The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

This Was Probably Predictable

Posted on | January 4, 2014 | 26 Comments

Ace of Spades:

American troops spilled their guts fighting Al Qaeda in Fallujah in 2004.
And now, AQ has driven out all representatives of the Iraqi government and raised its flag over government buildings.

Like nature, Islamic extremism abhors a vacuum:

Black-clad Sunni militants of Al Qaeda destroyed the Falluja Police Headquarters and mayor’s office, planted their flag atop other government buildings and decreed the western Iraqi city to be their new independent state on Friday in an escalating threat to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whose forces were struggling to retake control late into the night.
The advances by the militants — members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS — came after days of fighting in Falluja, Ramadi and other areas of Anbar Province. The region is a center of Sunni extremism that has grown more intense in reaction to Mr. Maliki’s Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad and the neighboring civil war in Syria. . . .
The group’s fighters cut power lines in Falluja late in the day and ordered residents not to use their backup generators. In one area of Falluja, a militant said over a mosque loudspeaker: “We are God’s rule on Earth! No one can defeat God’s will!”

Donald Douglas at American Power:

This is specifically a result of the Obama administration’s foreign policy, and it’s going to come back a bite the U.S. and our allies for years to come.

Yep. And like I said, predictable.

 

Comments

26 Responses to “This Was Probably Predictable”

  1. omahabe2
    January 4th, 2014 @ 7:06 pm

    RT @smitty_one_each: TOM This Was Probably Predictable http://t.co/UrL9GRbIET #TCOT

  2. Socialism: Organized Evil
    January 4th, 2014 @ 6:07 pm

    When it comes to someone who is actually capable of defeating Al Qaeda, Putin seems like the best bet.

  3. joethefatman
    January 4th, 2014 @ 6:14 pm

    For some reason, I’m not surprised.

  4. Adjoran
    January 4th, 2014 @ 6:40 pm

    The war was won, Malaki was demonstrating he could try to govern among the competing interests, ALL Obama had to do was negotiate a “status of forces” agreement for us to maintain a forward base there. Stability would have been assured for several years at least, and Iranian influence (and ability to influence Syria directly overland) would have been blunted.

    But Obama chose to do nothing. This is the result.

    Worst President EVER.

  5. Socialism: Organized Evil
    January 4th, 2014 @ 6:55 pm

    I think we all know whose side Hussein Obama is on.

  6. M. Thompson
    January 4th, 2014 @ 7:02 pm

    All the blood, sweat, toil, and tears wasted by a feckless crapweasel.

  7. sarah wells
    January 4th, 2014 @ 7:17 pm

    To Obama, all is as it should be. We weren’t supposed to be able to claim a victory there. Chickens and roosts and things.

  8. DaveO
    January 4th, 2014 @ 7:36 pm

    He sliced and diced the SOFA that Bush-43 and Condoleeza Rice negotiated into nothingness.

  9. DaveO
    January 4th, 2014 @ 7:51 pm

    Something to consider: when our Marines seized Derna in 1805 (the “shores of Tripoli”) and later seized Chapultapec in September of 1847 (those “Halls of Montezuma”), we gave them back. Mexico is no friend of the US and Libya was only an ally so long a Bush-43 was in power. The honor of our Marines, sailors who supported them, and soldiers is not dimished by the defeat of the Iraqi Army and their tribal allies.
    Either AQ has gotten really, really good, which permits Iran to invade and conquer easilty; or, the IA is bleeding its tribal allies in order to reduce political friction on Maliki.

  10. Dianna Deeley
    January 4th, 2014 @ 7:59 pm

    Utterly so.

    How depressing.

  11. Dianna Deeley
    January 4th, 2014 @ 8:02 pm

    I think I got lost. In your analysis, who is doing what to whom?

  12. Dianna Deeley
    January 4th, 2014 @ 8:05 pm

    No one’s. He’s too feckless and incompetent to actually work towards a coherent end.

    At least, that is my gloomy assessment of the man.

  13. Socialism: Organized Evil
    January 4th, 2014 @ 8:10 pm

    IMO, the guy is totally delusional.

    An individual who claims that his election heralds the magical slowing of the “rise of the oceans” belongs in a padded room.

  14. DaveO
    January 4th, 2014 @ 8:51 pm

    A lot of folks are taking the loss of Fallujah personally and as a massive dishonoring of American veterans of the battles to capture it. It is not, but I do understand the feeling.
    What is more instructive is how and why AQ won.

  15. Steve Skubinna
    January 4th, 2014 @ 9:06 pm

    Predictable? Try inevitable.

  16. The Battle for Fallujah: 2014 | Batshit Crazy News
    January 4th, 2014 @ 10:07 pm

    […] This was probably predictable (nature and al Qaeda abhor a […]

  17. concern00
    January 4th, 2014 @ 10:23 pm

    Though Putin says a lot of the right things at the moment, sometimes I think he’s just doing it to stick it to the big O, and by implication Americans in general.

  18. Socialism: Organized Evil
    January 4th, 2014 @ 10:42 pm

    I’ll take Putin over Obama any day. I’m of the opinion that we should build a global alliance against the primitive counter-civilization ideology of liberalism and the ideologues who put it forth.

    Putin, for example, has banned all forms of sodomite propaganda. That’s real leadership.

  19. McGehee
    January 5th, 2014 @ 12:25 am

    “Sides” are a social construct perpetrated by the capitalist running dogs to keep Manchester United fans and Arsenal FC fans from banding together against Leeds for the greater good.

  20. Quartermaster
    January 5th, 2014 @ 12:43 pm

    What is disturbing is the fact that we did what we did, and then left after spending a trillion of so in blood and treasure. The questions is “did we get our money’s worth for the blood and treasure expended?” I would say, certainly not.

  21. Quartermaster
    January 5th, 2014 @ 12:52 pm

    It’s my understanding that Putin became and Orthodox Christian. The Russian Orthodox has enabled Russian authoritarianism for centuries. That he pushed to ban queer propaganda is not a surprise as the ROC is death on homosexuality and its propaganda.

  22. Socialism: Organized Evil
    January 5th, 2014 @ 1:14 pm

    Well, an Orthodox Christian is still highly preferable to a delusional Bolshevik ideologue who is actively attacking Christianity and our sacred Constitution.

    As an added bonus, the Russians are a valuable ally against the Chi-Coms.

  23. DaveO
    January 5th, 2014 @ 1:49 pm

    I wouldn’t disagree. Folks don’t understand this is a war in which killing the enemy is the objective, not taking and holding ground. Taking out Saudi Arabia entirely and giving it to Israel would be worth that trillion or so.

  24. Quartermaster
    January 5th, 2014 @ 5:12 pm

    After MacArthur was relived by Truman, he was brought in front of Congress to testify about the war in Korea. One statement he made rings down to our day, “There is no substitute for Victory.”

    If you go to war, you damn well better win it. If not, everyone that lost their life, or shed their blood is dishonored by the waste. It seems that’s all DC can do these days. Dishonor themselves and everyone and everything they touch.

  25. Quartermaster
    January 6th, 2014 @ 1:52 pm

    Like Vietnam, it was won in the field, and lost in Washington. Dimocraps have that tendency these days.

  26. US gives up Fallujah to al Qaeda without a fight — 1389 Blog - Counterjihad!
    January 10th, 2014 @ 3:06 pm

    […] R. S. McCain: This Was Probably Predictable […]