Breaking: Boots to be put on the ground in Iraq (AP)

[Oakvale]

About time.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Pretty lame though. Bring out the drones.

[Oakvale]

The last time I can think of troops being deployed to protect an embassy was in another country experiencing civil war after their long time dictator was overthrown….well, it didn’t end too well...

Troops were protecting the (diplomatic mission, not an embassy) in Benghazi? I agree though, I'm sure zero security presence would have definitely prevented the attacks.

Smart take.

[Oakvale]

We need a Saddam Hussein Blingee to complement the Milosevic one for every smug apologist for tyrants who revel in any level of violence and carnage provided they can use it to prove a fuzzy political point. There's a disturbing trend where people fetishise murderous dictators based on some hyper-bourgeois notion of "stability".

[Oakvale]

The people who are decrying this move and are saying that we should remove all embassy personnel make me sick.

We are literally the only force in Iraq that's actively encouraging and trying to leverage al-Maliki to include Sunnis in his government so that ISIS isn't the leader of a Sunni-Shia civil war, which would completely damage US national security in the worst way since the immediate months leading up to 9-11. The Obama administration is literally trying to do this in every possible way except for military intervention.

Letting Iran figure this out by themselves isn't going to make things better. Their number one interest is to give al-Maliki as much power as possible and to defend Shia Islam. They don't give a damn about the interests of Sunnis in the country, and there are still some very bloody memories of the Iran-Iraq War that will mobilize Sunnis towards ISIS.

Trying to figure this out diplomatically by staying in Iraq and protecting our diplomats militarily is clearly the best option. It can even be a historical opportunity to create better relations with Iran if we can figure out a solution that keeps the Shia in power yet give Sunnis a voice. Iran is only in there because al-Maliki is under a real threat right now. They have no reason to be there as soon as his government is safe.

Yes but Vietnam you see.