Blowed Up Another One

So al-Bagdhadi's carbon footprint has been reduced to zero*.

This blog recalls when we nailed Zarqawi** in Iraq and of course, OBL.

There's always another terrorist.

Which just shows why we should get out of the Middle East and frak like hell.

Trump tweeted about al-Bagdhadi's expiration last night and will be addressing the nation in about 45 minutes. 

Think he doesn't understand PR?

*As Ace would say.
**Spell check recognizes, btw, which tells you what a big deal that was at the time.

The Coming War with Syria?

Here's a recent map showing military dispositions in Syria:

As readers can see, while the Syrian regime controls most of the country, there are, shall we say, very complicated pockets.

As noted yesterday the Israelis say they have a plan to expel Iran from Syria.

We assume this entails operations east of the Golan, around Syrian airstrips, and the Beirut-Damascus Highway.

What to do about those two Russian flags north of Lebanon?

Well, this is interesting as hell:

“Israel and Russia have a shared interest to expel the Iranians from Syria,” said Gallant, who was speaking at an event in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevaseret Zion....

Gallant, a former top general, said as Syria and its allies have expanded the areas under regime control and inflicted defeats on rebel groups, Russia is no longer reliant on Iran and the two countries are at odds over “who will rebuild Syria.”

His comments mirrored those made Friday by the Russian deputy foreign minister, who denied Russia is allied with Iran and touted his country’s commitment to Israel’s security.

Netanyahu and Putin are in close contact and Bibi visits Moscow regularly for consultations. What could they have been talking about? What has changed that Moscow is denying its' relationship with Iran? 

Moscow cutting ties with Iran (at least in Syria) is a potentially huge development.

The Neocon vs Himself

Via the incomparable Ace, we have two interviews by the equally incomparable Tucker arguing with Ralph Peters and Max Boot about Russia and Iraq.

We are with Tucker on Russia, we just don't see where Putin is a threat. What do we care if he messes with Ukraine? We're perfectly happy that he blew Chechnya to smithereens and quite pleased with his actions in Syria. Basically the interests of Russia and the U.S. are temporarily aligned.

Now Max Boot wanted to remove the Mullahs in Afghanistan, Saddam in Iraq, Qadafi (pick a spelling, I don't care) in Libya, and Assad in Syria. And here he is trying to recast Putin's Russia as the Evil Empire of 1985. It is as if he never learns.

Look folks, we're an unrepentant Neocon at least on Iraq. We think the liberation is was right and good. We lost 4,500 dead and 40,000 wounded. We spent a trillion dollars and who cares about that. You're average lefty would be thrilled to spend a trillion on condoms, birth control pills and abortions so please. We can debate those points but the fact is we won the war in Iraq.

Personally we never saw the point in getting rid of Qadafi who was a benign and somewhat helpful dictator. We recall the 80's where Reagan kept having to whack him around. Mo hadn't made trouble since. Here's the intro to an article we wrote about him for S&T:

On the night of 14 April, 1986, a flight of A-6 Intruders and A-7 Corsairs from the carriers USS America and USS Coral Sea launched a barrage of 42 HARM and Shrike missiles at radar and Surface to Air Missile sites all along the Libyan Coast. This was just the opening salvo.  Eighteen American F-111 Aardvarks bombed Libyan airfields and installations, including the headquarters of Colonel Muamar Qadhafi, and destroyed more than a dozen aircraft. This was not the first military encounter between Libyan and American forces. On 24 March, the two navies fought a series of skirmishes which cost the Libyans five naval craft.  As far back as 1981, American F-14s had engaged and destroyed a pair of Libyan Mig-25s which had challenged them in the disputed Gulf of Sidra. The American raid of 14 April, called Operation El Dorado Canyon, may not have been the first battle between the two nations, but it was the last.            To Americans of a certain age, Colonel Muamar Qadhafi, president for life of Libya, is a blustering buffoon, a toy dictator mocked on T-shirts calling him ‘Qadhafi Duck’. For much of Africa, however, Qadhafi was a dangerous revolutionary, seeding chaos and terror throughout the continent. Seeking to spread his brand of Pan Arab Marxism, Qadhafi has waged war against the nations of Egypt, Uganda, and Chad. Like his ill-advised skirmish with the United States, Qadhafi’s African adventures ended in failure and humiliation, costing billions in treasure and equipment and thousands of lives.

At least he held no truck with Isis and AQ. When Barry threatened to bomb Syria in 2011 we were dead set against it. Frankly, after Iraq we had had enough.

Libya is Hillary!'s greatest accomplishment.

The Question Peters and Carlson debate on, and we think it was a useful back and forth which both men, managed to keep civil after nearly crossing the line, was the liberation of Iraq good in the long run.

We supported the liberation of Iraq. We saw it as part of the horribly named war on terror. We thought it was a good thing. In the words of M. Wolfowitz we thought the liberation would be a 'cakewalk'. Well that didn't happen. Peters says he would not today support such an action.

Ourselves? Ok, Iraq chose electors to a constitutional convention, had a referendum on that constitution, elected a government, had another election and even a peaceful transfer of power.
Iraq is playing a major role in the defeat of ISIS.

We'll delve into this some more in a later post.