The Deteriorating Situation in Iraq - Is the Obama Iran Card in Play?

On January 22, President Obama said, “we have ended two wars in a responsible way." Karl Rove's answer? "This is delusional. Thanks to his inept handling of Iraq, the US left no residual forces there. As a result the stable situation Mr. Obama inherited has turned into a disaster. Islamic State, in addition to controlling large swaths of Syria, has gobbled up nearly a third of Iraq, including its second largest city, Mosul." ~~~~~ How big is the Iraq disaster created by Obama's catastrophic decision to withdraw all US troops? The full extent of the unfolding debacle is much, much bigger than the Obama White House reveals. CNN reports that an Iraqi tribal leader said today that ISIS militants are gaining even more ground in Anbar province, and he predicts a complete "collapse within hours" of Anbar's cities and towns if Iraqi forces withdraw. According to CNN, Sheikh Naim al-Gaoud, the sunni leader of the Albu Mimr tribe, which was a US ally in the mid-2000s, is calling for more US intervention, including ground troops, arming tribes directly and pressuring the Iraqi government to give the tribes more firepower. This cry for help is falling on deaf ears among Obama and friends, who continue to insist that ISIS is on the defensive in Iraq and Syria. Al-Gaoud says that's definitely not the case where he is : "In Anbar, we are losing ground, not gaining," The fact is that thousands of families had been under siege in the Anbar town of Jubbat al-Shamiya until getting help Friday from US-led coalition airstrikes and Iraqi forces, according to al-Gaoud. But he said that Iraqi troops then pulled out of Jubbat al-Shamiya today, while ISIS continued shelling the town. If the Islamist extremist group's fighters go in, al-Gaoud predicts a massacre. ~~~~~ This is critically important territory because Anbar province borders Syria on the east and Baghdad on the west. Thus, a decisive ISIS victory allowing it to control the sprawling Anbar province would put ISIS on the footsteps of the Iraqi capital. Anbar is also home to the strategic Ayn al-Assad Air Base, which came under attack Friday. Talking about that battle, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said 20 to 25 people - most, if not all, of whom were wearing Iraqi military uniforms and were led by suicide bombers - attacked the 25-sq. mile base. Kirby said : "It looks like (ISIS militants) at least got to the outer base limits" At least 13 Iraqi soldiers died in the assault, according to al-Gaoud, which ended with Iraqi ground forces killing all the attackers. Kirby said that US troops were on the base at the time, but "several kilometers" from where the fighting happened. The US military did deploy Apache attack helicopters in the ISIS assault, but the Apaches returning safely without firing a shot, military sources said. American helicopter gunships were also involved in a fight supporting Iraqi ground forces about 15 kilometers (9 miles) north in the Anbar town of al-Baghdadi, according to CNN sources. But, this did not stop ISIS, which took control of al-Baghdadi Friday. Al-Gaoud said militants killed at least 25 Iraqi police officers during their assault on Thursday and Friday. ~~~~~ On Thursday, Politico published a report by Mark Perry that brings the Anbar crisis into sharp focus. But first, a bit of Iraq history. The sunni tribes that live in Anbar were angered by the US Iraq war and US support for Iraqi shiites. So the tribes sided with al-Qaida and the precursor of ISIS. But when the strict form of sharia law was imposed on them, the tribes split with al-Qaida and formed the Anbar Awakening that defeated al-Qaida alongside the US troops in the Bush Surge. Since then, the Anbar sunni tribes have looked to the US as their natural ally. But, when Obama withdrew all US troops from Iraq in 2011, and supported the al-Maliki shiite government, the Anbar sunni tribes lost both their domestic role and their American ally. ~~~~~ Fast forward to the current ISIS terrorist war in Iraq. ISIS is supported by Moslem extreme right funding. But, Iran supports, arms and provides troops to the shiite government in Baghdad -- first, al-Maliki, and now al-Abadi. The Iraqi regular army, when it chooses to fight, is fighting for shiite control of Iraq, with the patronage of Iran, the leader of shiite Islam. The Anbar sunni tribes are at best ignored and at worst left to be massacred in ISIS onslaughts. The US sends its armament shipments to Baghdad. Some are earmarked for the Anbar sunni tribes, but they never seem to arrive. ~~~~~ That brings us to the very week in January when Obama was patting himself on the back for ending the Iraq war "responsibly." On January 18, an 11-member delegation of Anbar tribal leaders arrived in Washington. Just as their plane was touching down, ISIS units in Iraq attacked the Anbar compound of one of the delegation’s senior leaders, the very powerful Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha, killing nine Iraqi police officers and wounding 28 of the sheikh’s guards. A nearby Iraqi regular army unit failed to respond to repeated calls for help. The brutal attack underscored the purpose of the Anbar delegation’s visit : they defeated al-Qaida and they know they can defeat ISIS - but only if the Obama administration agrees to ship them weapons directly, bypassing Iraq’s untrustworthy Ministry of Defense. Yet in Washington, the tribal leaders were passed around to lower level Obama staff at State, Defense and the White House. Obama refused to meet them but Biden dropped in on a meeting to glad hand. The message was clear, according to what the tribal delegation told Politico -- they were told to take up these matters with new Iraqi Prime Minister al-Abadi and would have to rely for weapons on those provided to them by Abadi’s ministry of defense -- which the US would try to expedite. ~~~~~ In despair, they all went home, except Sheikh Abu Risha, who got a phone call - from President Bush, who knows the Sheikh and visited him in Anbar in 2007. George Bush had learned from his sources what was happening, and called to listen and help. He arranged meetings with retired General Petraeus and Senators McCain and Graham. The hope is that military and political pressure will help get arms flowing to Anbar before it's too late. ~~~~~ Dear readers, one Anbar leader told Politico : “The truth is that our Ministry of Defense is owned lock, stock and barrel by Teheran.” To Abu Risha, the ISIS attack on his compound “symbolized what every Sunni in Anbar faces every day....We can’t depend on the Iraqi army for anything.” The sheikh had in his mobile phone a  photo  showing Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani hugging Iraqi Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri. The US knows that Soleimani is the mastermind behind Iran’s control of Iraq’s shiite militias. He is designated a terrorist by the State Department, while Amiri’s Badr Organization controls one of Iraq’s most effective, shiite controlled, militias. The sunni tribal leaders suggest Prime Minister al-Abadi is too weak to stand up to Teheran. One of Abu Risha’s group feels that Iraq “is being turned over to the Iranians, and the Americans are looking the other way.” It seems to the tribes that Obama refuses to arm the tribes by bypassing the Abadi government because it's afraid that to do so would offend Teheran and endanger the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. A large number of former US commanders who worked with Anbar’s tribes during the Awakening agree. ~~~ Just as Obama has turned on America's real friend in the Middle East - Israel, he has now turned on America's real friend in Iraq - the sunni tribes. For what? To be buddies with Iran, the "Axis of Evil" that America had pretty much defeated before Obama came along.