ISIS in Iraq - New Zealand involved 'boots and all'

Kudos to Ron Paul for this piece on America's support for ISIS and foreknowledge of what the consequences would be. It is balanced, rational and essential viewing for understanding what this entire mess is about.

I have linked that with coverage of our own NZ involement. NZ troops, there to "train cowards" (the Iraqi army) are stationed a mere stone's throw from new ISIS positions.

New Evidence US Backed ISIS

Recently a lawsuit forced the Defense Intelligence Agency to release a 2012 assessment which concluded that US support for Syrian rebels would lead to ISIS victory there and in Ramadi, Iraq. Yet that accurate assessment was ignored. Why?


Unfortunately, under this government that has turned New Zealand into a vassal state of the US we are being involved 'boots and all' (an intentional pun!).

Here are some spot-on Facebook comments from Alan Radianstrat

BROWNLEE THE BROWNSHIRT 

BROWN NOSER

Paying lip service to integrity, belittling questions NZ wants answered, with no plan, and full contempt for we the public - not to mention, truth be told, those they send to do the Club's bidding.

PM, Brownlee silent on troop contingency plan

We end up getting ruled over by the most deeply flawed individuals when people don't bother to vote.

This election could have turned easily if people bothered. It's as simple as that, really. We need to work on that. People may be disillusioned at times, but it solves nothing. Giving up solves nothing. Rolling over solves nothing. You change NOTHING by opting out entirely. What people got was another National Government, end of.

Nobody is perfect. But please, make an effort so we don't end up with Key and his cronies running the country like this again, and again, and again, and again...

That does *not* mean we don't hold those we prefer to account, what it does mean is we don't allow people like Key and Co. *win by default* because in a nutshell, this is exactly what happened in 2014.

Alan Radianstrat

If you take into account that Iraqis have lost 1 million people in a war unleashed on them by the US and now they are being forced into a war against ISIS, unleashed, once again by the Washington's neo-cons, you might have reason to question MP Ron Mark's characterisation of Iraqi conscript soldiers as "cowards'

Debate continues over NZ troops in Iraq

The Government should bring New Zealand troops home from Iraq, New Zealand First says.

Radio NZ,

27 May, 2015

An NZDF protection soldier observes ISF troops during training in Iraq.  Photo: New Zealand Defence Force

Its defence spokesperson, Ron Mark, said if Iraq did not have the will to defend itself, it was not worth a single New Zealander's life to try to train its soldiers.

Islamic State (IS) has captured Ramadi, an hour's drive from the base where the troops are stationed, and there has been high-level criticism that Iraqi forces do not have the will to fight IS.

Mr Mark told Morning Report he was not alone in his feelings about the Iraqis, citing similar criticism by US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and a British military leader.

"All of them have expressed the same concern and the same observation that the Iraqis in Ramadi showed a lack of will to fight, a lack of will to engage, and in fact the comment was they weren't driven out of Ramadi, they drove out."

Listen to Ron Mark on Morning Report ( 5 min 48 sec )

Australian Defence Association executive director and former army officer Neil James said Mr Mark made some good points.

But, he said, some of the media reporting in New Zealand had been irresponsible.

"The last thing we want to do is give them the idea that attacking the New Zealanders and the Australians might make us come home," he said.

"Any discussion of the commitment in Iraq has to be done reasonably responsibly."

Listen to Neil James on Morning Report ( 4 min 55 esc )

NZ troops secure in Camp Taji - Brownlee

Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee reiterated this morning that New Zealand troops in Iraq were still safe, despite the advance of IS forces to Ramadi.

Mr Brownlee told Morning Report his advice was they were well-protected at the base.

"When you say it's an hour's drive, that's a long way to move a front when you're moving towards a very, very well-organised, well-defended position," he said.

"So I don't think the security arrangements around Taji have changed significantly as a result of the Ramadi all."

Listen to Gerry Brownlee on Morning Report ( 5 min 34 sec )

Mr Brownlee declined to comment on Mr Carter's remarks that Iraqi soldiers have lost the will to fight.

Meanwhile, Iraq has launched an operation to drive IS out of the province of Anbar, including Ramadi.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the BBC that Ramadi might be recaptured "within days".

Mr Abadi also defended the decision of the 1500 soldiers that had reportedly been stationed in the city to flee in the face of an assault by as few as 150 militants.

He said the soldiers were fazed by shock tactics but did not lack the will to fight.

"They have the will to fight but when they are faced with an onslaught by [IS] from nowhere... with armoured trucks packed with explosives, the effect of them [being blown up] is like a small nuclear bomb - it gives a very, very bad effect on our forces."

The truth of the matter - from Vladimir Putin

ISIS rise provoked by outside interference into Middle East, North Africa – Putin

RT,

26 May, 2015

There was previously no terrorism in countries where Islamic State militants “now prosper” until outside forces “not sanctioned by the UNSC” interfered, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, stressing the “serious consequences” that followed.

“We know what is happening, for example, in the Middle East, in North Africa; we know the problems associated with a terrorist organization, which has appropriated the right to be called the ‘Islamic State” (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL),” Putin said during a meeting with security officials from the BRICS block in Moscow.

“But there was no terrorism in the countries where it [IS] flourishes today before an unacceptable interference from the outside happened, not sanctioned by the Security Council of the united Nations,”he stressed.

Russia’s president describe the consequences of such interference as “serious,” with the Islamic State currently controlling territory in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

“Correcting everything that’s been happening in the international arena in previous years is essential,”he said.

According to Putin, tackling organized crime, terrorism, and financial crime are important issues on the agenda of the BRICS block and the international community as a whole.

The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are “facing increasing threats due to the violations of the international law, the violations of sovereignty of various states,” he dded.

After Islamic State jihadists executed 400 people, mostly women and children, in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra over the weekend, the Russian Foreign Ministry urged the international community to denounce double standards in its approach to fighting terrorists and unite in fighting the group.

Moscow has labeled IS a threat to “stability and security in the entire Middle East,” saying that the West should “launch efficient cooperation with the governments of Middle East countries, which are directly repelling the IS offensive.”

US-led airstrikes against the Islamic State aren’t enough as the group is “acting ever more actively and stops at nothing to reach its goal – the establishment of a trans-border 'caliphate' spanning a vast area from Damascus to Baghdad,” the ministry stressed.

The atrocities cause by the Islamic State are “yet more bitter fruit of the policy pursued by the UK, the US and France and their Gulf allies for the past eight years… of fostering violently sectarian anti-Shia militias in order to destroy Syria and isolate Iran” political writer, Dan Glazebrook, stated in his op-ed piece for RT.