biden era will see a return to globalized U.S. policies, policies in which the United States leads international organizations rather than snubbing them and withdrawing from international agreements. Biden writes, “The Biden foreign policy agenda will place the United States back at the head of the table, in a position to work with its allies and partners to mobilize collective action on global threats…the United States’ commitment is sacred, not transactional. NATO is at the very heart of the United States’ national security.”

But despite this emphasis on global connectivity and diplomacy, it is likely that the Biden administration will return to a Cold War dynamic with Russia. Throughout his article, Biden focused on how a Russia “under Putin’s leadership” stands at odds with all the values that Biden holds. If we consider the support that Biden and his son have offered to Ukraine, we can understand the severity of his position towards Russia, which will bring us back to a cold war dynamic and all its implications.

It seems that Biden’s focus on democracy, liberalism, human rights, and fighting corruption will also govern his policy in the Middle East. Thus, even though a Biden campaign adviser told me that the Middle East was not at the top of Biden’s priorities, there is no doubt that his administration will give a great deal of attention to the issues mentioned above, especially in the countries that saw renewed popular protests in the fall of 2019 and winter of 2020. In this regard, I am referring to Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran in particular, although this list may include other countries in the future. These countries will be exposed to increasing U.S. efforts to guarantee freedom of expression, fight corruption, and protect human rights.

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We shall see:

Iraq's pro-Iran factions see smoother sailing with Biden at helm - France 24

Baghdad (AFP)

Iraq's pro-Tehran factions have welcomed Joe Biden's election as US president, alarming officials and activists in Baghdad who fear a US-Iran deescalation could empower hardliners in their own country.

Baghdad has long been caught in a tug-of-war for influence between its two main allies Washington and Tehran, made even more tense by outgoing US President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran since 2018.

Iraqi factions supported by Tehran are hoping Biden could roll back Trump's policies, which included bombing hardline groups and slapping sanctions on pro-Iran figures.

"Trump's era was a very negative one, a period of demolition," said Mohammad Mohyi, spokesman for Kataeb Hezbollah, a hardline pro-Iran faction in Iraq.

"We hope the new administration will resolve this, by ending the crisis and withdrawing its troops," he told AFP.

He slammed Trump for "the greatest crime" in January: killing Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and top Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who had a key role in founding Kataeb Hezbollah, in a drone strike on Baghdad.

Outraged by that targeted attack, Iraq's parliament voted to oust all foreign troops from the country. Trump fired back with threats of crippling sanctions on Iraq.

Many hope there could be change.

 

OK, in short. Send your troops to home country and Turkey will take the northern Syria, the dictatorrship of syria as called the president kills people and holds onto the land as long as ISIS comes back ( and they will) and runs like hell again supported by Iran troops and fuel and weaponry. There are troops from Iran in southern Syria, who could use chemical weapons by Syria against Israel. with their air force What are you gonna do? If you can?

 

BTW,

On 3 January 2020, a United States drone strike near Baghdad International Airport targeted and killed Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani while he was on his way to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi in Baghdad. Soleimani was commander of the Quds Force, one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and was considered the second most powerful person of Iran, subordinate to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Four Iranian and five Iraqi nationals were killed along Suleimani, including the deputy chairman of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and commander of the Iran-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis – a person designated as terrorist by the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The strike occurred during the 2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis, which began after the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, reimposed sanctions, and accused Iranian elements of fomenting a campaign to harass U.S. forces in the region. On 27 December 2019, the K-1 Air Base in Iraq, which hosts Iraqi and U.S. personnel, was attacked, killing an American contractor. The U.S. responded by launching airstrikes across Iraq and Syria, killing 25 Kata'ib Hezbollah militiamen

Assassination of Qasem Soleimani - Wikipedia

I do not know but they might want to play the game whether the US troops are sent to the US or not from Iraq or not. Then it is your guess where the vengeance takes place. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

 

I heard/watched today that in England they would be putting small Union Jacks to each vaccine though all are made in Germany??! .German Union Jack is it. Spitting inage has it spot on again if this true? In Finland only 30% would take the vaccine bye bye the rest 70%. Hope the ladies survive. it is your choice not mine. So no blaming me. Perhaps two years of fun like 14 ??

 

It's not true...

The Union Jack was to go on the Oxford University/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine...Not the Pfizer/BioNTech one.

 

you want this to be like Vietnam and Russia in Afghanistan ---learn history or repeat it

 

they can have that quagmire

 

Just remove your troops. Go ahead. Why was it so important in 1991 ad 2003 to go and help? Leaving Israel on its own was not even Trump's plan that is why the US moved the embassy. That could be read that PLO was out of own country and the US will protect Israel. Just leave and see you coming back. I have a feeling you lost Turkey awhile ago as Putin helps them by whatever they need. And once Iraq is empty Isis comes back. But who cares.I suddenly stopped. Let them kill people with knives and cars all over the world. A new incident every week. What could they fly against next in the US? Because they will. You killed several radical men but there will be two to replace them. But like said I don't care.

 

After 20 years in Afghanistan our total casualties are a far cry from those in Vietnam.

Learn history? We have learned...Yet, we are still repeating history...By not finishing the job we started.

 

Whether the introduction of the personal, portable, infrared-homing surface-to-air "Stinger" missile in September 1986 was a turning point in the war is disputed. Many Western military analysts credit the Stinger with a kill ratio of about 70% and with responsibility for most of the over 350 Soviet or Afghan government aircraft and helicopters downed in the last two years of the war.[264] Some military analysts considered it a "game changer" coined the term "Stinger effect" to describe it.[265] Wilson claimed that before the Stinger the Mujahideen never won a set piece battle with the Soviets but after it was introduced, the Mujahideen never again lost one.

Many Russian military analysts tend to be dismissive of the impact to the Stinger. Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev decided to withdraw from Afghanistan a year before the mujahideen fired their first Stinger missiles, motivated by U.S. sanctions, not military losses. The stingers did make an impact at first but within a few months flares, beacons, and exhaust baffles were installed to disorient the missiles, along with night operation and terrain-hugging tactics to prevent the rebels from getting a clear shot. By 1988 the mujahideen had all but stopped firing them.[268] Stingers also forced Soviet helicopters and ground attack planes to bomb from higher altitudes with less accuracy, but did not bring down many more aircraft than Chinese heavy machine guns and other less sophisticated antiaircraft weaponry

Pro-Soviet
Prior to the Soviet Union's move on Afghanistan the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet's allies, were not consulted. Eastern European troops did not take part in the invasion or occupation of Afghanistan. In the end the Soviets would have nothing more than limited political support from the Warsaw Pact countries.[283] Romania went further and broke with its Warsaw Pact allies and abstained when the UN General Assembly voted on a resolution calling for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Soviet troops. The only other communist country, North Korea, also refused to endorse the invasion partly because China was supporting the Mujaheddin, so they had to create a fine political balance between them and the Soviets.[284] The only allies of the Soviet Union to give support to the intervention were Angola, East Germany, Vietnam and India

Soviet–Afghan War - Wikipedia

Read the rest there....Not my story.

 

you completely are off base/do not understand/can't comprehend = you are undeniably wrong,.....let me explain:
the quote is '''do you want THIS to be like Vietnam or Russia in Afghanistan'''
1. if you were thinking instead of just trying to be bitter and argumentative, you should know ''THIS'' means Syria--not Afghanistan = you are wrong there
2.it says '''RUSSIA''' in Afghanistan ...
3.we do not want a SYRIAN quagmire
how the heck could you have missed that???!!!!!

 

Yes, Bronk, you completely are off base/do not understand/can't comprehend = you are undeniably wrong
Let's look at the progression, shall we...Afghanistan has not become another "Vietnam", Iraq has not become another "Vietnam", Syria has not become another "Vietnam."

See the previous progression.

Russia in Afghanistan? You mean like these/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-weapons-to-taliban-top-u-s-general-confirms/
Russian Moves in Afghanistan Are About Regional Stability, Not Revenge on US | Russia Matters
Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says
Bounties or not, Russia has hedged its bets in Afghanistan for years

Please point out where Syria has become a "quagmire" for the US...Other than the usual we go in, make a mess of things, and then leave without cleaning up our mess.

I didn't miss it...You did.
Trump to cut troop levels in Afghanistan but stops short of full withdrawal
US troops in Afghanistan: Allies and Republicans alarmed at withdrawal plan
German government opposes Donald Trump's Afghan troop withdrawal | DW | 19.11.2020
Trump’s Last-Minute Troop Withdrawal Is Not the Way to End the War in Afghanistan
It's beyond me, how you missed the fact that it is not just Syria that is seeing US troop withdrawls.