On April 29, 2014, General Petraeus, former director of the CIA and commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, gave a talk on "leadership skills" in the "global war on terror" to members of the National Guard, some of whom had served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was introduced by the Treasurer of North Dakota [bold : mine]
Ten days later on Parliament Hill, Commander Dress Up and Gov. Gen. David Johnston paid tribute to the 40,000 Canadian soldiers who took part in the 12-year Afghanistan conflict in a National Day of Honour."Good evening. My name is Kelly Schmidt and I'm the Treasurer for the state of North Dakota. It is my pleasure to have spent the day today with retired General David Petraeus. David and I have been out in the western portion of North Dakota where we have shared with him the challenges that we've been facing to help make our nation and our world an energy independent country so that you and your fellow officers and enlisted folks never have to go over there again in order to fight for the oil that we all need."
Harper hailed the end of Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan as a “significant milestone in the fight against global terror.”
Currently - eleven years after the US invaded Iraq, a country with a secular leader and almost no "jihadis" - ISIS, a jihadi group so extreme it has been denounced by Al Qaeda, is marching on Baghdad as the Iraqi army flees before it.
Iran has sent units of its Revolutionary Guard to Iraq to help defend Baghdad.The President of Iran : "The Islamic Republic of Iran will apply all its efforts on the international and regional levels to confront terrorism.”
And so it goes .
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10 comments:
I was saying to someone the other day that one of the things so useful about Game of Thrones is the complete lack of happy-ending narrative. We, in the sense of Western culture, tend to reject narratives that do not fit some linear idea that right-minded actions lead to right-minded outcomes. We are thus left so utterly blind to the sort of brutal cause and effect thinking that leads to wisdom.
I think this is only the beginning of what could be decades of brutal violence in the ME as ideology, religious conflict, poverty, and so forth meet the depletion and drop in demand for oil and the associated decline of usefulness of the various states in that region to the rest of the world.
"And so it goes,"
I remember the Iran/Iraq war in the 80's lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, and it was a war of attrition just like WWI.
In other words a horrible mess. Turns out through the Iran-contra affair the US was funding both sides of that bloody conflict.
US aid to Iraq: "Several billion dollars worth of economic aid; the sale of dual-use technology and non-U.S. origin weaponry; military intelligence; Special Operations training; direct involvement in warfare"
US aid to Iran: "Secret arms sales (Iran-Contra affair)"
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_aid_to_combatants_in_the_Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
So now what gives?
So here we go again:
"How the US is Arming Both Sides of the Iraqi Conflict" - referring to the 'new war' not the old war circa 1980's.
"… the US will deliver the first of 36 F-16 fighter jets to Iraq in what Baghdad’s envoy to the United States called a “new chapter” in his country’s ability to defend its vast borders with Iran and other neighbors. ….the US earlier in March provided Iraq with some 100 Hellfire missiles as well as assault rifles and other ammunition. Then in April the US sent more arms, providing Iraq with 11 million rounds of ammunition and other supplies."
and then this the isis insurgents are also conveniently funded armed and trained by guess who?
"To summarize: the US was arming and training the same Al Qaeda/ISIS groups of Jihadists, that it concurrently gave Iraq weapons to fight..."
They either think we don't live long enough to remember or did not have "two brain cells left to rub together"
Who gains?
"The clear winner here? The US military-industrial complex, of course, as well as the banks who lend money to the governments to fight wars provoked by various “developed nation” spy agencies." Source:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/how-the-us-is-arming-both-sides-of-the-iraqi-conflict/5386926
The irony is - Canada already had nearly enough oil but the oil corporations did not.
Happy Fathers Day, Boris
*evil GoT grin*
Mogs : In 1987, the Stockholm Peace Research Institute reported 26 countries and governments were selling arms to both sides in the Gulf War, including US, USSR, UK, S. Africa, and Sweden but US was the biggest.
As an imperialist foreign policy objective to keep any given target country destabilized and thus dependent on the US for its security, it's hard to beat destroying the country's infrastructure and then backing many horses at once by arming all the factions and bye, bye Arab Spring. All this media crap about Al Qaeda etc is just so much bullshit for domestic consumption.
Anon : You mean Canada was almost self-sufficient in oil so corps pushed for expanded North American view that would include a US shortage? Interesting point.
John Baird, Minister of Tarsands Greg Rickford, and FinMin Joe Oliver attended a Goldman Sachs energy conference in New York last week for gov and corp stakeholders. It was called the North American Energy Summit. Everything was integrated NA energy strategy this and integrated NA energy strategy that. Once upon a time I would have blogged such a blatant presumption but now it is so common - not to mention the US ambassador to Canada is a partner at Goldman Sachs - as to not merit anyone raising an eyebrow. Maybe I'll give it a shot anyway.
North Dakota, home of the Bakken oil field that produces the extra-flammable gas that blew up Lac Megantic.
'Instead of going overseas to blow people up, we can stay home and blow up our neighbours!'
Holly Stick
Holly you make me laugh, I get you, but it is not funny. A lady in Alberta is suing the Government of Alberta for refusing to protect her clean water rights on her own property. The Frackers took over and she can light her tap well water on fire with a bic lighter. How sad is that? I am only laughing (not at you) because of your statement and it is pretty sad for our collective condition is it not?
So this lady finally made it out of the city and her country well water is on fire.
And our government gives them a free ride at our expense?
Shit I have to go back to grade school.
Alison I know I know I know, when will it stop?
John had a question during the Vietnam-US-Imperialist war "who'll stop the rain?"
Hey Mogs... got link? I'd like to know more...
I'm guessing Mogs is referring to Jessica Ernst, former oil consultant, now litigant against Encana for her flaming tapwater, lots of examples of which can be seen here.
Smart ass.
Jessica Ernst has her own very detailed website:
http://www.ernstversusencana.ca/
It includes links to articles about other such lawsuits:
http://www.ernstversusencana.ca/category/other-lawsuits-2
And here she is burning her water:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-woman-loses-round-in-anti-fracking-lawsuit-1.1931764
Holly Stick
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