{"id":149570,"date":"2015-05-08T22:22:24","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T22:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=149570"},"modified":"2015-05-08T22:22:24","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T22:22:24","slug":"obamas-latest-scam-the-splitting-of-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/obamas-latest-scam-the-splitting-of-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s latest scam: The splitting of Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIraq\u2019s fate was sealed from the moment we invaded: it has no future as a unitary state\u00a0\u2026\u00a0Iraq is fated to split apart into at least three separate states\u2026This was the War Party\u2019s real if unexpressed goal from the very beginning: the atomization of Iraq, and indeed the entire Middle East. Their goal, in short, was chaos \u2014 and that is precisely what we are seeing today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Justin Raimondo, editor Antiwar.com<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mike Whitney<\/p>\n

(RINF<\/a>) – A bill that could divide Iraq into three separate entities has passed the US House Armed Services Committee by a vote of 60 to 2. The controversial draft bill will now be debated in the US House of Representatives where it will be voted on sometime in late May. If approved, President Barack Obama will be free to sidestep Iraq\u2019s central government in Baghdad and provide arms and assistance directly to Sunnis and the Kurds that are fighting ISIS. This, in turn, will lead to the de facto partitioning of the battered country into three parts; Kurdistan, Shiastan, and Sunnistan.<\/p>\n

The plan to break up Iraq has a long history dating back to Oded Yinon\u2019s darkly prophetic 1982 article titled \u201cA Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties\u201d. Yinon believed that Israel\u2019s survival required that the Jewish state become a imperial regional power that \u201cmust effect the division of the whole area into small states by the dissolution of all existing Arab states\u00a0\u2026\u00a0The Zionist hope is that sectarian-based states become Israel\u2019s satellites and, ironically, its source of moral legitimation.\u201d (The Zionist Plan for the Middle East<\/a>, Israel Shahak)<\/p>\n

The GOP-led House Armed Services Committee\u2019s bill embraces Yinon\u2019s vision of a fragmented Iraq. (Note: Under the current bill, which is part of the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), as much as 60% of the proposed funds, or $429m, would flow directly to the \u201cKurdish Peshmerga, the Sunni tribal security forces with a national security mission, and the Iraqi Sunni National Guard\u201d.) Providing weapons to Sunni militias and the Kurdish Peshmerga will inevitably lead to the disintegration of the country, the ramping up of sectarian hostilities, and the strengthening of extremist groups operating in the region. It\u2019s a prescription for disaster. Here\u2019s a brief excerpt from Yinon\u2019s piece on Iraq:<\/p>\n

\u201cIraq, rich in oil on the one hand and internally torn on the other, is guaranteed as a candidate for Israel\u2019s targets. Its dissolution is even more important for us than that of Syria. Iraq is stronger than Syria. In the short run it is Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to Israel\u00a0\u2026 Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run and will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into denominations as in Syria and in Lebanon. In Iraq, a division into provinces along ethnic\/religious lines as in Syria during Ottoman times is possible. So, three (or more) states will exist around the three major cities: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and Shi\u2019ite areas in the south will separate from the Sunni and Kurdish north.\u201d ( \u201cA Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties\u201d, Oded Yinon)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The fact that US and Israeli strategic objectives match up so closely\u00a0calls into question the ISIS invasion of Iraq in 2014 when a two mile-long column of white land rovers loaded with 15,000 jihadis barreled across the open desert from Syria spewing clouds of dust into the atmosphere without being detected by US AWACs or state-of-the-art spy satellites. The logical explanation for this so called \u201cintelligence failure\u201d is that it was not a failure at all, but that Washington wanted the operation to go forward as it coincided with US-Israeli strategic aims. As it happens, the areas now controlled by the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shia are very close to those projected by Yinon suggesting that the ISIS invasion was part of a broader plan from the very beginning. That\u2019s not to say that ISIS leaders take orders directly from Langley or the Pentagon. No. It merely implies that Washington uses the marauding horde for their own purposes. In this case, ISIS provides the pretext for arming the Sunnis and Kurds, imposing new borders within the existing state, creating easier access to vital resources, and eliminating a potential rival to US-Israel regional hegemony. The US needs an enemy to justify\u00a0its constant meddling. ISIS provides that justification. Check this out from the Daily Star:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe present ISIS lightning war in Iraq is the creation of an illusion to initiate the fulfillment of a pre-planned agenda of the West in close alliance with Israel to redraw the map of the entire region as the \u201cNew Middle East\u2026..The chaos, destruction and devastation caused by the ISIS in its process of establishing the Sunni Islamic Caliphate in Iraqi and Syrian territories is the realisation of the intended policy of the US and the West to change public perception that the \u201cWar on Terror\u201d was never a war waged by the West against Islam but a \u201cwar within Islam\u201d along religious, ethnic and sectarian lines in the Islamic world\u2026<\/p>\n

The division of Iraq into three separate entities had also been strongly advocated by US Vice-President Joe Biden. Biden\u2019s heritage and an analysis of his electoral constituents will help understand better his support for the fragmentation of Iraq under the Yinon Plan.\u201d (The Yinon Plan and the role of ISIS<\/a>, The Daily Star<\/em>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Biden-Gelb plan, which was proposed in an op-ed in the New York Times in May 2006, called for the establishment of \u201cthree largely autonomous regions\u201d with Baghdad becoming a \u201cfederal zone.\u201d In other words, the powers of the Iraqi central government would be greatly reduced. The authors tried to soft-peddle their radical scheme as \u201cdecentralization\u201d which is a milder term than the more accurate \u201cpartition\u201d. The authors, both of who are members of the powerful Council on Foreign Relations, obscure the real aims of the plan which is to weaken the country through dismemberment and to leave it in \u201ca permanent state of colonial dependency.\u201d (Chomsky)<\/p>\n

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has denounced the proposed bill as an attempt to undermine his authority and rip the country apart.\u00a0 In a recent phone conversation with Vice President Biden, Abadi expressed his opposition to the bill insisting that \u201conly the Iraqi people can decide the future of their country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, according to Press TV, Iraqi cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, warned that if congress passed the bill, he would order his Mahdi Army to resume hostilities against the US targets in Iraq.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are obliged to lift the freeze on our military wing \u2026 and begin hitting US interests in Iraq and outside it,\u201d said Sadr, who once led the powerful Mahdi Army and still enjoys huge influence among the Shia population.<\/p>\n

Although Obama doesn\u2019t approve of the new bill\u2019s wording, his opposition is far from convincing. Here\u2019s what State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said on the matter at a recent briefing: \u201cThe policy of this Administration is clear and consistent in support of a unified Iraq. We\u2019ve always said a unified Iraq is stronger, and it\u2019s important to the stability of the region as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cClear and consistent\u201d? When has US policy in the Middle East ever been clear and consistent? Is it clear and consistent in Libya, Syria, or Yemen where jihadi militias are armed and supported either directly or indirectly by Washington or its allies? Is US policy\u00a0clear and consistent\u00a0in Ukraine where far-right neo-Nazi extremists are trained and given logistical support by the US to fight a proxy war against Russia?<\/p>\n

Sure, Obama wants to make it look like he opposes the bill, but how much of that is just public relations? In truth, the administration is on the same page as the Congress, they just want to be more discreet about it. \u00a0Here\u2019s Harf again: \u201cWe look forward to working with Congress on language that we could support on this important issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the administration wants to tweak the wording for the sake of diplomacy, but that\u2019s the extent of their opposition. In fact, the House Armed Services Committee has already complied with this request and removed the offending clause from the bill (asking for recognition of the Peshmerga and Sunni tribal militias as \u201ccountries\u201d) while, at the same time, \u201cmaintaining that some of the military aid should go directly to the two forces fighting ISIS\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

So they deleted a couple words from the text but meaning remains the same. Also, according to Huffington Post:<\/p>\n

\u201cRep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Sunday he wants to identify \u201ca way to streamline the process of getting the weapons to both the Sunni tribes and the [Kurds] \u2026 while at the same time not undermining the government of Iraq in Baghdad.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s no way to \u201cstreamline the process\u201d because the\u00a0two things are mutually exclusive, Abadi has already said so. If Obama gives weapons to the Sunnis and the Kurds, the country is going to split up. It\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0how has\u00a0Obama responded to these latest developments?<\/p>\n

Last week he met with Kurdish president Masoud Barzani in Washington. Here\u2019s what happened:<\/p>\n

\u201cAsked by Kurdish outlet Rudaw whether he had secured any commitments on a change to the policy from President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden when he met with them Tuesday, Barzani responded, \u201cBoth the vice president and the president want the peshmerga to get the right weapons and ammunition. \u2026 The important point here is that the peshmerga get weapons. How they will come, in which way, that\u2019s not as important as the fact that peshmerga need weapons to be in their hands.\u201d (Kurdish Leader Aligns With White House Over Congress On ISIS Strategy<\/a>, Huffington Post)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So Obama basically told Barzani he\u2019d get the weapons he wanted. (wink, wink)<\/p>\n

Can you see what a sham this is?\u00a0 Iraq\u2019s fate is sealed. As soon as Congress approves the new defense bill, Obama\u2019s going to start rushing weapons off to his new buddies in the Kurdish north and the so called Sunni triangle. That\u2019s going to trigger another vicious wave of sectarian bloodletting that will rip the country to shreds.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the goal, isn\u2019t it: To split the country into three parts, to improve access to vital resources, and to eliminate a potential rival to US-Israel regional hegemony?<\/p>\n

You know it is.<\/p>\n

MIKE WHITNEY<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to\u00a0Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion\u00a0(AK Press).\u00a0Hopeless is also available in a\u00a0Kindle edition.\u00a0He can be reached at\u00a0fergiewhitney@msn.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIraq\u2019s fate was sealed from the moment we invaded: it has no future as a unitary state\u00a0\u2026\u00a0Iraq is fated to split apart into at least three separate states\u2026This was the War Party\u2019s real if unexpressed goal from the very beginning: the atomization of Iraq, and indeed the entire Middle East. Their goal, in short, was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-149570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}