A Word On Iraqi Genocide

Iraq is our mess. We made, and we need to clean it up. That includes rescuing Iraqi minorities facing imminent genocide – whether Obama wants to or not.

Editorial

I just heard Marie Harf, the Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department, speak on CNN about the attempted genocide of Iraqi minorities by Islamic State terrorist fighters.

Hart’s doublespeak was appalling. She failed to label what Islamic State is trying to do as genocide and repeatedly sidestepped questions about why the US is not directly arming the Kurds.

There are several points that we all need to keep in focus – points Hart’s boss, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and his boss, the ever-hesitant US President Barack Obama, do not appear to be fully confronting.

1. The majority of what in Israel would be called the Security Cabinet (including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) told Obama last year that failure to arm and aid the moderate Syrian opposition would lead to it being taken over and swamped by Jihadis. The same advice was given by the US Embassy in Iraq and other US professionals on the ground.

Obama refused to listen, argued in part that the US weapons given to the moderate opposition would fall into Jihadi hands, and refused to act – and what we now know as Islamic State was born.

2. Islamic State attacked the US trained and equipped Iraqi Army, which fled – even though it vastly outnumbered the Islamic State terrorist fighters and was far better equipped than them.

Islamic State captured a lot of heavy arms and advanced weapons – weapons that the Kurds don’t have.

3. As Islamic State rampaged through parts of Syria and Iraq, it executed minorities who refused to convert to Islamic State’s radical version of Islam. This was known to US intelligence and known to the White House.

Obama did nothing.

4. When tens of thousands of Iraqi Yazidis fled to a mountain to escape Islamic State terrorist fighters bent on killing them, Obama again did nothing – until the plight of these poor people was publicized by Iraqi Kurds, who had taken in as refugees those who reached them and who wanted to help the rest but could not – because they lacked the weapons necessary to do so.

The US has not provided them with those weapons and has not rescued any of the Yazidis. All the US has done so far are two things: a) air drop food, water and some medicine to tens of thousands of people living without shelter in 120 heat on a mountain top; and b) conduct a handful of targeted air strikes against Islamic State terrorist fighters who approach the mountain and who approach the Kurdish stronghold of Ibril.

In the meantime, Yzaidis keep dying.

5. The US could rescue all of these Yazidis today if it wanted to, but Obama refuses because conducting this rescue would require US “boots on the ground.”

6. Obama also refuses to take steps to crush Islamic State – even though they pose a real and credible threat to the US and Europe and openly state they want to export their terror here.

Why does Obama refuse to act?

a) He claims to want Iraq to resolve its own political issues and is using this situation as leverage to force it to do so.

b) He in any case refuses to put US “boots on the ground.”

7. Former US President George W. Bush’s war in Iraq was certainly wrong, and history will judge it as a colossal blunder and a failure.

But the mess that war created is our mess. Our invasion made it and Obama’s distance from Mid East foreign policy and his coolness arguably worsened it.

Those Yazidi’s are ultimately on that mountain top because the US screwed up.

Speaking briefly today from his vacation residence in Martha’s Vinyard, Obama touted the good the US was doing to help the Yazidis and stressed that there is no US military solution to Iraq’s troubles. And that may be true.

But there is a US military solution to the plight of the Yazidis and other Iraqi minorities and there is – or, at least there once was – a US military solution to Islamic State.

The problem is that Obama – who is a nice man, it must be said – shares a trait with former US President Jimmy Carter – who by most accounts is an insufferable ass.

But just like Carter, Obama always appears to have the need to be the smartest person in the room, meaning that his understanding of a problem and its solution is always the correct understanding and the correct solution, and when it isn’t, there’s something wrong with everyone else first, and a him only second.

Obama doesn’t want to send US soldiers into Iraq and he refuses sufficiently arm the Kurds (likely as much due to opposition from Turkey as to anything else).

So Yazidis and other minorities die – and that is inexcusable.

It also sends a clear message to US allies in the region, especially Israel, Egypt and Jordan, that Obama is man who really doesn’t get it. And that bodes ill for US interests in the region, perhaps for decades to come.

Iraq is our mess, whether we like it or not, whether Obama likes it or not. And we need to clean it up now.

Comments

[Uncle Joe]

WOW! Shmarya, if you wrote this, hats off to you!

(You know we disagree about a thing or two...)

[dh]

Marie Hart is very good at her job, and cute as a button. You are very good at your job, and cute as a button, as well. You're both too late.

[Rocky]

Viet Nam was also our mess but I don't recall the US spending large sums of money cleaning up the country after we left. Morality has been something the US has been short of since the days of Lyndon Johnson who refused to support a large tax increase to pay for the war that eventually destroyed his presidency. I do recall a small income tax surcharge that was passed in late 1968 and that went into effect in 1969. But it was too little, too late.

President Nixon was not very upset about having to "close the gold window" in August 1971, causing the US$ to sink against gold, the German mark and the Japanese yen, giving those countries large losses on their central bank holdings of US$ reserves. As Treasury Secretary James Baker told the world years later, "It's our deficit, but your problem." If you are old enough to remember the 1970's, you probably remember two bouts of inflation caused by irresponsible fiscal and monetary policy in Washington and sky high interest rates in the early 1980's.

Nearly 7 decades after the end of WWII, German taxpayers are still paying for Claims Conference checks being sent out to the last Jewish survivors of the camps. They are also paying the pensions of older workers of the former East Germany who, with obsolete job skills, were pensioned off as early as age 50 at the time of reunification.

If think Congress is going to pass a big tax increase to pay for the reconstruction of Iraq and the resettlement of many thousands of Iraqi refugees in the US, I have a bridge to sell you.

[Yahoshua David]

I agree with Obama on this one. Through my own research it's somewhat of a Sunni vs Shiah thing. With These guys it's not about gear so much as ISIS is nuts crazy amd willing to die. Regular paid military are not willing to die (unless you make your army out of 18-21 year old kids and dont tell them what their getting involved in... Ahem.. Cough cough.. Anyhow

Here's a video demonstracting first hand why I agree with Obama on this. iraw can handle it's owm: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3dQTbipYLq4

[singlemalt]

I am so glad you wrote this. I wanted to say this myself. Liberals, even if they want to blame Bush for situation, cannot sit silently while Obama does nothing against ISIS. The world talks about bowing in shame about Israel, when the world should be bowing in shame about allowing these atrocities to go on. The Unites States and all other decent countries need to put soldiers on the ground and eradicate this plague and at the very least save these people and airlift them out.

[johnjill]

Wow this total crap. We are not the world's policemen. We did not create this problem, we gave Iraq and opportunity. Now let them be sovereign. If we go in now then we have to go in in every single genocide in the future. Finally we have a president who focuses on internal policy instead of controlling the whole universe. Bravo, Mr. Obama, Bravo!!!

[johnjill]

The US gave Iraq an opportunity to be free and determine their own fate. Now let them stand up for themselves. We can support them with materials, weapons etc. but not with our own army! I hope Obama holds fast!!

[singlemalt]

I have news for you johnjill, if we stick our head in the sand long enough, when we will pull it out, we will be staring up at a jihdist militant. This is a threat to the whole world.

[Leah]

Singlemalt, first they kill the jews, then the christians (ISIS) and do we hear a word from the international community (mostly christian). of course not they are too busy chastising the zionists for gaza. But simultaneously, isis is beheading Christians, raping the women, selling them into sex slavery, and it seems as if they get a super kick out of beheading children. And they love to decorate neighborhoods with heads. The muslim "religion" is a blight on the entire world, and a threat to all of us. When will the world wake up? with Hamas at the door of the White House? er ...... they will find a reason to blame that too on the zionists. Perhaps ovomit cannot wait until that happens....YS

[singlemalt]

Leah, Over 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christians and around 80% of them support Israel. So, you can't call Christianity into question over this. In fact a lot of Christians support Israel heavily.

I am starting to learn more about Islam and to say the least, you cannot paint the entire religion anything with one broad stroke. Yes Islam seems to bread it's fair share of zealotry and violence, but the majority of that violence is perpetrated, by a minority of Islamists, against the moderates of their own religion.

[singlemalt]

correction: Yes Islam seems to breed it's fair share ....

[Yahoshua David]

Leah if thats true what you say, then do you support NOT allowing these people in our countries andevacuating them out of Gaza to Egypt?

If Shmarya and others say the same about Islam, But are gung-ho about having them FLOOD into our countries through immigration, then i cant take your opinions seriosly on this topic of ISIS and Islam.

Actions speak louder than words. Exile them. Get them out. Not just stop letting them, im talking go to Texas, take settled families in homes, and GET THEM OUT.

I'll never forget working at Microsoft with pakistani's and they were sening aroung group emails hating on USA and Bush. Emails going from Pakistan, to Dubai, to Texas.

People think vhristians and whites hate Jews. I've yet to see any white persony or Suzy at work bring up Jews. I saw some white anti-jew video on youtube and it had 38 views, With the THOUSANDS of goy I work worked.with not one seemed to even know anything about Jews or even met one.

The ONLY i've people who have an inner knwledge and distain for Jews is Muslims because they are curses 5 times a day in their prayer. It's all over their Qu'ran.

Christianity comes from Jews. The profit and moschiah is a Jew. The high rabinnical council of the time composed the New Testement. A lot of people dont know that factoid.

Islam however is NOT from Jews. Mohammad himself was NOT a Jew. The religion is meant to be a REPLACEMENT religion for both Jews and Christians. They believe their texts are written from the pen of God. Litterally no joke. Islam is also quite recent in history. It's a midaevil work.

These are some basics of the three religions that people dont usually put in perspective.

[Lubavitchers Are Christians]

Shmarya,

Four years ago, you would have called this editorial's author a racist for opposing a black president's policies.

People have been warning for years that Obama doesn't see the world and America the same way most Americans see the world and America. These people were called racists.

For 20 years, Obama heard his Reverend Jeremiah Wright preach "Not god bless America, god damn America." Yet, those who spoke about Obama's pastor were called racists.

Now, the chickens are coming home to roost.

As former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright recently stated, "The world is a mess".

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

There's a long history of crazy goyim horrifically killing others. There us nothing new under the sun.

[Stanley Heller]

Stunned to read this. On seeing the headline "Iraqi Genocide" I assumed you were making some reference to the decade of sanctions on Iraq that resulted in the death of over 500,000 children (Madeleine Albright's admission) or over 1,000,000 Iraqis of all ages(Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General).

Alternatively you could be speaking about the tens or hundreds of thousands who died from Bush's "Shock and Awe" invasion and the thousands who die each year from "divide and conquer" tactics that the U.S. used to pit Iraqi religious sects against each other to make it easier to control the country and its oil.

So you want the U.S. genocidaires to go in and clean up the mess? Usually you don't ask the arsonists to put out the fire.

Sad to see this piece.

[Garnel Ironheart]

If there were any way to blame the Israelis you can believe the US and UN would be making a bigger deal about this. However, they only seem to care when Jews are involved.
Obama's attitude is that of too many Americans - they see the carnage on TV but then they look out their front window, see life proceeding normally and assume that what's happened elsewhere won't affect them. What does Obama care about dying Yazidis as long as his coffee gets put on his desk on time every morning?
Another problem is something I call the video game legacy. For over a generation Americans have been raised with huge amounts of entertainment violence in their lives. The movies, the video games, etc are full of carnage but it's only electronic blood that's spilt. As a result they have a complete aversion to having to lose the real thing. They're all for playing Halo at home but deploying US troops to Iraq where they might take casualties? Unacceptable. They will only support a war in which there are zero US losses. Obama knows this.
Finally, it's fascinating that after a month of fighting Israel's mighty army has only managed to kill about 1400 Arabs (probably far less because the official number is provided by Hamas) and yet they're accused of genocide but ISIS kills 10000 people in 2 days and that's not genocide.

[Shmarya]

Stanley Heller –

Yes. Of course. The right thing to do would to be to let the Yazidis be slaughtered because otherwise, the US would have to use force. [end extreme sarcasm]

You are a contemptible person.

[R Nash]

The term "genocide" has been watered down to homeopathic levels. It is just more noise, rather than the horrific charge it should be. We even have Red Sam, Genocide Chick herself (her accepted nickname), in a key position, to blare this term out. What ISIS is doing is ethnic or tribal cleansing, not genocide. It may even be racially motivated, but it is in a different gear than genocide.

The term was coined to describe the Nazi policy of gathering Jews, regardless of affiliation, loyalty, beliefs or even self-identification, based merely on a Nazi defined bloodline, and systematically exterminating them, wherever they may be found. They did not care if they voted for Nazis or considered themselves Nazi or German or lived in Germany, Japan or Mars, or ever did anything to anyone. It was simple calculus. "There is no place in a German home for the works of Heinrich Heine. Not to say that all that he wrote was bad, but that he was a Jew ...". "A Jewish cow cannot be mated with the community bull." IOW, Judaism was not a philosophy, a race or a tribe to them. "One who has one Jewish grandparent is a Jew." The person did not even have to identify as a Jew or part Jew, or even know of his own Jewish ancestors. In genocidal Nazism, Judaism was a stain on a person's genetic composition, hence the name, not racism, ethnic cleansing and such, but genocide. Brutally and unjustly attacking another tribal group is not genocide.
Brutally attacking defenseless Indians because they impede manifest destiny (like most US favored in the mid 1800s) was NOT genocide. Brutally attacking defenseless Indians because all Indians, mixed Indians and related peoples must be exterminated systematically to the last one (think Blackhawk Massacre) is genocidal.

ISIS is on a par with Bosnia of the mid 90s, but genocide should be reserved for gathering people in camps, based on racial grouping, systematically exterminating them, and proudly proclaiming this policy as part of your mission to save the world from this ethnicity. Like "racisim" overusing it only dilutes the meaning until there is none left and the horrific nature of real genocide is lost.

And please do not confuse this statement with condoning ethnic cleansing. The US is well be justified in fighting against ethnic cleansing. Just call it that.

[Rocky]

Correction: My prior post should read: "If you think..." in the last paragraph.

[Rocky]

Singlemalt: Steve Forbes is one of those many Americans who support Israel. So I was surprised to see an article called "Shoppers Use App To Boycott Israel In Grocery Store Aisles" on the Forbe website a few days ago. Although the author of the article claims she is just reporting on the boycott, the subliminal message is clear to me: Urban hipsters shouldn't buy Israeli products. The article features a large picture of containers of Sabra hummus.

Read the article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/08/06/shoppers-use-app-to-boycott-israel-in-grocery-store-aisles/

Tommorow when I am at Costco, I will be buying Sabra hummus.

[Yisroel]

To Shmarya if you disagree with him and if you have an opinion that everybody agrees is insensitive you become a disgusting, deplorable, and contemptible person. That is very sad and shows a deep sense of bitterness, anger, and negative energy.

There are people that when they see a comment that says to kill others, they feel like they want to kill that person. So they want to kill somebody who is sitting at home and writing a comment. Shmarya, that's what your comments very often sound like. A lot of rage and anger.

[first cousin of yaacov the camel driver from the levant]

Uncle Joe has my vote for the author of this site if it his his narration,[the author himself].

[Allan]

@Rocky - "Shoppers Use App To Boycott Israel In Grocery Store Aisles" on the Forbe website a few days ago.”

Forget the hummus. Let’s see how strong their commitment really is. These idiots should also use a “boycott Israel” app while at the pharmacy to make sure they don’t accidentally benefit from life-saving Israeli pharmaceuticals. Better yet, they can use it just before the doctor writes the prescription and let him know that they prefer to DIE rather than benefit from medicines developed in “Occupied Palestine.” They should also run the app at the hospital before any medical tests to make sure no Israeli instruments or technology are helping them behind the scenes. If so, I'm sure they'll gladly skip the tests their doctors recommends.

Finally, the app should also scan their own smart phones to detect any Israeli software running on it and shut it down immediately. I’m sure they’d rather communicate with two tin cans and a piece of string rather than carry a smart phone contaminated with evil “Zionist technology.”

[Yahoshua David]

BTW this whole ISIS thing is another reason Israel should not be killing innocent women and children in Gaza WITHOUT any apparent purpose.

Who are we to now object or have a say in genocide with ISIS. We are at their very same level now. We have become the 'trash' killing minority groups and children.

Of course WE didnt vote on israels actions. Neither with some Bible program or neither with Oslo. israel is an iron curtain country where everything is behind closed doors. Everyone knows this.

This is the damage a FEW descision makers behind closed doors in Israel have caused to all Jews worldwide. Jews cant have an opinion on Isis now.

As far as Christians and other minorities in Iraq, I suggest they get out and seek refuge in France as they are amongst the wolds Only *legitimate* refugees of modern times. Not the daily nonsense we get in our airports using 'the system'.

[R Nash]

Stanley Heller is of the opinion that we should protect the defenseless and innocent unless we might hurt someone, even a bad guy, because we are really the bad guys. He works for CNN no doubt.

[dh]

Shmarya, we both made a mistake. It's Marie Harf (as in barf), not Hart.

[Leah1]

Yhoshua David,
I frankly do not understand your comments/reactions addressed to my comment. You ask some questions and answer them yourself. Sorry, your logic, if it is there, escapes me. In general, I, upon reading just now various comments, am impressed by how many posts are misunderstood by others. A lot of knee-jerk reactions.
and for all and sundry that think i am anti-Christian, that is totally false. I am upset that the entire international community is not being upset by the murderous Muslims, afilu if they are a minority, (of that I am not at all convinced,) at all, but only by Israel's actions to protect her citizens.
The world will get upset at some point when the murderous Islamists kill enough Christians. but the reaction is slow, and those killings are not covered much in the press. I wonder why.