With stories such as this, one must always ask, Cui bono? Who benefits? By now it should be abundantly clear to everyone that Reuters and its colleagues are not news outlets. They are organs for the propaganda of the political and media elites who want to keep America in Iraq, expending blood and treasure both for the profit of the military-industrial complex and for its overall weakening in service of socialist internationalist interests. The objective of this piece is to soften opposition to the return of American troops to Iraq, which would serve no conceivable genuine national security interest.
“In Saddam strongholds that fought America, Iraqis fear a U.S. departure,” Reuters, February 5, 2021:
FALLUJAH, Iraq (Reuters) – Abu Arkan Ibrahim picked up a rifle and joined the Iraqi insurgency against U.S. troops when they occupied his hometown of Fallujah in 2003. He was badly burned in the fighting. Now, he fears the departure of the Americans he once battled.
Over the past 17 years, the municipal employee has watched his city fall to the United States, al Qaeda, Islamic State and, most recently, Iraqi forces fighting alongside Iran-backed paramilitaries. Ibrahim said the presence of U.S. troops in recent years helped suppress remaining Islamic State militants and rein in the Iran-backed militias – mutual foes accused by Iraqi officials of attacking locals. The U.S. troop drawdown is creating a security vacuum, Ibrahim said, making Fallujah more dangerous.
“I’d rather have the Americans here than the alternatives,” the 37-year old said.
Ibrahim’s assessment is shared by many security officials, former fighters and residents in north and west regions of the country that comprise up to a third of Iraqi territory, former insurgent strongholds once loyal to Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.
They say Islamic State and the Iran-backed paramilitaries stand to gain most from Washington’s troop reduction. They point to an increase in attacks by Islamic State, and fear the Iran-backed militias will use this violence to justify entrenching themselves….
gravenimage says
Reuters flacks for endless wars: ‘In Saddam strongholds that fought America, Iraqis fear a U.S. departure’
……………
Just think how bizarre this is. If the Americans were *really* so terrible, would this be the case?
RegT says
And simply because Reuters cherry-picks an individual opinion doesn’t mean the rest of Iraq wouldn’t prefer to have American troops leave.
Laurence Flynn says
Why bother, when the best that can be accomplished is another Afghani type quagmire.
Lion heart says
Gravenimage : you see !the ones who started fighting the Americans & carrying out terrorist attacks against civilians were the sunnis especially in the city of terror “fallujah “ instead of thanking the Americans for saving them from Saddam’s bloody regime and then the Shiites like the militias the thuggish terrorists of al Mahdi army started fighting against the Americans instead of thanking the Americans for saving them from the bloody evil Saddam & his Baathist terrorist regime !! And both the sunnis and Shiites started to kill Christians of Iraq and speaking of fallujah ,there was an Iraqi Christian guy who used to work as a truck driver for the Americans troops by delivering goods to American bases from Baghdad to fallujah and one day his truck was stopped by a made shift checkpoints by Islamic terrorists in fallujah and a guy who was an Iraqi Muslims told that Christian driver “ today is your lucky day because it’s a warning to you to quit working with the Americans otherwise I will kill you with this sword ( he pulled out a sword to threaten the Iraqi Christian ) and I am a Canadian Christian guy myself originally from Iraq and I worked as an interpreter with the US army at that time and I told them “ Muslims ( except very few nice ones ) especially the Arab Muslims of Iraq will stab you in the back once you saved them from Saddam abs the ones who you hired as interpreters with you and surely enough they were backstabbers indeed “ the bottom line Muslims of Iraq are incompatible with democracy and freedom .
Infidel says
It’s amazing how 15 years ago, the same people on the left who were railing against ‘Blood for oil’, ‘racist wars’ and so on, are happy to look the other way while our troops stay in those countries are being extended. Code Pink, where are you now? ANSWER, where are you? Ain’t it racist of us to remain in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria?
US troops are supposedly keeping the sunnis safe? How does that work once Biden works out deals w/ Iran, that would allow them to do whatever they want in Iraq and Syria? And why would US troops be there contrary to a pro-Iranian US foreign policy?
Biden should in this case be true to Obama and bring the troops home. It’s bad enough that he’s suspended the withdrawal of US troops from Germany, like it’s still the Cold War, and their job is providing jobs for people living near Ramstein
Fred van de Bunt says
Abu Arkan Ibrahim has to look at the bright side.
At least he is no Jew, Yezidi, Christian, homosexual or a woman.
And by now others are convinced that he has no weapons of mass destruction, so nobody is going to bomb the shit out of him.
Of course there is a lot of oil income. But since the government is corrupt as can be, he won’t see much of the oil benefits, and as long as he does not ask for any oil benefit, he is safe too.
Apart from that, he has food, which his fellow Muslim people the Houthi’s cannot say, because of which they are with some 13 million starving to death.
And lastly, as much as he fears others, others fear him. But that is his culture, and I am sure he is proud of that.
Relic says
allah sucks
RegT says
That’s why mohammed worshipped him. 😉
Lion heart says
Relic : you see !the ones who started fighting the Americans & carrying out terrorist attacks against civilians were the sunnis especially in the city of terror “fallujah “ instead of thanking the Americans for saving them from Saddam’s bloody regime and then the Shiites like the militias the thuggish terrorists of al Mahdi army started fighting against the Americans instead of thanking the Americans for saving them from the bloody evil Saddam & his Baathist terrorist regime !! And both the sunnis and Shiites started to kill Christians of Iraq and speaking of fallujah ,there was an Iraqi Christian guy who used to work as a truck driver for the Americans troops by delivering goods to American bases from Baghdad to fallujah and one day his truck was stopped by a made shift checkpoints by Islamic terrorists in fallujah and a guy who was an Iraqi Muslims told that Christian driver “ today is your lucky day because it’s a warning to you to quit working with the Americans otherwise I will kill you with this sword ( he pulled out a sword to threaten the Iraqi Christian ) and I am a Canadian Christian guy myself originally from Iraq and I worked as an interpreter with the US army at that time and I told them “ Muslims ( except very few nice ones ) especially the Arab Muslims of Iraq will stab you in the back once you saved them from Saddam abs the ones who you hired as interpreters with you and surely enough they were backstabbers indeed “ the bottom line Muslims of Iraq are incompatible with democracy and freedom .
tgusa says
“I’d rather have the Americans here than the alternatives,”
Translation; I’d rather have the Americans here than anyone else.
Ron B, says
There were two big mistakes made by the US government 1/ . Installing Saddaam .2/Removing Sadaam.
Now the world is experiencing a wave of young men, Jihadis ,entering their nations using the refugee provisions of the UDHR of 1948 . England is being forced by these crazed regulations to take upwards of 200 per day as France gets rid of them .
Infidel says
The US never installed Saddam: Saddam came to power at the head of the Baathists, who were Soviet supported groups of minority sects of muslims (be it sunnis in Iraq or Alawites in Syria), and his adventures were all a part of his campaign to make sunni Arabs dominant in Iraq. First he did it by the war on Iran, then the annexation of Kuwait and the threat to Saudi Arabia. But yeah, in retrospect, there was no justification for removing him, and the intelligence that failed us on whether Iraq had WMDs or not should have been held accountable
Mojdeh says
Please write article about ex FBI agent Robert Bob Levinson family. We trying hard info. Last time we said he is alive Iran within 48 hours said he is dead and they will give body back for disclosures. Now never body was given yet. There is 20 Million dollars for info and also 5 Million Dollars from FBI. So please publicize this case. Thanks Robert Spencer. Can you please interview with thier family ?