Our Embassy in Baghdad - TTG

I could never fully comprehend the logic behind our modern monument to imperialistic hubris that is our outsized Embassy in Baghdad. One would have to be a true believer in our God ordained manifest destiny to admire that monstrosity. Those types do exist. At one time the management coven at Defense HUMINT planned on establishing a massive operating base in that Embassy to control operations throughout the region. It was going to be Defense HUMINT forward... an outpost of the empire.

That embassy compound is once again becoming the focal point of our Mideast empire. Events of the last few days have seen to that. Last weekend, in response to a  rocket attack on a base outside Kirkuk that left one US contractor dead and four US servicemen wounded, we launched drone strikes on five Iraqi PMU outposts in Iraq and Syria near Abukamal killing 25 members and wounding scores more of the Kata’ib Hezbollah brigades of the PMU. 

We blamed Iran and the Kata’ib Hezbollah for the rocket attack near Kirkuk. That may be true, but the Kata’ib Hezbollah is not some rogue militia controlled out of Teheran. It is an integral part of the PMU, its 46th and 47th brigades and has been for years. The PMU is an integral part of the Iraqi military and has been for years. The PMU played a major role in defeating IS in both Iraq and Syria. Our attack on the Kata’ib Hezbollah outposts was an attack on the Iraqi military and government. We informed PM Abdul-Mahdi of our intended attacks. Abdul-Mahadi warned us not to do it, but, of course, we conducted the attacks despite his warning. We were proud of the attacks. The Pentagon even released footage of the attacks. It was supposed to be a clear message to Teheran.

Unfortunately for us, the message was also heard by Iraqis. After the funerals of many of the victims of our attacks on the PMU outposts, a large crowd of protestors headed for the US Embassy in the Green Zone. For weeks prior to this, Iraqi security forces kept protestors from entering the Green Zone and approaching the US Embassy. Not this time. The crowds, including mourners fresh from the funerals of their family members and many PMU soldiers, unarmed but in uniform, poured into the Green Zone right to the gates of the Embassy itself. A reception area was entered and burned. Iraqi security forces of the PrimeMinister’s Counter Terrorism Command were among the protestors. I surmise that PM Abdul-Mahdi was sending his own message back to the US.

Today, the PMU has told its troops to leave the vicinity of the Embassy as directed by the PM. Protests and rock throwings continue, but the Iraqi security forces are keeping a lid on the protestors more aggressive actions. The US sent an additional hundred Marines into the Embassy compound last night and appears to be also sending a battalion from the 82nd Airborne to the Embassy. (That shows just how oversized this Embassy is.)

For weeks, it was Iranian consulates and facilities that bore the brunt of Iraqi popular unrest. Iran reacted with restraint. With our lethal attacks on the Kata’ib Hezbollah, we changed that. Pompeo, Esper and Trump are keeping up the trash talking. Threatening Iran by killing Iraqis… whose ass was that brilliant diplomatic strategy pulled from?

I recommend an essay written by Haidar Sumeri on Sunday, before the protestors descended on the US Embassy, entitled “American Strikes in Iraq Have Just Made a Bad Situation Much Worse.” Sumeri is a long time commentator on regional issues, especially Iraqi security issues. His analysis is especially cogent given the events of the last two days. His writings may be worth following as this situation unfolds. 

TTG

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/31651/u-s-strikes-iranian-proxy-force-bases-in-iraq-and-syria-following-deadly-rocket-attack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtRSIl2MAoQ  (Al Jazeera coverage of the protestors at the US Embassy with interesting commentary)

https://1001iraqithoughts.com/2019/12/30/american-strikes-in-iraq-have-just-made-a-bad-situation-much-worse/

Comments

[A.I.S.]

Dear Vegetius, trusting Thomas Friedman as far as you can throw Fred Kagan means you are far too trusting.

Given sufficient adrenaline, a well positioned slope and surprise, most human beings can throw Fred Kagan significantly farther then anyone should any human being should trust Thomas Friedman.

@ Those familar with degrees of US government shenanigans:
1:Did they mistake Kataeb Hezbollah for Lebanese Hezbollah or (pretty sure erraneously) believed that these 2 organisations are particularly related?
2: Was the "missle attack" more actually important or more of an excuse for doing what they were going to do anyways?
3: At roughly what rate would you bet 1000 of your own Dollars that Kataeb Hezbollah was actually responsible for the rocket attack? I dont think I would settle for less advantageous then 1:7 (meaning I would get back 7000 dollars if it was true).

[Factotum]

In the final chapter, the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman nor an empire. It was a German collection of profane princelings. Is this what the Shias are supposed to do to the US too?

Just show how we can come up with different interpretations reading the same words. Next?

[Factotum]

You can never out-bargain an Arab rug merchant. Words I learned to live by.

[vig]

regarding Pompeo, he is completely in tune with the Trump admins larger strategy here. Annie links to his efforts one year earlier:

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2019/12/after-us-strike-on-iraqi-forces-its-troops-will-again-have-to-leave.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef0240a4d8154f200d#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef0240a4d8154f200d

[Restless94110]

Elora, you wrote:

A veces pienso que leo demasiado, Pat...la verdad... me he hecho el propósito de leer otras cosas..( libros, por ejemplo ), pero la verdad es que me gusta esto bastante... estar bien informada, aunque, a veces, es un poco deprimente, pero, qué le voy a hacer?

This that you wrote translates as follows:

At times I ponder that I read too much. Pat....the truth...I have become the purpose of reading other things (books, for example), but the truth is that I like that a lot... being well informed, although, at times, it is a little depressing, but, what am I going to do to you?

If you wanted to say: Pat, what am I going to do? You would say Pat, qué voy a hacer? Adding the le introduces the direct object.

I have no idea what you are trying to say. The purpose of your life is to read other things? ¿Qué?

[turcopolier]

factotum

Not true, but if you do that you will regret it because you probably shamed him into a deal that hurt him financially.

[Leith]

Elora;

Please do not confuse me with Pompeo. I despise the man and criticize him every chance I get. In verbal conversations at the local coffee shop I refer to him as pom-pom, or pompón to you. As far as I am concerned he is a moron.

I can read MoA on my own, you don't need to repost it here. Much in Oprisko's rant sounds like boiled over conspiracy theories. Garbage imho.

[Artemesia]

Choosing a rug from all the colors and patterns on offer was so difficult it left no time for bargaining.

And anyway, the beauty graces our home for years -- generations, even. I can't stand it when I pay 20 cents more for gas than I could have if I'd gone to the next block, but I have never given a second thought to whether I paid too much for a Persian rug.

[vig]

The origins of the Sacrum Imperium Romanum, the Holy Roman Empire lie in the partition of the Carolingian Empire or Romanorum sive Francorum imperium, the Empire of the Romans and Franks.

Now the Franks historically were a "German" tribe too. In other words some type of "profane" but rather sucessful earlier "princelings" took over from the Romans.

History does not start in the 16th century in Europe.

[Paco]

¿Qué LE voy a hacer?
What am I going to do ABOUT IT...

[Paco]

You should specify what "lumbrera" means, probably a good translation would be: the brightest bulb in the (mess) room...

[elaine]

"The Kurdistan dream...was dashed..." interesting play on words:dashed
or Da'eshed? Well for a couple of thousand years Israel's dream was
dashed too wasn't it? Sometimes dreams come true when you wish upon a star...Erdo is no spring chicken, ditto many of the Ayatollahs, The Donald,
etc. Who knows perhaps the future will be full of surprises. Opt for
soivernity may have tribal roots that go deeper than recent land grabs &
lines drawn by foreigners on global maps.

[vig]

I have no idea what you are trying to say. The purpose of your life is to read other things? ¿Qué?

standard guesture of submission, protestations of innocence, I am harmlessness. Not necessarily helpful. Maybe?

Personally, i find the device of communicating with her name 'self', Elora Danan, interesting.

[vig]

on: "Mr. "what are we doing in the Middle East"

you may heavily disagree, but I liked it:
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/12/31/washingtons-iraq-catastrophe/

[The Beaver]

I guess you didn't understand why I put "Made In Iran". Genuine products from Iran are labelled Made in the Islamic Republic of Iran .
Only Nikki Haley, MBZ/Saudis and the Israel Firsters concoct " Made in Iran"

[oldman22]

"So no, Iraqi paramilitaries did not all of a sudden, and out of the blue, started targeting Americans in Iraq because they are such obedient Iranian proxies, and on the behalf of Tehran, but because they were being killed in their own country (and in neighboring Syria) and the US was to blame.

There have been well over 50 Iraqi paramilitary fatalities in Iraq alone, before the first American died in a retaliatory attack. The blame here is not on Iran, the blame is on those who decided to pull Netanyahu’s chestnuts out of the fire even if it risked US troops in the region."

Marko Marjanović

https://www.checkpointasia.net/americas-new-war-lets-not-pretend-that-iraqi-paramilitaries-drew-first-blood/

[Terence Gore]

Our embassy in Iraq? Or 'Fort Baghdad" experiences minor unrest with native population?

Even if we have the best of intentions will we always be viewed as the conquering nation?

[Willy B]

It is my understanding, from press reports, that F-15E's, likely flying from the Al Dhafra base in the UAE, were involved in the air strikes. In any case, 30 minutes warning means that all aircraft involved in the strikes were were into Iraqi airspace already.

[The Twisted Genius]

Willy B, I read they were armed drone strikes, but either way, I'm sure the attacking aircraft were on station or nearby before the Iraqi government was warned of the impending strikes.

[prawnik]

The tragicomic part is watching Trump supports act as if Trump didn't order and approve the strikes.

[prawnik]

Unfortunately, treating Israel as a sacred cow and any criticism as ipso facto anti-Semitism is breeding lots of genuine anti-Semites where there were none previously.

[prawnik]

Pompeo wants an pretext for a war on Iran. That much is obvious.

If that war comes as a result of a series of tit-for-tat retaliations, well, then he and Bibi and MBS get the war that they so crave.

[turcopolier]

Elora

If you are going to send me private messages, do not do it on the blog as comments.

[Fred]

Vig,

"Obama was worried..." Etc, etc. "Iraq is close to collapse ..."

Obama got played; or was just blowing smoke up our butts, I'm not sure which. Trump is getting the same "advice" from 'experts' who know so much that just ain't so. Iraq's close to collapse? Sucks to be them. Bush and the Borg got just what they wanted, a victory that overturned the social order in the country, now there's chaos for years to come. At least our sacred best ally in the Middle East doesn't have to worry about the Iraqi army. As W said so long ago "mission accomplished".

Trump needs to put America First. That means lots of Foreign policy experts can go sell their expertise elsewhere - especially when he abolishes their jobs; and a bunch of flag billets need to be abolished. Hasn't he noticed that we've got more admirals that ships?

[Factotum]

I ultimately tried this ploy: I only have XX to spend, make me fall in love with a rug for that amount. If I loved it, it was worth what ever it cost. If I did not love it, it would always cost too much. Agree with your own experience. Thus saith the animal spirits of the marketplace.